I was debating a professor of Shakespeare about the merits of Romeo being the villain and whether Shakespeare himself believed him as such. Let’s say that I was unsuccessful in turning him to the dark side. But my other soap box is just as juicy…

Romeo and Juliet is not a love story.

I think this is fairly obvious in that it is a tragedy. Love stories can end sad, sure. But Romeo and Juliet goes well out of its way to show Romeo as a flaky and fickle young man when it comes to love. And Juliet is chasing something else besides love in the play.

Romeo and Juliet is a heist!

That right, the play is a heist story. Juliet is our mastermind. The target is her very own marriage, which she intends to steal for herself. Romeo is either an unwitting accomplice or the mark. The nurse and friar are co-conspirators.

Juliet has a super big problem. She is going to be married off to Paris, who she has no interest in or intention of marrying. Her father wishes for Paris to get her consent, but he isn’t going take no for an answer. Juliet is stuck, but when Romeo shows up at her window professing his love, she comes up with a plan to steal that very marriage away from Paris and her father’s promises.

Religion is the Crux

One important aspect to note is that Juliet is extremely religious. She believes that a marriage made in front of God’s servants is binding and cannot be broken by man. She sets the plan in motion. Romeo is willing to get married, and Juliet should have been a wee bit skeptical of a man willing to marry someone he just met.

Still, she marries him, and then Romeo immediately messes her entire heist up by killing Tybalt. Now Juliet must make the best out of her situation before anyone finds out of her marrying the villain. Romeo is still her husband, no matter what a screw up he’s reveled to be, so she makes a plan to run away with him, even though her parents are sending assassins after him.

The marriage is still on, but she believes marrying Paris while being married to Romeo is a sin against God. She is running out of options and time. When the Friar suggest she take a poison to fake her death, so agrees. A simple solution to running away, but when she wakes to find Romeo dead, she makes a rash and terrible decision to end her own life instead of dealing with the alternatives, which the Friar told her was a nunnery or worse.

The Bleakest Choice

She fails to see a way out. Her heist has failed.