Romeo and Juliet is one of the best-known of all of Shakespeare’s plays. The tale of star-crossed lovers has made the names Romeo and Juliet synonymous with hopeless love stories, though their questionable decision-making and shallow view of love has prevented many from completely embracing their story as a romance. What is clear is that while the stories in the character all play lip service to the idea of family, community, and clan loyalties, they all act in their own self-interest in an effort to pursue their own happiness. Focusing on that would be a good way to get started on individuals pursuing happiness. Here are some angles you could pursue:
Romeo’s pursuit of Juliet is not about a deep love, but about his fickle interest in pursuing “hot girls” as evidenced by his mooning over Rosalind at the beginning of the play.
Juliet’s fascination with Romeo seems rooted in Romeo’s seeming obsession with her, rather than any feelings about Romeo as a person, because she does not know him as a person.
Tybalt is the catalyst for much of the conflict in Romeo and Juliet, but he does not seem distressed by the conflict. Instead, he seems to enjoy it. How much of the conflict in Romeo and Juliet is manufactured by Tybalt for his own enjoyment?
While many of the characters in Romeo and Juliet seem motivated by their own pursuit of personal happiness, one of them stands out from the rest of them: Lady Capulet. Lady Capulet is not sympathetic to her daughter’s concerns about an…