Romeo and Juliet - William Shakespeare - So You Haven't Read

So you haven't read Romeo and Juliet? William Shakespeare's classic tale of two teens looking for romance only to find a feuding family, several misunderstandings, many murders, and wait... Maybe Romeo and Juliet is NOT a Love Story but a story about the cost of hatred? Let's find out today!

---- Interested in reading it for yourself? Check it out at your local library! ----

---- Thanks for participating in this week's discussion! ----

---- Want to support the people who make this show? ----

---- Want more Extra Credits? Subscribe and follow us on social media! ----

♪ Intro music: "Coffee Beans" by Mike Wuerth
♪ Outro music: "So You Haven't Read Theme" by Tiffany Roman

#SoYouHaventRead #Humor #RomeoandJuliet

[koalasandwich]

Saw this posted somewhere but I think it suits putting it here, "Comparing your love life to Romeo and Juliet is like using Hamlet to compare how functional your family life is."

[AcediaRex]

Imagine reading it as a news headline: "13-year-old girl and 16-year-old boy commit double suicide. Boy suspected in death of girl's cousin. Police suspect gang affiliations." You wouldn't think: "How romantic."

[MrPooleish]

It's really important to note that up until Mercutio's death; the show looks, feels, and acts like a romcom. And Mercutio is the comic relief character. Try to imagine Dionne getting murdered 40 minutes into Clueless.

[TiffanyHallmark]

I love that Shakespeare throws shade at his rival theater troupe during this play. "A rose by any other name would smell as sweet." is a jab at the Rose Theatre which, according to some sources, had some sewage troubles.

[neilc.]

Juliet: “How convenient you have a potion that can make a person look dead. Explain?”

Friar: “Tax Evasion.” *makes yoshi noises*

[Crono]

One of the things that not often brought up about Romeo and Juliet is that they barely know each other and rush into a very quick very intense romance. It's puppy love, maybe it would have survived, maybe it would have crashed and burned. But because their families hatred pushed them apart, it forced them to take more and more extreme measures to stay together. That's the tragedy, not only are they dead, but the y never got to figure out themselves if what they have is love.

[sadlobster]

From what I remember, both families seemed to copy each others lifestyles and they HATED that; which makes the whole feud even dumber than one realizes

[superspider]

It's a cautionary tale of why cellphones are great

[glwgameplayer]

I've never understood why Romeo and Juliet has been considered a love story. It's about two teens "falling in love" over the course of a night, possibly just because Romeo is the kind of person who falls deeply in love for a week and then ditches them for someone else and then gets caught up in the family drama that gets them killed. The most functional member of the play is actually probably Paris. He follows what was considered proper courtship at the time, he doesn't even fight anyone until Romeo tries to break into Juliet's tomb (understandable because due to the feud and Romeo killing Tybalt he was under the impression he was there to break shit and cause chaos.) and he seems to actually care about Juliet's wellbeing. For better or worse Romeo puts Juliet on the spot with a hidden marriage and then gets banished for killing a member of her family while Juliet concocts a convoluted plan to go along with her boy toy even though it means leaving her family behind to someone she's known for Two Days at the most.
Honestly, the play can be considered a deconstruction of rash impulsive decisions, and how needless feuds lead to pointless deaths

[TheKersey]

"Romeo and Juliet" is to romance what "Les Misérables" is to revolution.

[BrewerM]

Gonna just say that "Monte-Brew & Capulatte's" is a genius name for a coffee shop.

[seanmcloughlin]

I think it kinda adds to the tragedy and pointlessness of the feud that it’s never even said why their mortal enemies, no one asks, and no one besides the 2 seem to care, it’s just the way things are, and best not interfere with your families tradition of long-standing blood feud, even if the reason for it has been lost to time.

[UrpleSquirrel]

One of the things that always makes me mad is that even the adults who are on Romeo and Juliet's side, who know they're in love, don't actually help them.

Because Friar Lawrence was afraid of the consequences of telling one of the most powerful families in the city that he'd gone against their wishes, he concocts an elaborate fake death scheme instead of just saying "no can do, she's already married."

[zacscalafini]

I really liked the interpretation of juliet’s agency, never even thought of that when we spoke about this play in school. Reading this awkwardly aloud in school doesn’t do this work justice, it should really be performed, or at least semi performed, in class.

[jordanloux]

How could you forget to mention the version with the lawn gnomes that had a sequel about Sherlock Holmes?

[SpoopySquid]

"You could move more tickets if the plays were based." - Extra Credits

[Iceglorp]

“What do you mean why!? Reasons that’s why!!!” That cracked me up

[Nerdnumberone]

I'm disappointed that they didn't mention Romeo pining after Rosaline at the start of the story. It really shows that Romeo is a total drama queen.

[kaylathehedgehog]

We studied this play back when I was in ninth grade (I think?), and I remember either my teacher or my textbook positing the theory that the reason for the Montague-Capulet feud not being given was to prevent the audience from siding with one family over the other.

[Crocogator]

God I loved that movie too. That they still called their guns 'swords' so so camp.