Today we went to Pioneer Theater to see "Romeo and Juliet". The acting was excellent, and so was the main theme of the play: the damage that can be done through the fueding of two families. Romeo and Juliet died because their two families carried on a hatred of each other that had lasted for generations.
Along with this same idea, we can take the concept further, suggesting that feuding within any society--the fighting factions within Iraq, for example--brings needless death and destruction.
Romeo and Juliet also exemplifies the passion and the impetuousness of young love. I used to teach the play to impressionable ninth graders at Butler Middle School. Before we started, I always pointed out two examples in the play NOT to follow:
(1)Don't marry at a very young age ( Juliet was only 13) after knowing each other a short time. (2)When things don't work out the way you want, don't kill yourselves!
I love the last lines of the play:
"For never was a story of more woe
Than this of Juliet and her Romeo."
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