Opinions diverge: Are they stupid teenagers? Star-crossed lovers? What everyone agrees on, however, is that in “Romeo & Juliet”, reactions to their love are extreme, no matter how you look at them.
Just a quick summary, for everyone that couldn’t be bothered to read “Romeo & Juliet” in class: Within five days, an old rivalry between two families escalates, resulting in one proposal, one marriage, one fake death and six real deaths.
“Romeo & Juliet” is probably one of the most well known love stories of all time. But why do so many people sympathize with these crazy teenagers? Imagine being a friend or a parent of Romeo or Juliet, I am sure most of us would try anything to stop them and tell them that they are making a huge mistake. Seriously, getting married after one day of knowing each other? I really don’t think I would let my best friend go through with that.
Maybe the reason we don’t feel that way when we hear the story is because we see it from their perspective – their feelings for each other seem real, it seems meant to be, all their actions feel necessary. So, when they get married after knowing each other for a day it feels rational and logical and romantic. And the fact that we all sympathize with this, that we can relate, illustrates a very human and at times also very fatal characteristic: when we fall in love – and this doesn’t only mean in the romantic way – whenever we have really strong emotions towards a person, a goal or even an object, we put on rose-colored glasses.
While often it is hard to watch our friends and family walk around with them, I believe these glasses fulfill a very important function in our world. They allow us to have faith, to follow our dreams, to believe in the improbable – and yes sometimes that means that six people die (including yourself). But sometimes against all odds, against everything that would be rational and logical and safe, we achieve extraordinary things because of them.
It is important to have balance in life and to think things through, but sometimes it is important to just do the extreme thing, to take a risk, because as John Green says: “As longs as we don’t die, this is gonna be one hell of a story”. And isn’t that what we all strive to do – to really, truly, fully live life?
by Celina Eichhorn
Picture: Pixabay (Susan Cipriano)
