Why Shakespeare's Romeo And Juliet Is So Popular As A Symbol Of Love

Romeo than Juliet (Commons Wikimedia)

JAKARTA - People commemorate February 14 as the day of love or Valentine. Speaking of love, one of the top-of-mind romantic stories is Romeo and Juliet by the legendary writer William Shakespeare. The question is, why is the story that has existed since the 16th century still popular today?

Before answering that question, let's review a little of the bloody love story of Romeo and Juliet. In the synopsis summarized from shakespeare.org.uk, the story of Romeo and Juliet tells the story of a young bride who falls in love but is hindered because their two families are hostile to each other.

The story is set in Verona, Italy. The story begins with a road battle between the Montague family and Capulet. Between the two families' enmity emerged the seeds of love from members of the Montague family, namely Romeo Montague on Juliet Capulet. Even though Juliet was going to be married off by her father to a Paris County nobleman.

His name is also love. Juliet chose to follow her heart. He was assisted by his servants to arrange for himself and Romeo to get married. In the middle of the process towards their wedding day, an incident arose which resulted in the two families clashing even harder.

At that time, Romeo wanted to stop the street fighting between the two families. Unfortunately, that only resulted in the death of Juliet's own cousin, Tybalt. Because of that incident, Romeo's hope to meet Juliet is getting farther. But they didn't give up. Juliet goes through a plan made by the Friar - a character who is told to help Romeo and Juliet meet.

The plan was quite extreme, namely, to fake Juliet's death. When the plan begins, the play's message doesn't reach Romeo. He believed Juliet was dead. Powerless with this situation, Romeo ends his life in Juliet's fake grave.

Then, Juliet wakes up from the artificial tomb and sees Romeo's body lying lifeless. Seeing his lover die, he then commits suicide. From this incident, the two grieving families agreed to end their enmity.

Romeo and Juliet (Commons Wikimedia)

Popular until now

The story of the legendary writer Shakespeare lasts until this very second. Almost every story that describes a romance between two people is associated with that story. So why did this happen?

Actor Paul Kiernan in his writing, explains why the story of Romeo and Juliet is so popular. One of the reasons is because the story has become the teaching material for language high school teachers in England. One of the reasons high school teachers in England feel compelled to teach her story is because "Romeo and Juliet are quite simple compared to other stories," says Kiernan.

In addition, according to Kiernan, people like this drama because it has a lot of good dialogue to quote. In addition, what makes this story popular is the glorification of the iconic scene where Romeo climbs the balcony of Juliet's palace, even though in the original drama script there is no mention of the balcony.

Apart from all the iconic quotes or scenes in Romeo and Juliet's romance, Shakespears' masterpiece does contain high literary value, especially about poetry. "There were some great characters and beautiful poetry, remember when Romeo and Juliet first met, it was a perfect sonnet," said Kiernan.