Since when is Romeo and Juliet a romantic story?

Question

If someone can prove to me it is a romantic story, I will glady give away 10 points. Seeing how their families brutally kill each other, and Romeo and Juliet both commit suicide at the end. IT WAS FOR LOVE! (I doubt it)

Answer 1

It comes from a long tradition of love stories that end very very badly. I can think of several from Greek mythology--Pyramus and Thisbe, Orpheus and Eurydice, etc.--and there were probably countless others Shakespeare drew from. Perhaps Tristan & Isolde, etc. So while Romeo and Juliet is not to my liking--I'm with you, I don't particularly see the romantic appeal--it is not alone in its dramatic and tragic end. I prefer to see Midsummer's Night Dream as Shakespeare's way of making fun of Romeo & Juliet.

Answer 2

The story of Romeo and Juliet touches on several things.

1.) The ideal of love at first sight/impulsiveness. Show me a teenager that hasn't done something impulsive. These two met at a party where drinks were flowing, music was playing, emotions were running high....people do this kind of stuff all the time.

2.) The aura of wanting what you can't have. This also made the two of them want each other more. The defiance and sneaking around made their relationship alluring to both of them.

You said a "romantic" story, you didn't say you had to prove they were honestly in love. Two young people impulsively giving into the notion of love at first sight then dying, rather than becoming consumed by their family's hatred...is quite romantic.

I think many people would find it more so, if someone updated the story so it wasn't written in a way that is hard for most people to understand. What would have taken the romance away, is if they had lived and the "newness" had worn off and they "fell out of love"

...never was there a story with more woe....than that of Juliet and her Romeo.

Answer 3

Technically, that's an opinion question. Romeo and Juliet were, young foolish and in love. Their tragic demise and secret marriage makes it (by popular vote) one of the most classic love stories out there.

However, there are so many clues that Shakespeare intended it to be a romance, never mind the secret marriage and such. If you look closely, upon their first meeting, Romeo and Juliet compose a Shakespearean sonnet together. In the sonnet they use many references to religion and saints, symbolizing that their love is pure and holy.

While the story may be viewed as stupid, I think it's an example of a Brother's Grimm fairytale-esque romance.

Answer 4

To me, it is not so much a romantic story as a tragedy, but here is my best shot:
Romeo and Juliet fall in love. Plain and simple. However, circumstances prevent them from being together, which only strengths their love (because anything is better if it is a secret) and mistakes pull them apart again (like romeo killing Juliet's cousin and being banished) and in a last ditch effort for Juliet to get Romeo back, she FAKES HER OWN DEATH, thereby shunning her friends, family, and all she has ever known to be with romeo. but even that won't work, all because of a faulty messenger, and Romeo, seeing what Juliet has done, presumably kills himself so he can be with her in heaven (everyone was religious back then) and Juliet wakes up, knowing that she is going to be with romeo at last, and finds him lying next to her, dead. lovely. so she realizes that the whole thing is pointless, may as well she is he really is waiting for her in the afterlife, and offs herself. so, yes they loved each other, but it was not a love story, persay.

Answer 5

It was a romantic tragedy.

Back in those days it was unlikely that you would go against your parents wishes and date someone they dislikes.

They did everything to be together.
And romeo killed himself when juliet awakes she knows she can not live without him so she kills herself.
But in the end they are together- on the other side of life- whatever that might be.

Not being able to live without somone is a true definition of love.

Answer 6

It is a romantic tragedy......which shakepeare wrote a lot of.

The Most Excellent and Lamentable Tragedie of Romeo and Juliet, commonly referred to as Romeo and Juliet, is a tragedy by William Shakespeare concerning the fate of two young "star-cross'd" (ill-fated) lovers. It is perhaps the most famous of his plays, one of his earliest theatrical triumphs, and is thought to be the most archetypal love story in Western history.

Answer 7

Romanticism was an artistic and intellectual movement that originated in late 18th century Western Europe. In part a revolt against aristocratic, social, and political norms of the Enlightenment period and a reaction against the rationalization of nature, in art and literature it stressed strong emotion as a source of aesthetic experience, placing new emphasis on such emotions as trepidation, horror, and the awe experienced in confronting the sublimity of nature

Given the above definition of romanticism, then yes, Romeo and Juliet was a romance. Though not a traditional one by todays standards.

Answer 8

Romeo and Juliet were in love. The part where they commit suicide in the end was an accident. Juliet had taken the potion to fake her death and Romeo never got word of that. He didn't want to live without her so he kills himself for love. A bit extreme and dramatic, but a romantic gesture nonetheless. This is just a play too, by the way. :) Remember, they were star-crossed lovers and in the end both families saw the error of their ways in fighting in light of the death of their son and daughter. In the end Juliet's dad (Capulet) refers to Montague as his brother...

CAPULET
O brother Montague, give me thy hand:
This is my daughter's jointure, for no more
Can I demand.

In return Montague, Romeo's dad, offers to raise a statue of Juliet made of pure gold. Then Juliet's dad, in a gesture of acceptance of their marriage, says ...

"As rich shall Romeo's by his lady's lie;
Poor sacrifices of our enmity!"

The Bard wrote the first romance in Romeo and Juliet.

If you're still in doubt, let me know. ;)

Answer 9

This is what Romeo says in his last words before he kills himself:

"Ah, dear Juliet,
Why art thou yet so fair? shall I believe
That unsubstantial death is amorous,
And that the lean abhorred monster keeps
Thee here in dark to be his paramour?
For fear of that, I still will stay with thee;
And never from this palace of dim night
Depart again: here, here will I remain
With worms that are thy chamber-maids; O, here
Will I set up my everlasting rest,
And shake the yoke of inauspicious stars
From this world-wearied flesh. Eyes, look your last!
Arms, take your last embrace! and, lips, O you
The doors of breath, seal with a righteous kiss
A dateless bargain to engrossing death!
Come, bitter conduct, come, unsavoury guide!
Thou desperate pilot, now at once run on
The dashing rocks thy sea-sick weary bark!
Here's to my love!"

Right after this, he drinks and then he dies.

I think that sums it up. He dies out of his pain after the woman he loves dies.

As the definition of romance is "a love affair," I think that further answers the question.

It's also not primarily a romance. It's a tragedy. But specifically, it's a tragic love story.

Answer 10

Have you even read the whole thing?!... Come on you could even grasp that it is a Greek tragedy about love from the movies that have been put out... That's not saying much compared to the book.
CyberNara