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classics_and_chamomile 's review for:
Romeo and Juliet: Oxford School Shakespeare
by William Shakespeare
I must say, I was really expecting better from this play.
There is a lot of "hype" around Romeo and Juliet, and I thought I would like it a lot. I'm a sucker for romance, and I thought that I'd really enjoy seeing a "true love" dynamic between the two before everything went south. I felt safer armed with the knowledge that things really did go wrong in the end, and wasn't left thinking that everything would be okay but there were still 70 pages left in the book like in Lovely War...
However, none of my expectations were really met. Romeo annoyed me to no end, and was over-dramatic for no reason other than to express his naïveté. Juliet was much more sensible, but became completely hysterical in the end. Mercutio was temperamental and hotheaded, and although he is many people's favorite character, I disliked him greatly. I think the only character whom I remotely liked was Benvolio. The Friar's soliloquies were long-winded and a pain to read; the Nurse just made me cringe; the metaphors, on their own, were beautiful—but when there were five of them in quick succession, they lost their sheen. The language was really heavy going, and I would say that I have experience with older writing. Actually, Macbeth—which I read last year—was much better.
There were some interesting themes and things to point out, which I do want to include in my review. One thing I found particularly touching was how tired and disillusioned with life both Romeo and Juliet (but particularly the latter) were at the end of the play. The shortened time period made the rapid change in them particularly notable—they went from idealistic, lovestruck youths to exhausted and grief-stricken in the span of just a few weeks (perhaps just one). There were some really lovely metaphors and conceits which make me want to finally pick up Starlight and Moonshine, which is a collection of Shakespeare's poetry about nature. There were some moments where I laughed when Mercutio said something funny—or, more often, when Mercutio tried to be funny and Benvolio just reacted with total confusion.
Overal, I didn't hate this book by any means, but I had higher expectations for it. I think it's hard to criticize too much because this play is just *s0* famous, so expectations will always be a little inflated—but this review is just my honest opinion and this is what I thought!
There is a lot of "hype" around Romeo and Juliet, and I thought I would like it a lot. I'm a sucker for romance, and I thought that I'd really enjoy seeing a "true love" dynamic between the two before everything went south. I felt safer armed with the knowledge that things really did go wrong in the end, and wasn't left thinking that everything would be okay but there were still 70 pages left in the book like in Lovely War...
However, none of my expectations were really met. Romeo annoyed me to no end, and was over-dramatic for no reason other than to express his naïveté. Juliet was much more sensible, but became completely hysterical in the end. Mercutio was temperamental and hotheaded, and although he is many people's favorite character, I disliked him greatly. I think the only character whom I remotely liked was Benvolio. The Friar's soliloquies were long-winded and a pain to read; the Nurse just made me cringe; the metaphors, on their own, were beautiful—but when there were five of them in quick succession, they lost their sheen. The language was really heavy going, and I would say that I have experience with older writing. Actually, Macbeth—which I read last year—was much better.
There were some interesting themes and things to point out, which I do want to include in my review. One thing I found particularly touching was how tired and disillusioned with life both Romeo and Juliet (but particularly the latter) were at the end of the play. The shortened time period made the rapid change in them particularly notable—they went from idealistic, lovestruck youths to exhausted and grief-stricken in the span of just a few weeks (perhaps just one). There were some really lovely metaphors and conceits which make me want to finally pick up Starlight and Moonshine, which is a collection of Shakespeare's poetry about nature. There were some moments where I laughed when Mercutio said something funny—or, more often, when Mercutio tried to be funny and Benvolio just reacted with total confusion.
Overal, I didn't hate this book by any means, but I had higher expectations for it. I think it's hard to criticize too much because this play is just *s0* famous, so expectations will always be a little inflated—but this review is just my honest opinion and this is what I thought!