My take on: "Romeo and Juliet" by William Shakespeare (Billy Shakes)

Hello Readers.

Williams Shakespeare's (aka Billy Shakes) "Romeo and Juliet" is arguably the most over-taught piece of literature out there. That being said, I feel it is necessary to teach this piece of literature so that it can be remembered. I've been taught this piece of literature growing up in the public schooling system and I felt it always could have been taught better or at least differently. Like always, Billy Shakes offers readers the chance of romance through the telling of "Romeo and Juliet." It's crazy to think that either love like this was a thing or if Billy Shakes was this overly-romantic individual. To fall in love this hard, this fast, is unheard of these days, but the underlying message of romance isn't. This being said, simply reading this piece of literature and then having students write an essay on it doesn't sound fun or interesting at all. I'd propose a teacher having students connect this with pop culture by creating their own graphic novel of the story, or even acting out the story as a class for an audience. It's one thing to simply read this and forget it, but this piece of literature is a classic and arguably the most well-known story for a reason. It's up to the teacher to think outside the box to help students better understand the story or, at least, retain it long enough to care. Middle English isn't the most exciting thing to listen to or read for that matter. If students could take a few scenes and paraphrase it into a rap or a song, this could help students better understand the story by modernizing it. All-and-all, Billy Shakes killed it with this story, I just feel as teachers the potential for readicide is prominent within this piece of literature. There are more stories or sonnets by Billy Shakes that are just as good as "Romeo and Juliet" arguably. I just hope that teachers recognize this and teach pieces of literature by William Shakespeare differently. 

Cheers.

Ryan