Oh, Romeo

O Romeo, Romeo! Wherefore art thou Romeo?

Deny thy father and refuse thy name.

Or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love,

And I’ll no longer be a Capulet.- Juliet (Balcony Scene)

Romeo and juliet has always been revered as a classic, a gorgeous novel with unparalleled description and cleverness. So how does an eighth grader tackle the text? They watch the film adaptation of course. Though Baz Luhrmann's film adaptation was powerful, dramatic and beautifully shot. The first time I tried to watch it I had to turn it off because, the opening fight scene was so painful and I felt that the shakespearian language and the modern setting clashed so horribly. But as I watched it again I saw the symmetry, the beauty the unparalleled cinematography and I was smitten.

What's in a name? ponders Juliet. Just another way to distinguish the individual, and another way to be judged and objectified and addressed and titled. Why are we Sarahs and Johns and Rajeets and Starshines aren't we all just as sweet and logical and ridiculous without that thin layer of protection, the emptiness of a name. If our Romeo and Juliet could leave behind their names. If only they could leave behind all but themselves, but could they leave behind a fuel for their passionate love, their empty names.

Family has been compared to a second skin, a net, an ocean. That cocoon of warmth, love, protection and frustration that is family will shelter and care for you as long as you live and think consciously. Through birth, infancy, childhood and the painstaking heavy moments of adolescence.  Your parent's views and knowledge build onto layer after layer of your own. Their eyes, teeth, hair, weak bones; their short tempers, shyness, fortitude. their cooking, their jewelry, heirlooms their homes you all share but where does family end and your individualism begin.

Their mistakes repeated fade into yours, you develop quirks and heirlooms of your own and most importantly your own thoughts, your own body and certainly your own mind. Adolescence is the time for huge emotional growth where you become aware of your perspective of the world and other's perspectives. All though we come from different worlds and have different scruples and values from 1500's europe we all must slowly sever our ties and float free from our families, they will always stay in our minds, hearts, and intimate personal lives.

So romeo and juliet our young lovers find themselves passionately in love . The kind of love that moves nations and breaks ages of hate. Could they exist in any other age, of course. But I think that the grudges and the "their only love sprung from their only hate" makes the love so much more meaningful and powerful. Could they really leave their families, their names behind without losing themselves? Because the conflicts of life have more to do with love than hate anyway and who doesn't love some good conflict