Is Romeo and Juliet worth the effort
- October 23
Hello Readers,
If you had read my introductory post, then would you know that this post will be about a common classical literature book that is commonly seen in classrooms. The book we will be starting with is "Romeo and Juliet" by William Shakespeare. The reason we are starting off with this book is because it is commonly taught in high school classrooms.
Is There Something to Learn from the Overall Story?
When it comes to reading Romeo and Juliet in a high school setting, I do believe that there is something to learn from the story overall. The story of Romeo and Juliet covers a multitude of things, such as the effect society has on people and how not everything goes according to plan.
Another thing that can be learned and taken from this story is the effects of the fifteen hundreds. Since we are living in the twenty first century, we will never know what it was like in the fifteen hundreds. We can only assume from the writings we have of that time period. This includes Romeo and Juliet; the book is written in older English.
This being said there is a lot to take away from older English, it can be hard to translate and at times it can be frustrating to read. Most people when starting out reading Romeo and Juliet have to use a reference or another source to make sure that they are understanding the context. Personally, when I was reading it in high school for my English class after reading an act, I would have to look at SparkNotes to make sure that I was understanding the text.
However, one thing that you can take away from the text is how things were said and done in the time it was written. One of the things that I noticed when it came to the langue was that there was a lot of underlying sarcasm in the text. In one of the opening scenes the characters are fighting, while they are fighting, they use the word "sir" quite frequently. The use of "sir" in this scene is meant to come off as rude and sarcastic. Showing that they don't share respect for one another, in my opinion it is interesting to see examples of this when reading older works.
Another thing that can be taken away and learned from this is that trying to read the text on your own and trying to learn from it will help strengthen and build literacy skills. Working on literacy skills is a very important skill to learn. Having a skill like this can help you interpret the underlining messages in stories and in media.
Can Making the Story Fun Help with the Reading?
When it comes to learning classic literature in a classroom it can be hard to make it interesting and fun for the students. One of the harder things to do it to make the students care about reading the story, hard to me them put in the effort to get their work done. This leaves the question of if it is possible to make reading Romeo and Juliet interesting for the students.
When it comes to my opinion, I do believe that it is possible. Since Romeo and Juliet is a play one of the things that can be done with the students is acting out the play. At first it will be hard to make the students want to act it out and put themselves out there. However, to help the students come out of their shells the teacher can start by acting it out themselves. One thing that can be done to make this more exciting is getting props for the students. Having them set up a scene or simply getting them hats that match the characters. Activities that relate to the story can also be done.
When I was in high school one of the first stories I read was Romeo and Juliet. When first reading the book, it took me awhile to understand what was going on in the story. Some of the wording didn't make sense and there was a lot left up to interpretation. However, one of the things my teacher did was walk us through the sentences and words that didn't make sense. Walking us through the sentences helped me understand the language and the common phrases and metaphors.
As I got older and then read the story again for another one of my classes, it was easier for me to understand and grasp what the story was about. Having read the story again it gave me a newfound appreciation for the story. Since I could now understand the story better than I had before, I could relate more to the characters and understand where they were coming from. Character motivities and actions that once didn't make sense were becoming clear to me.
In Conclusion
In the end, I believe that reading Romeo and Juliet is worth the time and effort. If that is for fun, school, or teaching there is something to learn from it. I believe that there is a reason it still is being taught today even though it came out over four centuries ago. The story consists of moral dilemmas, themes, and historical context that brings the reader in. While studying the play students can also learn how to pick up on thinking critically and analyzing text.
Another thing that the story can provide to students is emotional intelligence. The reason the story can help with emotional intelligence is due to the moral dilemmas that the characters face. Being presented with a moral dilemma can help the reader pick out what is wrong morally and what the better option is. In stories such as these it is important to learn the emotional state of characters to determine why they made the choices they did.
At the end of the day most stories have something to teach the people who read them. However, that doesn't mean that everyone will like a well written book. Sometimes the story doesn't speak to certain readers. Which is why sometimes it is hard to determine if a book is worth a read or not, but in my opinion Romeo and Juliet is worth the time and effort.
Having young people act out this story is a genius way to better understand it. I remember reading this in high school as well, and as English is not my first language, I definitely had a time trying to understand Old English on top of it.
ReplyDeleteI did watch the Romeo and Juliet movie adaptation with Leonardo DiCaprio and Clare Danes before reading it, and even though the language was still hard to digest, the visuals definitely helped me understand the story with the context provided.
Have you seen this adaptation? Personally, I love revisiting it at least once a year.
In high school, my teacher had us choose roles and read each scene. We would select new people every scene, so it was great for participation credit and for comprehension. Also, having a teacher breakdown the language is super important; we don't really talk the same way they did when this was written!
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