Romeo and Juliet (Folger Shakespeare Library)
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Romeo and Juliet (Folger Shakespeare Library) Customer Reviews
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♥♥♥♥♥
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too good
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First of all, before I begin actually talking about the story itself, I congratulate Folger's edition for providing summaries in the beginning of each act and definitions of some words. You see, this edition is rather helpful as the story is located on the right pages and definitions and plot synopsis is on the left. This is for the people who cannot understand old English!
Anyways, this was the first Shakespeare book I have ever read, and it is probably the same for all high school students. Obviously I know everyone knows that this is about a love story, so I won't bother mentioning that. I will add, however, that Shakespeare is a master at writing tragic dramas. He was also somewhat witty. It seems that if one pays close attention and reads the prologue, one will find out all that will happen in the plot. An explanation could be because that this was a play and people actually acted his stories out. Well, considering the times, it would not be presumptuous to say that during those times, the more talkative people would still be talking after the play begins, he uses the prologue to hush his audience, and naturally nobody would ever really pay attention to the prologue.
Set around the Renaissance and in northern Italy, the play begins rather comically with sexual allusions and a big ruckus. You have to remember, that not only was Shakespeare's goal to write, but to entertain and make people laugh. He has many intended puns weaved into his story, which are really quite funny, if one reads hard enough.
Shakespeare's forte is weaving a lot of imagery and figurative language in his dialogue. He would paint Juliet as the beautiful, but strong and determined woman bordering between the age of child and adulthood, a teenager. One can see that she is a rather rational thinker, whereas Romeo is impulsive and rash acting only on his emotions and disregarding the consequences. This was the thing that bugged me the most, Romeo's character, although he is a protagonist, I found it impossible to like him, rather I liked his best friend the most, Mercutio. He is the witty prankster who has to die because of Romeo's impulsive thinking, he seems to be the mediator between Romeo and his irrational love, always keeping him in check.
This book is not very long, but the contents are quite deep, there is so much going on in each of Shakespeare's rhythmic sentences, that one just needs to stop and admire how much he can cram into just one sentence, it is just amazing. This makes for a very high re-readability.
Anyone who has not yet read this book is simply deprived, and anyone who has chosen not to read it has sinned! (don't take this too seriously, I am just exaggerating so you guys get my point) So what are you waiting for? Enlighten yourself and discover the poetry in Shakespeare's iambic writing.
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Romeo and Juliet (Folger Shakespeare Library) Books In Print, Audio Books.