Reading Romeo and Juliet and Romeo and Juliet quotes As a Story of Parental Misunderstanding

1. Reading Romeo and Juliet and Romeo Juliet quotes as a story of typical teen and parent
tension
Will Smith was right: sometimes parents just don’t understand. Of course, he said that before he himself
was a parent of Karate Kid Jayden and Whip-My-Hair Willow, but we digress. Parental misunderstanding
is a common angst-ridden teen’s complaint, but it is a complaint that is well founded. Chalk it up to
hormones, generation gaps or just pure angst a la Catcher in The Rye rebellion. It’s still a truth that
parents, kids, psychiatrists and even fancy pants neuroscientists find undeniable.
Besides The Fresh Prince, another famous wordsmith named Will also understood the disconnects
between parents and their pubescent progeny. Of course, we’re talking about the bard himself, Will
Shakespeare. Shakespeare, a perennial favorite among high school English teachers, appreciated young
adults that were in conflict with the wishes and expectations of their parents. Heck, he capitalized on that
tension by turning it into classic tragedies. Of course, the ultimate story of parents not understanding is
his iconic masterpiece Romeo and Juliet. Talk about family conflicts! A play about two star-crossed 13-
year-olds from feuding families, who despite their obligations to their parents, pursue their love and get
hitched. Of course, as everyone knows, it wasn’t happily ever after. Both die by suicide after when an
impetuous and preoccupied Romeo misses a simple message, a type of problem that probably wouldn’t
exist today with all the Twittering and texting going on. If only Romeo and Juliet was 400 something years
later, we’d have a completely different story.
The cause of Romeo and Juliet’s tragedy, of course, is their parents and families. Montague and Capulets
might as well be the Bloods and the Crypts for the two teenaged lovers. What’s more, Juliet’s parents are
trying to get her to marry someone else, threatening to disown her if she does not. Alas, her heart lies
with Romeo, whose name alone causes her much pain, as evidenced in one of the the oft-recited Romeo
and Juliet quotes from the famous balcony scene, “Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo?”
Shakespeare’s sympathies clearly lie with the two lovers and their tragic ends, while showing the parents
to be unforgiving and unyielding people who are largely to blame for their children’s suicides. Perhaps
that is why Romeo and Juliet, besides its relative ease and accessibility, is often high school-ers first
experience with Shakespeare because it speaks to their frustration of what they consider tyrannical
parents. Of course, it could also show angst-y teens that issues over curfews and grades are small
potatoes compared to what Romeo and Juliet faced. Nonetheless, the parents are cast as the
unintentional villains of the play, with their grudges imposed on their children causing them not only strife
but ultimately grief. The parents do not know or could not even understand Romeo and Juliet’s love that
was so explicitly forbidden. Their demand for hate over love is the ultimate example of parent’s just not
understanding.