Romeo and Juliet (Bantam Classic)

Rating:
Summary: Prosaism
Review: A glorified cliche, this book does little justice to Shakespeare's writing ability as it isn't nearly his best work. Its marvellous dissemination and public love and recognition beffudles me. Superficial, lackluster, and diaphanous often foolish and loathsome compourtment and intelligence of the characters makes this book nothing more than a wonderful waste of valuable time. Never has Shakespeare created a work so imbued with cliches and idiocy. Basically, Romeo and Juliet is a story about two romantically-impaired "star crossed" lovers who have to avoid the obstacles presented by the feud between their families to realise and consummate their ephemeral marriage. They arent star crossed! They are inane idiots too immersed in "love" to recognize the imprudence of their actions. Their deaths were not the least bit pitiful, but risible. Cognitive, yes. Irritating, yes. Interesting? No. The utter folly of the characters is murderous, very uncharacteristic of Shakespeare who usually presents intelligent and philosophical personages. Do not base your opinion of Shakespeare on this pathetic work, he has created and transcended this one with a myriad of his other much more meaningful and enthralling plays. I d much rather recommend Midsummer Night's Dream or Hamlet.

Rating:
Summary: best
Review: best story ever made. no other.. story touches this. its true love, they wooed, feel inlove, and died for love. Isn't that what we all want?

Rating:
Summary: Romeo and Juliet-Warning: May Cause Pulmonary Problems
Review: Caution Scalawags: May Cause Pulmonary Failure!, July 29, 2004
Reviewer: Professor Emeritus Percy Q. Johnstone (Darkest India) - See all my
reviews
Yes dear reader, it is I, Professor Emeritus Johnstone. As you may have
divined, as Professor Emeritus of American Literature, I am well versed with
dramatic writings from our sister nation, England. Now, many of you are
unfamiliar with the work, as William Shakespeare is relatively unknown in
the bumpkin-ridden land you call "The Colonies". However, you
lucky few will discover a goldmine of quotes such as "Alack, Alack,
Alack" and other favorites. But I, Professor Emeritus Johnstone,
diverge. Yes yes. For those of you who wish to pursue the god-given purpose
of the most noble art of teaching American Literature, you must be familiar
with the works of Shakespeare. As you are stupid, and not a professor, like
I, Professor Emeritus Johnstone, you undoubtedly do not understand, but no
matter. The story of "Romeo and Juliet" is simple. it opens in a
court yard in Venice where the political rebels, Pyramus and Thisbe are
plotting to overthrow the evil fascist government (oh how I, Professor
Emeritus Johnstone know that feeling. I confess, dear reader, that once I,
Professor Emeritus Johnstone, lived in America until government stooges
exiled me to darkest India for poliical subterfuge. Suberfuge! Bah!). Alas,
Lord Capulet's men break into the meeting and arrest poor Pyramus and
Thisbe, casting them into the darkest dungeon. Ah, but fortune smiles on our
two heroes, for in the cell next to them are the "Star-burned
lovers" Romeo and Juliet, who were imprisoned for plotting to overthrow
the evil Capulet. Together, they escape the prison, kill all the
fascist-swine guards, and blow up the prison, bringing us, dear reader,
rather neatly to the end of Act I.
Act II opens in Lord Montague's (Lord Capulet's chief of security) hall,
where he has just made posters offering 5000 marks for the heads of the four
rebels. Enter the villain (mustache and all) Tybalt (cousin to Count Paris)
the bounty-hunter. Tybalt, in a scene that moved even I, Professor Emeritus
Johnstone, gives a heartrending "soliliquy" in which he mourns on
he pain of killing those whose politico agendas you support. Thus ends Act
II. In Act III, we find...ROMEO WORKING FOR LORD CAPULET! He has become a
traitorous lap-dog to the very system he despises (oh reader, how I,
Professor Emeritus Johnstone, know this feeling!). Pyramus and his rebel
army storm the palace, and in the final scene, Pyramus kills his traitorous
lover, Romeo, driving a dagger through his jugular...only to find out that
Romeo was a spy. Pyramus then jumps out the highest tower in penance to end
the play.
Genius. Every potential collegiate scamp should read this edition, for it
has a preface by one of the greatest scholars of our age...none other than
I, Professor Emeritus Johnstone.
Hark, I hear my Biddy calling me to gruel and morning prayers. As Hamlet
said, "Adieu Fair Readers!"

Bitterly,
--Professor Emeritus Percy Q. Johnstone

Rating:
Summary: Romeo and Juliet review
Review: I have recently read "The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet" in school. I enjoyed reading this play as I felt it provided me with a different outlook because of its vocabulary. The plot of the story was very romantic, but in the end the play became dramatic. It tells a story of true love between two resented families, Montague and Capulet.
Romeo Montague and Juliet Capulet risk their lives to be together and nothing could get in the way of their feelings of true love. Even though their families hated each other, they still found a way be married, although it was not easy because of all the tragedies throughout the play. Romeo's best friend, Mercutio and Juliet's cousin, Tybalt both died. Also, Juliet's father was forcing her to marry Paris, another man. There were many more tragedies, which kept the two lovers away from each other. The name of both houses was the main reason why Romeo and Juliet could not be together. As Juliet said, "What's in a name?" If it were not for the significance of the names there would be no tragedy.
Without William Shakespeare's acts of irony, love, hate tragedy and pride the story would not have been worth reading. The way he twisted the story when they got married was unusual too, as getting married can make life different in a good way, but in this story, not.

