MovieChat Forums > Romeo and Juliet (1968) Discussion > What if Romeo and Juliet had lived...

What if Romeo and Juliet had lived...


A hypothetical tale of regret.

They both live, get married and pump out 3 or 4 babies on an artist's income and live in poverty. Juliet grows increasingly hostile towards Romeo, she wishes he would stop dreaming, sniffing flowers, man up and get a real job to support his family. She is also sick and tired of him hanging around with his loutish, d***h**d, loser friends, which he seems to be doing a lot more of lately.

Romeo is sick of Juliet's whining; the baby fat she has gained has made her less sexually appealing...which doesn't really matter because they never have sex anyway. He wishes Juliet would go for a jog instead of sitting on her fat ass and complaining that they have no money and she's bored and sick of spending her days with 4 screaming kids and a bunch of housework in their s*** box rental. He thinks 'well instead of complaining, peel yourself off the couch and get a job, you fat, useless lump'.

Romeo has been avoiding his wife lately and spending more time with his mates reminiscing about the old days when they would roam the streets looking for skanks and gate crashing rich people's parties for some fiiiiiine p***y...the good ol' days.

Both Romeo and Juliet often think if they had their time over they would have done things a lot differently.

Juliet wishes she had of married the older, richer Paris; waited it out until he died and lived like an eccentric princess for the rest of her life instead of marrying this weak, ineffectual, whinny, ponce 'God why can't he be more of a man?'.

Romeo wishes he had of listened to his brain instead of his d**k and married a rich old bird, had her killed (because he probably could have gotten away with it), and lived like a shameless playboy, bedding every hot young 'fair maiden' in 'fair Verona' for the rest of his days.

Both of them sigh and think...ain't love grand?

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lmao

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FLAW:

Both teens came from wealthy families that benefited from the spice/silk trade of the time. Juliet would have brought a large dowry to enrich the new couple's early years, and Romeo would take his place as a businessman inside his family.

If they eventually stopped loving one another, it would not be from lack of money, but loss of interest. Historically couples would age, and then the love simply died out. Divorce was not allowed by the Catholic church, so the marriage continued until death, though extramarital affairs (mistresses) were tolerated.

Next, according to belief of the time, the deceased would spend 10,000 years in purgatory. A widowed wife or husband (or child) would pray for their loved one's soul, in hopes to decrease the time.


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Haha, Leisha, you simply must write a play or at least short story of this. This is exquisitely funny, satirical and very true indeed.

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Thanks mate, perhaps a 21st century makeover for this tale of woe! Suggestions welcome :-)

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Maybe on the eve of the London riots, Juliet's family are rioters and Romeo's are in the police? On second thoughts, no don't make it over, leave it as is so it provides a starker contrast to your "sequel"! I promise you I'll be the first to buy your book. Don't forget to include awful holidays with the kids and the -in laws in Spain, where they don't understand the lingo and just hate everything and each other. Christmas. The economic crisis in Italy, the Costa cruise liner running aground, her captain could be Tybalt. And so forth.

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You're a cack!

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Funny, one can only wonder how the story would have turned out down the road. I think they would still be happy as the years went by.

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You, my friend, are awesome! XD

What I find funny is that a lot of people never imagine that Romeo and Juliet would be unhappy if they had lived. The thing is- it wasn't really love but lust and a lot of people can't see that.

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I agree!

When you're young everything it terribly dramatic because you have no real life experience to compare it to.

It was indeed lust and sooner or later reality would have set in.

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Yes, and the new would have worn off pretty fast considering both would have been cast off by their families and have neither a pot to _ _ _ _ in nor a window to throw it out.
My bet is that the families would have pursued them and forced an annulment of the marriage. Romeo, unscathed, would have been forced into an advantageous arranged marriage, and Juliet, 'ruined' in the thinking of the time, would probably have been cast off by Count Paris for an advantageous marriage to a virgin bride whose children would be more likely to be his. Juliet would probably have been banished to a nunnery.
So much for young love's dream.

"..sure you won't change your mind? Why, is there something wrong with the one I have?"

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I kind of see it as having the same ending as "The Graduate". If they'd have lived, they'd have been happy for a few, then.. reality sets in and... what you said.

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A never-ending discussion ... what if ... what if ?

Many people think they would have ended up divorcing ...
But they both had the strengh to kill themselves not to be apart one another.
Most people believe they would die without their beloved one ... but who really got inside such a hopeless energy ?
People suffer, then recover, then forget ...
Whenever you can do this, I guess love is just too deep inside, extraordinary, and cannot vanish with ordinary things ...

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Well, as far as I remember one author did go that route: Ephraim Kishon wrote a satirical play about that. I believe it's called "It was the lark." In the play, the scheme by the friar worked out, she woke up on time, nobody committed suicide, the families reconciled, and we see Romeo and Juliet 20 years later. Quite fun!

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Funny, but I thought pretty much the same thing with AN AMERICAN IN PARIS.

Five years after the movie ended:
Jerry, Lise, and their three kids (with a fourth on the way) are living in Jerry's tiny Left Bank apartment, with Jerry eking out a living giving art lessons to the neighborhood kids.
Sure, Jerry had his exhibit, but before departing to America, Milo notified the papers and the critics, telling them not to come to it.
For an artist, even a lousy review is better than none at all!
Meanwhile, Henri Baurel (with Adam as his music arranger) was an enormous success in the US, and is rich beyond his dreams.
Lise reads this in the papers and thinks, "Oh, if I had only married him...".
That widens the gap between her and Jerry, and either they divorce, or just end up living their lives in poverty and misery.

Just goes to show the difference between real life and movie fairy tales.

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LMAO!!! That is so funny!

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OP, you crack me up!

"Romeo, why don't you say things like you wish you were my glove anymore?"
"Quiet! I'm watching the public execution."

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I find myself wishing for a time before I read your post.

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Eh, they were meant to die; fate chose them as a sacrifice to teach the parents and the ruling class a lesson about their selfish feud - that killed so many.

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