Day 49: What I Learned: Romeo and Juliet

Sculpture of Romeo and Juliet at entrance to Delacorte Theatre in Central Park (which also features another sculpture of Prospero and Miranda from The Tempest). WHY IS JULIET SO NAKED? Sigh. Maybe I'm too old for Romeo&Juliet...I keep wanting to tell those crazy kids to put their damn clothes on and go back home with their parents already! 

Of all of Shakespeare's plays, this is probably the one I remember best from the first time I read it. Actually, I'd probably read it at least three times before now, so it's no wonder that I remembered it so well. Plus, it was a play that really spoke to me as a twelve-to-seventeen-year-old, for obvious reasons. It's a play that will probably "speak" to 12- to 17-year-olds for years to come. This play is MADE for love-sick teenagers (for them, about them).

Of course, as an adult, all those flowery speeches that I thought were SO romantic when I was a teenager seem ridiculous now. The language is still pretty, but all I can think is, "You just met! You're only kids! Listen to your parents and get back to bed! ALONE!" Then again, their parents in the play would have had them married off at that age, just to other people, so maybe their frantic professions of love were understandable. 

Lesson: Be careful who you forbid your children to date. Those little fuckers will end up getting married and killing themselves. 

On a related note, I feel very old now.