Romeo and Juliet Theme of Youth

"Youth in this play is a separate nation," writes literary critic Frank Kermode. In the play, Romeo and Juliet's youthful passion conflicts with the values of their feuding parents and their more mature advisors. Juliet ignores her Nurse, who advises her to marry Paris after Romeo is banished. Romeo and Juliet ignore Friar Laurence's warning to slow down and to stop rushing into love and, consequently, their youthful passion propels them towards their tragic end. Thinking Juliet is dead, Romeo immediately commits suicide. But Juliet has only been feigning death to escape her parents' anger. She, too, commits suicide when she realizes that Romeo is dead. Whether the values of the old or the young (or the tension between them) are most to blame for the lovers' tragic deaths is a question the play poses to audiences and readers.

1. What values do the young characters emphasize in the play? What about the older generation?
2. When do young and old characters come into conflict? Over what?
3. Both the Friar and the Nurse are old, yet they make Romeo and Juliet's hasty young marriage possible. Are the Friar and the Nurse on the side of the old or the young?
4. Is Romeo and Juliet's tragedy the fault of the old people or the young people? The values of the old or the values of the young?

Romeo and Juliet's tragedy is the result of the inability of the older generation to understand the passion and commitment of the younger.

Romeo and Juliet are doomed by their own youthful impulsiveness, which their wiser mentors are not able to restrain.