Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare
reviewed by Olubusayo
There are so many books I have read, but one of my favorites is Romeo and Juliet, a play by William Shakespeare. The setting is Verona, Italy. The main characters include Romeo Montague, Juliet Capulet, Friar Laurence, The Nurse, Tybalt, the Prince, Benvolio and Mercutio. The story is about how two people fall in love with each other but their love ends in woe because the Capulets and the Montagues hate each other so much.
The story starts off when Benvolio, cousin and friend to Romeo and Mercutio, wants to take Romeo to the Capulets' party to take his mind off Rosaline, a girl Romeo loves. At the party, Romeo sees Juliet. Instantly, they both fell in love. Later on, however, Romeo and Juliet find out their love is star-crossed. The only people that know about this love, other than Romeo and Juliet themselves, are Friar Laurence and the Nurse who help them plan a secret wedding in Friar Laurence's cell.
Juliet's parents, who don't know about her love of Romeo, want Juliet to get married to Paris, a relative of the Prince of Verona, but Juliet doesn't want to do that. When Romeo hears that Juliet is supposed to marry this relative of the Prince, he becomes very unhappy. Romeo, meanwhile, has been banished from Verona for killing Tybalt, the cousin of Juliet, who killed his friend Mercutio. And from here, the story becomes very sad.
This play is interesting because it has lot of drama in it, it is well set, and the action seems like it could happen to anyone. Sometimes people do kill themselves because of love, so it seems real. The amazing thing is that their love sprung out of their families' woe. I would recommend it for boys and girls age 14 and above.
Posted by Arlo at October 15, 2010 02:22 PM