Authors: Suzanne Selfors
My reaction was dismay. My summer was going to be a total nightmare. I do not wish to offend you, but at that time in my life your writing was as unappealing to me as cod-liver oil. Your sentences were completely incomprehensible. Your plays seemed ridiculous
--
men in tights walking around with thick British accents, saying things like, "To be or not to be," and "Now is the winter of our discontent."
Blah, blah, blah.
Our director told us that the play we were going to perform was
Romeo and Juliet.
I looked around the room. We were all kids. Was this guy
nuts
? How could he expect kids to perform Shakespeare? And why would we want to?
But then he told us the story. He told us about two families that hated each other and two people who loved each other, and about how they died because there was no way for them to live freely. And then he said, "And these two people were the same age as some of you." And that's when your story came alive for me.
Many years have passed, but your play still holds a special place in my heart. When I decided to put a modern twist on your story, I did it with the hope that it would help new readers discover your play. By introducing a modern narrator (Mimi), I was able to add a modern perspective. By going behind the scenes, I could highlight the aspect of your play that intrigued me the most
--
namely, Juliet's plight.
For the twenty-first-century Western reader, the idea of being forced into a marriage at age thirteen is horrific. The ideas that as a woman you could not speak your own mind, choose your own husband, or choose your own career go against everything we are taught as girls. Juliet Capulet was a prisoner of her family, her status, and her own body. Her choice to marry Romeo in secret was not just an act of
rebellion,
it was an act of social, political, and religious treachery
--
for she was acting against the laws of blood, state, and church. In the end, the only way she could find freedom was through suicide.
For me, then and now, the tragedy of the story is that Romeo and Juliet were destroyed by a society that wanted them to act in a prescribed way, when their souls longed for something else. Though modern teens may live under a different set of rules than fifteenth-century teens, they still feel the suffocating strain of society's expectations
--
to succeed, succeed,
succeed
! Failure is not allowed in this achievement-oriented culture. This generation of parents may not be arranging marriages, but they are setting expectations that can feel equally imprisoning.
And so, Mr. Shakespeare, though our stories diverge in some ways, at the heart of each is this powerful question: should we allow others to write our stories, or should we write them ourselves?
Your
admiring reader,
***
The following scene appeared in the very first draft of
Saving Juliet.
The
setting
is a room in Capulet House. Mimi has just arrived and still believes that she is dreaming. An old serving man leads her to a room where she is supposed to wait for Lady Capulet.
In this scene I was trying to illustrate the confinement and boredom of an upper-class woman's life. Also, I was experimenting with language--still not sure whether
I
should try to sound "Old Worldly" or be modern. In the end,
I
chose the latter.
Though this scene is entertaining, it slowed the pace of my story, so I cut it. It would have appeared in Chapter 8 of the final book had I kept it.
I stepped into a room thick with the smell of competing perfumes. Four benches sat in a semicircle in front of an unlit stone fireplace, and upon those benches sat seven women, all dressed in lavender and gold.
"Introducing Mimi of Manhattan," the old man said. "Just arrived for the party and newly robbed." He bowed to me and exited.
Seven sets of hands laid down their embroidery and seven heads turned my way. A funny pillbox hat sat atop each head, tied in place with a ribbon. I looked around, wondering if Juliet was present, but no one seemed young enough. I smiled and waited and since no one spoke, I said, "Hello."
One of the women, her neck held stiff in a high collar, patted a vacant spot on her bench. I sat beside her. My bench-mate's eyes bulged like a goldfish's. Her hair was pulled into a tight bun and golden ringlets hung in front of her ears. I never realized that a dream could include so many details.
"Is Juliet here?" I asked.
"Nay.
She's in her chamber. Did he say newly robbed?" she asked in a high voice. I nodded and her eyes bulged further. "Pray thee, is that the reason thy gown is torn and muddied? Did the robbers molest you? Is thy virginity still intact?"
The other six women cocked their heads, waiting for my reply. My virginity was not a subject I wanted to focus on. Look, it's not that I was embarrassed by my virginity. Given the choice, I would choose to wait until someone loved me and proclaimed his love and I loved him back and proclaimed my love and all that good stuff. Then I'd have a decision to make. But I hadn't even come close to having to make a decision. You see the difference?
"They didn't molest me," I said. "But they took my traveling cases."
The women collectively sighed with disappointment. "Oh, how dull," one complained. "The least you could have done was to fabricate a story to entertain us."
"Aye, the least."
"Lativia," a woman with a mole on her nose said. My bench-mate looked up. "Lativia, go and see if anyone doth approach."
"You know I don't approve," Lativia told her.
"Lativia!"
Lativia got up and scurried to the door, her velvet skirts swishing as she went. She opened it and peered out. "Not a soul," she announced. Upon the door's closing, each woman reached under her skirt and pulled out a book. Without another word to me, they began to read. "I detest reading," Lativia whispered, returning to our bench. "But they read all the time. If caught, they shall be punished."
"For reading?
Why?" I asked.
She scooted closer, almost killing me with her perfume. "Lord Capulet sayeth that women should only
learn
subjects which are womanly in nature." Lativia picked up her embroidery hoop and showed it to me. "I'm stitching a Capulet crest." Each of the other embroidery hoops held Capulet crests as well, in various degrees of completion. "To
maketh
his lordship proud," she told me, pulling a golden thread through the cloth.
"Oh, shut up, Lativia. You disturb my concentration. I'm reading Petrarch."
"This shall be my twelfth crest," Lativia whispered. "I waste no time with reading."
