A Rose by Any Other Name May Still Have Thorns
This alternate view of some of Shakespeare’s most tragic heroines (with walk-ons by a few others) is startling. Told in an original voice, we see female characters fallen through trapdoors to wait…for what? For them to tell their stories, to gain respect, to let themselves be known beyond their broken endings.
The females bear the wounds and marks of their deaths, even as they strive to speak of their lives. The author paints this in stark yet lyrical language. When 13-year-old Juliet begins telling of her life as a pampered yet emotionally neglected youth, she uses the terms of a burgeoning poet, making you wonder what her life would have been like if her parents hadn’t tried to shuffle her off in marriage when she was barely into adolescence.
This is a girl who must deal with a distant father and a mother who’d grown weary of birthing stillborn children and wouldn’t let herself love a babe who might die on her at any moment. So when Romeo comes in with his suave tongue, ablaze with the promise of youthful amour, how can Juliet turn him aside? Suddenly she wants more than the safe, predictable future her parents have carved for her and we see her plunge into Romeo’s affections as more than young love but a kind of rebellion.
It’s a glorious start to this novel and I’m eager to read more about these tragic women. Even the mute Lavinia may have something to say before this is all done.
The females bear the wounds and marks of their deaths, even as they strive to speak of their lives. The author paints this in stark yet lyrical language. When 13-year-old Juliet begins telling of her life as a pampered yet emotionally neglected youth, she uses the terms of a burgeoning poet, making you wonder what her life would have been like if her parents hadn’t tried to shuffle her off in marriage when she was barely into adolescence.
This is a girl who must deal with a distant father and a mother who’d grown weary of birthing stillborn children and wouldn’t let herself love a babe who might die on her at any moment. So when Romeo comes in with his suave tongue, ablaze with the promise of youthful amour, how can Juliet turn him aside? Suddenly she wants more than the safe, predictable future her parents have carved for her and we see her plunge into Romeo’s affections as more than young love but a kind of rebellion.
It’s a glorious start to this novel and I’m eager to read more about these tragic women. Even the mute Lavinia may have something to say before this is all done.