How Romeo and Juliet are relevant to life today

Years, decades and centuries have past and yet a play written in the 16th century is still related to how we live our life today, in the 21st century. Romeo and Juliet may have things that can’t possibly exist today but many fail to realize the significance the play has. ‘Romeo and Juliet’ is about humans and human emotions we feel. As long as we have our emotions this play will be relevant to human life. Romeo and Juliet effects love, life and death and the society the world lives in.

Love plays a significant part in the play. Romeo and Juliet teaches about love and the things that can come with it. Parents still force their children to marry through arranged marriages. Children sometimes feel pressured to do what their parents ask of them. Having a parent that’s disappointed can be worse than having one who’d angry. Proof of this lies in the story of Bosko and Admira. He was a Serb and she was a Muslim. They came from warring religions, similar to Romeo and Juliet, who were from warring families, their love was forbidden and they died for it. In the play, loves conquered nearly all obstacles. They were at war, but love still won the battle. Love is the point of the play but sometimes love can be overshadowed by other things like death.

Death took so many lives in the play, just as it does today. People have died in tragedies, car accidents, suicide, or by natural causes. The one thing that remains common among these events is that they leave grieving people behind. Many people in the world grieve for the people they have lost and each person grieves differently. You see on the news, people that are angry, sad, and finding their own way to deal with their problems. In the play, some died and it was evident after these deaths how their loved ones grieved. Lady Capulet was hysterical after Tybalt’s death, while the prince was angry over Mercutio’s and Paris’s death. The play teaches how people react differently to a situation and how life can be different in different situations.

The Capulets and Montagues live in a feudal system. In the society they live in they are Gods and their servants are pitiful mortals. Though the feudal system sounds medieval, there are many things like it in today’s world, such as the caste system. The caste system is based on heredity. It more famous in India and your caste is decided by birth and who your parents are. It can’t be changed. Romeo and Juliet were born into wealthy families and even after Romeo was banished, he was still given money. The Capulets and Montagues, because of the feudal system know their servants must be obedient. When the nurse was objective she was ignored and told to be quiet. Afterwards she turned on Juliet, reassuming her role as a servant of the feudal system.

The things mentioned above may seem insignificant and deal with issues that are nearly nonexistent in the western society. The greatest gift Romeo and Juliet can give is to teach about society and the people living in it. When it comes down to it, society will always be the same. A play written over 3 centuries ago, has the same moral values, society has to today, all over the world, which proves that society will always have the same moral backbone throughout all time.