What is the moral of Romeo and Juliet?

Answer 1

Romeo and Juliet is a play, not a sermon or one of Aesop's fables. Shakespeare did not intend for it to have a "moral", only to entertain. People who watch plays tend to find their own ideas reflected in the play, and so take away their own preconceived notions. Some of the ideas people project into Romeo and Juliet are:

There is more to love than lust. Romeo and Juliet did not take the time to get to know each other and form a deep intimate relationship. They rushed into their relationship. They were also very young to be experiencing love. Even people much older than them do not know what love means. It may have really been true love that was mutually felt by both of them though. (Alternatively: There is more to love than money. Romeo and Juliet had true love; it was Capulet's insistence on an arranged marriage for Juliet that did them in)

Labels mean nothing- Their last names of Capulet and Montague were mere labels, yet these names were what almost kept the two apart. But love saw through that, as Romeo and Juliet saw each other in secrecy and got married. Love sees no barriers. (Alternatively: Labels are important. In thinking that they could ignore the misfortune of their last names, Romeo and Juliet were refusing to face social reality, which caused their doom)

Listen to advice- If the families had listened to the Prince of Verona and made peace, then Mercutio and Tybalt would not have died. If Romeo and Juliet would have listened to the advice given to them by the Friar then they would not have died so young. The Friar cautioned them about acting hasty and irrational. But instead the star-crossed lovers meet the fate of death. (Alternatively: Don't listen to advice. It was the Friar's cockamamie plan that caused the trouble. Should Juliet have taken the Nurse's advice and married Paris? Seriously? Juliet needed to get away from all of these people giving her bad advice and making plans for her life by trying to marry her to a man she didn't even know)

Don't seek revenge- The families sought revenge for things that did not even involve them and happened years ago. They needed to forgive and forget. Yet when both parties are stubborn it takes the death of two young lovers for them to realize that their actions were wrong. Tybalt called Romeo a villain and dared him to fight. With his refusal Mercutio began to fight Tybalt to defend the family name. Romeo tries to stop them, but it is too late when Tybalt kills Mercutio. In anger and guilt Romeo than retaliates and catches Tybalt. In Romeo's rashness Tybalt dies. (Except of course that Tybalt is not really a Capulet, being related to Lady Capulet rather than her husband, and Mercutio is not a Montague and shouldn't give two pins whether Romeo backs away from Tybalt. It's not his family name that is at issue here. The people who get most excited about the feud have no stake in it)

Don't act hastily- This involves the manner in which Romeo and Juliet acted. They should have thought things through first before they jumped into matrimony. Matrimony is a lifetime thing and not just a teenage phase. (Alternatively, strike while the iron is hot, and make hay while the sun shines. There was nothing wrong with them going with the certainty of their love for each other, but they needed to follow it through. They needed to tell their parents and everybody, and if this means living in a trailer court in Mantua, so be it. It's their hesitation to reveal the truth of things that causes the trouble. What if Romeo had said to Tybalt, "I can't fight you because you're my cousin." or Juliet had told her father, "I can't marry Paris because I'm already married to the only son of this incredibly rich guy."? Procrastination was their problem, not haste.)

Answer 2

feuds need to end or be ended by outside influences if they cant be solved internally - before all hell breaks loose - dont pass on your arguments (the fued had nothin to do with R + J so unfair that they had to suffer)

Answer 3

The problem with trying to find moral lessons in Shakespeare's plays is that Shakespeare did not put them there. How people react to what happened to the people in the play has a lot to do with the opinions they bring to it. Thus they find the moral lessons they want to find. For example, some of the moral lessons someone might draw from this play could be:

1. Young people should allow their parents to arrange marriages for them. If Juliet had only had the sense not to get involved with a guy who trespasses in her backyard, she would have been safely alive and married to Paris.

2. Parents should let young people arrange marriages for themselves. If Capulet hadn't trie to force Juliet to marry Paris, she would be alive.

3. Trying to be a peacemaker just gets people hurt. If people are going to fight, let them. If Romeo had only let Mercutio fight Tybalt all would have been well. If Friar Lawrence hadn't got the idea that marrying Romeo and Juliet would end the feud, they wouldn't have been married and the trouble wouldn't have happened.

4. Love ends fighting. The families are reconciled through Romeo and Juliet's love.

5. Don't crash parties. Only go if you're invited. If Romeo had never met Juliet, their lives would have been saved.

6. Pharmacists should be well-paid. If they are poor, they might sell poison.

7. Don't let your daughter leave the house to go to confession. Who knows what crazy things the priest might advise her to do.

8. Don't attempt to perform a citizen's arrest on a man who is a known killer. Paris would have been better off to have run for the watch.

9. Even if you know that your wife is dead and buried, you should keep on believing that she might still be alive.

Romeo and Juliet is not one of Aesop's fables; it was not written to have a trite moral lesson. A sermon intended to drive home a thought like "Don't feud" or "Don't commit suicide" would not have continued to interest people for a year, never mind four hundred plus. The unfortunate chain of events which leads to the deaths of the lovers is, we are reminded, not the result of the evil machinations of a villain like Richard III or Aaron in Titus Andronicus, but of the well-meaning behaviour of everyone, most of the time. Capulet meant well by looking for a good husband for his daughter. Friar Lawrence meant well in uniting these children of warring houses. The Nurse meant well in giving her advice. Romeo, in striving to make peace between his friend and his cousin by marriage, ended up killing both. But his intentions were good. "I thought all for the best."

More than any of the best-known of Shakespeare's tragedies, this tragedy is not precipitated by the villainous actions of anyone. There is no Iago, or Edmund, or Claudius to push the action toward a tragic conclusion. Perhaps the lesson we are meant to take away is that sometimes bad things happen to good people and it is not because of someone else's bad behaviour. The universe is not set up like an Aesop's fable, and we should not expect to find a moral in every tragedy. Sh*t happens.

Answer 4

Hatred is a wasted and stupid emotion with no other purpose than to ruin lives.

Romeo and Juliet the most famous love story in English literature does not make specific moral statements about the relationships between love, society, religion and family but instead it portrays the passion and chaos of being in love.

Answer 5

Since it is not intended to teach lessons, you can get whatever lessons you like out of it. Fathers should not arrange marriages for their daughters without consulting them first. Priests shouldn't marry fourteen-year-olds without their parents' consent. It's wise to purchase a cell phone because messages sent by Friar can go astray. Don't carry swords in public places. Counselling bigamy is a good way to lose someone's trust. Those who live by the sword die by the sword, like Tybalt does. Mickle is the powerful grace that lies in herbs. Pharmacists should be guaranteed a minimum income to keep them honest. You can make up as many more as you like.

Answer 6

There isn't one, or at least no lesson was intended. Romeo and Juliet is a play and is intended to entertain people, not teach them lessons. It is not a sermon. If you want to extract moral lessons from It, you can, but what you are doing is imposing your moral values on the story. If you are opposed to arranged marriages, you will find that the story teaches that young people should be able to choose their mates without worrying about parental approval. If you support arranged marriages, you will find that the story teaches that when children do not obey their parents' wishes in the matter of marriage, disaster results. Even though these two "lessons" are the exact opposite of each other, they can both be extracted from the story.

Answer 7

The message is... that if love is strong enough it can overcome anything, and eventually the two people will find a way to be together.

Answer 8

dont get married young? preetty obvious.