The Lesson of Romeo and Juliet

Stephanie Lloyd Ms. Christenson English 9 May 19, 2010 The Lesson of Romeo and Juliet What happens when you are in love with an enemy of your family? In The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet this is just the case. Romeo and Juliet are two teenagers madly in love with each other, yet their families are at war. The two of them take all the risks to be together and deceive their parents time and time again. Many spectators of this play say that the lesson of Romeo and Juliet is that children should not deceive their parents. This is not the lesson at all. The lesson of Romeo and Juliet is that if love is strong enough, you’ll die for it. In the play, Juliet and her nurse do numerous things to keep Romeo and Juliet together. Romeo has Juliet tell her nurse to get him a ladder so that he can climb over the walls of the Capulet’s to see Juliet at night. The two of them are not afraid to do anything they have to for them to be able to see each other. Romeo and Juliet went as far as to go to Friar Lawrence and get married. Their love was so strong that they were willing to take the chance of losing everything just to be together, even if it meant dieing for on another. For example, in the play the Capulet’s, Juliet’s family and the Montague’s, Romeo’s family are at war. The two families hate each other, yet when Romeo and Juliet fall in love the nurse does everything to help hide it. Juliet tells her nurse that she is in love with Romeo, and the nurse keeps it a secret because she knows what would happen if Lady Capulet or Capulet, Juliet’s family found out. Juliet’s nurse knows that if she is caught hiding this secret that she will be severely punished. She helps the two of them be together even though she fears the risks of doing so. The nurse is more of Juliet’s mother than Lady Capulet is. This is the main reason that she helps Juliet so much. The nurse even gets Romeo a ladder so that he will be able to climb over the walls of the Capulet’s so that he can see Juliet at night. She hides everything from the Capulet’s, tells them lies about where Juliet is when she is seeing Romeo, and at night when Juliet is talking to Romeo and Lady Capulet is coming the nurse warns her so that the two of them wont get caught together. Yes the two of them were deceiving their parents, but they were doing it for love. They did not just do it because they could, it was simply for the love that they had for one another. When you read this play you can feel the emotion through the words Romeo and Juliet speak. As another demonstration on how the lesson of this play is â€Å"if love is strong enough you will die for it†, Romeo and Juliet went against all odds and got married. The two of them went to Friar Lawrence and asked him to marry them. They all knew that this was extremely forbidden because of the war between the families. Friar Lawrence did not want to marry Romeo and Juliet at first, but then he thought that maybe it would end the feud between the two families. Romeo and Juliet, if caught, could have been in more trouble than they had ever imagined. They took this risk because they loved each other and wanted to be together at all costs. These two teenagers did everything they could to be together. The things that they told each other were the most powerful words of love that two people could exchange. Romeo and Juliet’s love was so strong that they were willing to do anything to stay together. Right before the two of them had planned to have sex to claim each other in their marriage, they were caught. Romeo was banished from Verona for having relations with Juliet. Capulet then told Juliet that she was to marry a boy named Paris. Juliet was heartbroken about this and tried everything that she could to get the wedding stalled so that she would have time to go and find Romeo. Juliet went to Friar Lawrence to ask him for some advice on what she should do. He gave her a potion that would make her sleep for 42 hours but everyone would think that she was dead. Juliet and Friar came up with the plan for Juliet to drink it the night before her wedding. The next day when no one could wake her everyone would think that she was dead. They would then have a funeral and Juliet would wake before they buried her and go to find Romeo. Things went wrong with the plan though. Friar had sent Romeo a letter telling him that Juliet would be alive, but it never got to him. Romeo returned to Verona and found Juliet. She had already taken the potion and Romeo thought that she was dead. In his eyes, if she was dead then he could not go on living. Romeo killed himself right before Juliet woke up from the affects of the potion. When Juliet woke up and saw that Romeo had killed himself she was devastated. She had lost the love of her life that she had done so much to be with. Juliet killed herself when she saw Romeo because she knew that she would be with him in heaven. The two of them were finally together in a place where no one could tear them apart. If love is strong enough, you’ll die for it. This is the real lesson of Romeo and Juliet. Juliet and her nurse did everything they could to keep Romeo and Juliet together. The nurse gave Romeo a ladder to be able to see Juliet at night. Romeo and Juliet even got married behind their families backs. This play shows just how strong love can be and how much two people can care for one another. Many think that they have a strong bond with another person, but a lot of the times it turns out to be nothing. Romeo and Juliet is a case of true undying love for another person. This play shows everyone what love truly is. Its not just something you say because you can, its something you say because you mean it. If you really love someone you’ll do anything to be with that person. Is the love you have with someone else strong enough to die for?