Reading Shakespeare
by Kamala Sarup
Kathmandu, Nepal, September 19 — William Shakespeare's work revolves around love, life, failure, conflict and
companionship. No wonder he is hailed as one of the greatest poet and writer of all times.
The play 'Romeo Juliet' has a feeling of love and desire while the theme of love, humanity, sacrifice and companionship
is permanent. It is the play where the Juliet character desires to be with her love Romeo. Juliet's feelings and
promises, made for love is "sacrifice".
The word failure is such a big gulf inlife for Romeo and Juliet from where they constantly try to escape. This love has
no end. This crying has no end. There is no solution except to get emotionally close and drop tears incessantly. Romeo
and Juliet fell instantly in love with each other.
The meaning of the word 'love' is not only meant to be read, written and spoke but also to be understood as having a
purpose like to imagine and preserve the way Romeo and Juliet did. The word preserve should be understood with some
caution because if one imagines it superficially then it depicts more pain than happiness.
Romeo and Juliet is a tragic play written by William Shakespeare early in his career as a writer. It is essentially
about two teenage star-crossed lovers whose deaths ultimately unite their feuding households. It was among Shakespeare's
most popular play during his life and along with Hamlet, is one of the most frequently performed play. Today, the title
characters are regarded as archetypal young lovers.
According to the Wikipedia, the year 1600 to about 1608 are often labelled as Shakespeare's "tragic period" of writings
as during that period, he mostly wrote tragedies, and from about 1608 to 1613, mainly tragicomedies, also called as
romances.
The background and setting of Romeo Juliet is beautiful and painfully honest. It also shows, how a love relationship
begins, grows and ends. Juliet compares her love with her life of passion, emotions, and sacrifice. Juliet only needs
Romeo's eternal love to survive.
Love can bind hearts. What a thrilling sensation! Shakespeare shows how gradually his characters get dismantled every
moment and then later unite. In an attempt to translate life into a rhythm, Shakespeare always used beautiful words.
It is true that there is so much sorrow in our lives. The meaning of living is to search for love and companionship and
in this emotional moment, I am searching for equality even though there is so much inequality in us. Reading another
Romeo Juliet, Julius Caesar or Macbeth is more joy than I can imagine. These days I have not been able to do any special
work except read and re-read Shakespeare.
Everywhere there is frustration, sadness and gloom, but here I am reading Shakespeare and enjoying every bit of it.
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This article was published in UPI Asia. Kamala Sarup is an editor for www.mediaforfreedom.com. Her specialties are in-depth reporting and writing stories on peace and anti-war issues, women, terrorism, democracy
and development. Some of her publications include: Women's Empowerment in South Asia, Nepal; Prevention of Trafficking
in Women Through Media; Efforts to Prevent Trafficking in for Media Activism. She has also written two collections of
stories.