"Waste time?" An older woman with a slight mustache snapped her book shut and waved it at Lativia. "Foolish girl
. 'Tis embroidery that wastes time.
Petrarch wrote that 'tis the duty of each individual to strive for excellence and individuality. How shalt we accomplish this if we sit inside all day and know nothing of the world? Did God not
giveth
us minds, too?"
"Shhh," one of the women said. "You blaspheme."
Funny how dreams can include stuff you never knew you knew. I had never read Petrarch. But he sounded very interesting.
The mustached woman lowered her voice. "Just yesterday morn, my son asked my husband why the church doth forbid Copernicus. My husband did not know the answer because he hasn't read Copernicus. Well, I know the answer."
A few women gasped.
"How?
Dare you to read it?"
"Fie! What? Of course not," the mustached woman said with a guilty expression. "But I have heard others speak of it. My point being that I could not tell my son that I knew the answer to his question because I am not allowed to possess more knowledge than my thickheaded husband. So I pretend to be stupid and happy with my embroidery day after day after day. Is that what you want for your daughter?
For all our daughters?"
"You protest too much," Lativia said meekly.
"Tell us, Hortense, why
dost the church
forbid Copernicus?" an old lady requested.
We all leaned in. Hortense looked around,
then
raised her painted eyebrows. "Because Copernicus asserts that it is the sun and not the earth that stands in the center of all things. That the earth actually spins around the sun."
"How indeed, if the earth is actually spinning, do we not all feel dizzy?" the old woman asked.
"I sometimes feel dizzy," Lativia said.
"If the earth doth spin, why do we not fall off?"
"Gravity," I blurted. They fell silent, putting down their books and looking to me for an explanation. I strained my brain to remember what I knew about gravity. "Gravity is a force that keeps everything in its place."
"Like the Catholic Church," Hortense said.
"Not quite. Let me show you. May I borrow your book for a moment?" I held out my hand and Hortense passed me her book. "Things can leave the earth and travel toward the sky." I stood and threw the book up in the air. "But eventually, everything comes back down." I caught the book.
"Gravity."
"What about a bird?" Lativia asked.
"It also returns if it stops flapping its wings," I said, throwing the book again to make my point. "Everything eventually returns." I handed the book back to Hortense, whose eyes held a newfound respect. In my dream, I was a genius. How fun.
"What dost thou read in Manhattan, Mimi?" the woman with the mole asked.
"Mostly plays.
Lots and lots of plays."
Slow yet determined footsteps echoed in the hallway and all seven heads turned to face the door. The women gasped and tucked their books into the tops of their thick stockings. The unanimous reaction made me a bit nervous, like I was about to get caught doing something I wasn't supposed to be doing. Each woman quickly retrieved her embroidery and posed with needle in hand. The door opened and a tall woman with a plucked hairline entered.
Such a strange thing to do to one's forehead.
Everyone stood and curtsied and said, "Good day, Lady Capulet."
***
1. Mimi fights for her right to choose her own path and become a doctor. Juliet fights to avoid an unwanted marriage. Even though parents and other figures in your life try to look out for your best interests, sometimes they do not see your wants and desires. In your life, have you ever had to fight against someone in power to gain your independence?
2. When Mimi begins to have a panic attack, she chants "
om
ya." What do you do when you are stressed? Do you think Mimi fakes her stage fright?
3. The play's feud began when Lord Montague rejected Lady Capulet. Can you think of any other times, in history, literature, or your own life, when holding a grudge has led to a drawn-out conflict?
4. Mimi is very concerned with helping Juliet find her happy ending, even when it may mean that she won't be able to get home. If you were Mimi, would you have helped Juliet? Have you ever helped anyone even though it could have hurt yourself?
5. When Mimi kisses Benvolio, she is bored with the kiss. But when she kisses Troy, she has an intense reaction. Juliet is only revived when Romeo kisses her. Do you believe in true love's kiss?
6. How do you feel about Mimi's mother? Do you think it was fair of her to take the money from Mimi's trust fund? Do you think she changes at all in the end? How does she compare to Lady Capulet?
7. Can you think of anyone like Rosaline who has dedicated his or her life to a cause? Do you think you could ever do this?
8. Romeo and Juliet are often described as "star-crossed lovers," meaning that their fate was predetermined by forces beyond their control. Do you believe in
fate,
or that one's own choices determine the future?
Or a combination of the two?
Explain.
9. Why do you think Lady Capulet betrayed Mimi and Troy in the end? And why did she let Romeo and Juliet go? Do you think she is evil, or does she have some positive characteristics?
10. At the end of the book, Troy and Mimi discover they hadn't really known each other prior to their adventure. Their opinions were based on appearances before taking the time to get to know each other. Has this happened in your own life? Have you judged someone without knowing his or her true character? Did you change your opinion after you got to know this person?
11. Mimi says we have to pick up a quill and write our own story. What do you think she is trying to tell us?
12. If you could go back in time, what time period would you go to? Why? If you could enter a story, which one would you choose? Why?
13. If you were casting the movie version of
Saving Juliet,
who would you cast in the leading roles? Why?
14. Shakespeare's Verona is a fictional setting in both
Romeo and Juliet
and
Saving Juliet,
Which details of the setting are your favorite? Is there anything about this time period that makes you happy to be living in the twenty-first century? Why or why not?
15. How does this story compare to Shakespeare's
Romeo and Juliet'!
What do you think happens to Romeo and Juliet after they leave Verona?