why they killed themselves...
I remember always thinking - like back in HS and whatnot - how overdramatic Romeo and Juliette were for killing themselves. Like, ok, the person you’re in love with dying is obviously a terrible thing but killing yourself on the spot is indeed pretty overdramatic. But thinking about it now…even though the focus in both pop culture and lit class is always on their “iconic” love story and how they couldn’t live without each other (and their speeches in the death scene support this)…it’s really not just that.
Like, no wonder Romeo kills himself, honestly. In a span of a few days: his best friend dies; he has to go into exiled and is separated from his home, family and friends; the girl he’s in love with dies; AND he’ll probably have go back into/stay in exile still. Like. That is an incredible amount of grief and isolation for anyone, not to mention a 16-17 year old to handle.
And Juliette… has the dead boyfriend and dead cousin, who, IIRC she did love, and while she doesn’t have the exile part, they’re marrying her off to a dude she doesn’t like, i.e. she’s living in anticipation of being raped repeatedly aka “marital duties.” And she’s like, what, 13?
So yea. Makes sense.