Opinion

Book Review: Romeo and Juliet

Molly Spence, Assistant Editor

April 17, 2024

Brittanica

A classic, one of the most famous Shakespeare plays, Romeo and Juliet. A tragedy, filled with romance and heartache, and in my opinion, one of the best plays/books written. Written in Shakespeare’s early career, Romeo and Juliet was one of his most famous plays, along with Hamlet.

Sometime in the 14th century in Verona, Romeo Montague is struggling to move on from Rosaline so his cousin, Benvolio persuades him to go to a ball to get his mind off of Rosaline. At the ball Romeo meets a young lady, Juliet Capulet, who is the daughter of Lord and Lady Capulet, whom the Montagues have an unending feud with.

Unknowing of her bloodline, Romeo falls in love with her shortly after, Juliet falls in love with him leading to a secret marriage. The story is their epic love story which sadly turns into a tragedy when Romeo gets in some trouble and is banished leaving the lovers split up. Juliet’s parents arrange a marriage for her, which she does not want to partake in, so she fakes her death, using an elixer to make her seem dead, but she’s not truly dead. A message is sent on a messenger to Romeo, however the messenger gets delayed and does not reach Romeo, until his servant tells him she’s dead. Enraged, upset and heartbroken, Romeo makes his way back to Verona, where he finds her “lifeless” body laid in the Capulet family crpyt. Out of heartbrokeness, he kills himself to be in the afterlife with his wife, Juliet. Shortly after he kills himself, Juliet wakes up and finds his lifeless body next to her, she then kills herself too.

One of the key things about this play is love. The entire play is based on love. Romeo and Juliet is a perfect example of star crossed lovers, or lovers who are doomed to end. Romeo and Juliet is one of my favorite romances. I would definitely recommend Romeo and Juliet to anyone, it takes a bit to understand it but, it’s worth it!

Book Review

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About the Contributor

Molly Spence, Co-Editor In Chief

"Remember there is good in this world, and bad, and ugly." -Unknown Hello, welcome to The Stinger! My name is Molly Spence, I am a class of 2026 Junior and the Co-Editor-In-Chief for The Stinger Newspaper. I am involved in the Newspaper, Marion Center Mean Green Marching Machine as one of the Section Leaders for the Color Guard, a representative of Marion Center High School for United Way, Plumville Belles as a majorette, assistant coach, choreographer, and fire baton twirler, also including Plumville Belles Winter Guard as a majorette, choreographer, and dancer, ATHENA Club as the head of public relations, Art Club and library assistant. This is my third year in Newspaper. I've been assistant editor for two years, and this is my first year as Co-Editor-In-Chief. My future goals include attending Indiana University of Pennsylvania (IUP) to major in Psychology to accomplish my career goal of being a clinical psychologist, becoming an IUP Hawk Majorette, and continuing my education (master’s and doctoral degrees) at another college. Apart from my aspiring career and education dreams, something people may not know about me is I love ducks. I have two ducks who hate my batons when I’m twirling but love to go up to them and peck them when I’m not twirling. I don’t allow them anywhere near the fire baton, of course. My ducks and twirling are giant parts of my life, as well as psychology class here in the high school and my own research and education. By being a part of The Stinger, I want to make everyone's voice heard and leave no one behind, because after all, we, Marion Center High School students, are all in this together.