A Modern Tragedy
Romeo and Juliet died for each other. Though we know that it’s fiction, there are many real life examples of star-crossed lovers who have committed suicide because they couldn’t be together. Even in today’s “duty free” (and guilty free) society, we still come across the occasional teenager who kills himself or herself because, like Juliet, their only love sprang from their only hate.
The beauty of Romeo & Juliet (one of my favourite plays) is that the story ends when the lovers are dead. They were young, beautiful and very much in love. Today’s Capulets and Montagues, however, have a lot less influence over their children’s love lives. They can object, they can scold, they can even threaten. The modern Romeo and Juliet can ignore all the real and imagined obstacles in the tortuous path of their true love and just elope with some help from a budget airline.
A few years later, the once “ready to die for each other” couple are no longer fighting their parents. Instead, they are fighting over the house and the children. Yes. Divorce. This sort of twist in the plot can break the necks of those watching the drama unfold from Day 1; the people who have wept for the couple; those who gave them moral support when they faced disapproving glances from every direction. Now, the audience feels like it has wasted all its tears. What on earth happened?
The most witty cynic the world has known, Oscar Wilde, once said that every woman is a rebel, and usually in wild revolt against herself. Sure, Wilde was a homosexual who had something against women, but for argument sake, does the modern Juliet somehow deliberately go for a man her parents would object to because she is a rebel at heart? Then, when the fight with her parents is over, she turns her attention to her husband? It’s a chilling thought, but not a totally implausible one.
Then, on the virtual streets of Verona, Romeo opens the scene nursing his heart which was wounded by one Rosalind - the woman her loved so deeply before he met Juliet. Aha! With nasty things like the internet and online dating, could the modern Romeo still have time to cry over a failed romance when the next target could be just a click away? And with even nastier things like fast food and travelators, can the modern Juliet remain beautiful even after Romeo has grown into a dirty old man?
The questions just pile up when we think about it. Undying love is really a difficult thing to vow to nowadays even though you may think that you are ready to die for each other when the whole world is against you. Once this fight is over, another may start. Keep your necks braced for more twists in the tale.