Rating:
Summary: teenagers!
Review: i read this book a few times while in high school and picked up on a few of the plays on words. then my high school did it as a play (as most other high schools do) and i was an usher/concession stand type person and had to sit through it many times. what it was truly about started to sink in after all of those viewings. in the play romeo is seventeen and juliet is fourteen. before they even meet romeo is lovesick over his dear rosalyn, but once he sees juliet at the party he immediately takes a liking to her. he bases all of his feelings on her physical beauty. they never really get to know eachother. they lust after one another and rebelliously marry eachother. then they kill themselves only as overdramatic teenagers, who think the world revolves around them and that they know everything, can. this is not a great love story. it's two teenagers who have crushes on one another taking it to the extreme.

Rating:
Summary: Romeo and Juliet...
Review: I read this book in school and in my opinion the story may be good but the vocabulary was very difficult. You can't read without a dictionary. I had to read like five times a line because I didn't understand a word. It's a very dramatic and romantic play. I like tragedies but this play is very detailed and has a lot of scenes. I would like some day to read the same story but in actual English. If it weren't because of the literature teacher didn't help us understand I think nobody would have understood a thing. It's a very good story. I would recommend to read it but not in old English. Shakespeare's words are weird but romantic and may be too nice for his time. He is very creative and plays a lot with the characters.
It's funny how two different teenagers and from families who hated each other could have love one another. At the end they would have died if instead they had had hated each other because of the quarrel. This tragedy is weird and something different from all of the other plays, and I think that may be that's why It's still famous now a days.

Rating:
Summary: Romeo&Juliet's tragedy
Review: In Verona, an ancient grudge continues to throw new mutinies and violence between the Capulets and the Montagues.Through bad luck,Romeo and Juliet, the young descendents of those two prominent families fall in love at first sight.Believing that this holy relationship will end the feud,they decide to stay together, get secretly married and defy their own fate that will finaly lead to their tragic death.However, this death suceeds in making their love become the most known romance that the first,present and future generations will ever hear about.It's a romantic story with vast and profound meaning.It shows that the true love is the one that struck at first sight not the one that grows gradually.It also demonstrates how a person in this time could act to sacrifice and protect his love.Shakespeare's associations of romanticism are misunderstood,we can see that especialy between love and hate, a wonderful mixture that explaines the tragic end of The two lovers.He shows how much Romeo's passion is true and strong by creating a tension between his overhelming desire and his fear and worry about his soulmate's dignity and destiny.Juliet's thinking about the consequences of her love is more systematical than Romeo's.That doesn't mean that she is less romantic than him but simply more mature eventhough she is fourteen and he is seventeen.Shakespeare another time uses lot of foreshadowing like when Friar Lawrence says,"Just as healing herbs can kill love also can lead to death".I really fell in love with this sentence.During the whole time I spent reading this story,a big enigm was installed in my mind.I was asking myself about my real opinion about the story.The answer as much as it would look simple for other people as much as it looked hard for me to know.I don't appreciate the story.But I really like the writer's techniques and the way he expresses his personal feelings and thoughts even if they are not realistic at all and they are described with an exagerated pessimistic vision.I also like how he uses words and play with them.But I didn't feel this suspense we usually have in reading a story because I already knew what's going to happen.The story is so sad that we feel where in a continuous funeral.I don't like the age given to our two heroes,they are so young to be able to understand the real meaning of love.As a reader,I feel that the tragedy was due to a stupid reason or in other words an adolescents fantasm and not a strong exceptional love. Also,unlike in the 15th or 16th century a marriage between a fourteen year girl and a seventen year boy is today more common.
As a conclusion,the opinions differ in this kind of situations.Some people will agree with my critics and some people won't.The reason that influenced my opinion is that I prefer realistics stories . In my opinion, every romantic person with vast imagination should read this book .

Rating:
Summary: Romeo & Juliet, a beautiful love story
Review: Romeo and Juliet are the two most known lovers created by William Shakespeare. Their love story is one to be cried for, and it really shows the true meaning of what love is. Many people have claimed and agreed it is the most sad but romantic play ever written, and it really is.
They're a pair of star crossed lovers, who fall in love at first site. Their hopeless love is denied from the very beginning: their families have an awful hatred towards each other which has been everlasting. They go through many tests for them to prove they really love each other: Romeo's best friend dying; Romeo's exile after murdering Mercutio, Juliet's cousin; and finally Romeo learning his dear lover's "death".
Although it has a tragic ending, many people say this story is actually happy, for they both die at the same time, and their love is kept together, for eternity.

Rating:
Summary: Italian Lovers
Review: This might be shakespeare's best. Its certainly more accessible than Hamlet. This doesn't really need another review at all. I write to inform the reader of another monumental book. This may be the most famous story of Italian Lovers. If you like Italy and/or love Stories, I recommend The Betrothed(I Promessi Sposi) by Alessandro Manzoni. Renzo and Lucia(from the book) are almost as famous as Romeo And Juliet. If Shakespeare and Leo Tolstoy ever wrote a book together, their book would look like The Betrothed. Yes, its THAT GREAT!

Rating:
Summary: Italian Lovers
Review: This might be shakespeare's best. Its certainly more accessible than Hamlet. This doesn't really need another review at all. I write to inform the reader of another monumental book. This may be the most famous story of Italian Lovers. If you like Italy and/or love Stories, I recommend The Betrothed(I Promessi Sposi) by Alessandro Manzoni. Renzo and Lucia(from the book) are almost as famous as Romeo And Juliet. If Shakespeare and Leo Tolstoy ever wrote a book together, their book would look like The Betrothed. Yes, its THAT GREAT!