EDITED ESSAY

The Book Romeo and Juliet by Shakespeare is about 2 families that hate each other, (Montages and Capulets) one day a girl named Juliet Capulet and a boy named Romeo Montague met and instantly fell in love. They where in love so much that they ended up killing themselves so that they could be together forever. The way Romeo and Juliet acted towards each other is actually very similar to modern day lovers. Today many people show a large amount of affection towards each other much like Romeo and Juliet did.

In modern day Romeo and Juliet could be seen as an odd couple, there are some different things about the way they acted back then and today, for example Juliet would most likely not be forced to marry someone, and she would have a choice. This would make it so Romeo and Juliet would never have to kill themselves, and there would most likely be no family feud that prohibits 2 people to marry each other from the other family. So if Romeo and Juliet meet in a modern 21 century setting the would most likely be able to marry each other and be happy together, and not kill themselves for their love. But in all the book and movies are similar and the way Romeo and Juliet act is not much different to modern day books like the Hunger Games and modern day couples.

The newer version of Romeo and Juliet that takes place in “Verona Beach” (LA) the characters are presented as modern day people that carry around guns and drive cars, but talk like Romeo and Juliet (the book) and they have modern day conflicts and problems. One thing that the movie does really well in is showing how much Romeo and Juliet love each other, and shows it in a more modern version. Like the balcony scene, there is a security guard that is watching cameras to make sure no trespassers come in; this movie version of the book makes Romeo and Juliet seen like kids that live in the 21-century and not hundreds of years ago.

One example of lovers in modern daytime compared to Romeo and Juliet is Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Melarik from the Hunger Games. In Romeo and Juliet, Romeo and Juliet are described as star crossed lovers, and in the Hunger Games Katniss and Peeta are called the “Star crossed lovers from District 12” Also in the first Hunger Games Katniss and Peeta are willing to kill each other to prove that they love each other so much that if one of them couldn’t come out to the games, although Peeta and Katniss don’t really love each other, and they are just doing this to both get out of the hunger games together. By the end of the book both Katniss and Peeta get out of the games, unlike Romeo and Juliet.

All in all today’s Romeos and Juliet's are not much different than the ones read about in the book Romeo and Juliet. In fact many authors from the 21-century use a similar set up of two lovers (star crossed lovers) such as the Hunger Games.