— Overview
The notes ask what each would do after Tybalt’s death, and they stop before a later recap of the same argument.
— Contents and key concepts
After a death, and after a wedding
The notes do not begin with the later chase. They begin from a sentence that is almost a verdict: if I had been Romeo, I would have chosen Juliet; if I had been Juliet, I do not think I could have chosen Romeo.
The difference, they say, turns on Tybalt’s death, and on the different places a man and a woman hold in a house. They want to stay with that death, and with a wedding already held before the two are driven out, and to ask, from a more calculating modern temper, how each of them would have acted.
If I had been Romeo
If they had been Romeo, they would still love Juliet. That the two houses are enemies does not change, and Tybalt is one of those enemies. There would be shame and confusion toward her, they write, but if she forgave him he could love her as if nothing had happened, and could even promise that from now on his first care would be different.
He has not, after all, killed her parents or her siblings. The distance within a family, they think, still leaves room for persuasion. They take Shakespeare’s making Tybalt her cousin as a sign of that room.
They also pause, earlier, on Juliet’s side of the same blow. How, they ask, can she think of loving a man who, for a friend, has killed someone of her house? If Romeo had thought of her even a little, he should have hesitated in the fight with Tybalt.
If I had been Juliet
If they had been Juliet, they write, they would have had to follow the social world of the time, and could not have taken a leading part. To throw off one’s parents can be the work of a moment, and that moment is often only a flash of will. When it fades, regret and a strained air remain.
For that reason they think they would have weighed more carefully a woman’s place, her parents, and the house. The relation between the two houses, and Juliet’s own family, both hang on Romeo. If he fails to make a peace, she is the one who must part from her family, and the choice is not hers to make.
The notes leave the play there, before a later recap of the same argument. The same Korean report, at fuller length, is on CampusDown.
Sources
- The notes, a student reading of Romeo and Juliet that stays with Tybalt’s death and a wedding already held.
Last updated: 15 November 2026
Frequently asked questions
Where do the notes begin their reading?
Not with the later flight of the two lovers, but with Tybalt’s death and, just before it, a wedding already held. They want to ask, from a less romantic modern temper, what each of them would have done.
How do they divide Romeo’s position from Juliet’s?
If the writer were Romeo, they would still choose Juliet. The feud does not change, and Tybalt is one of the enemy house; they think they could still love her, if she forgave them, and could even promise that their priorities would change. If they were Juliet, they think they could not make the same choice: a woman’s place in the house, her parents, and the feud would weigh more, because so much of the outcome is left in Romeo’s hands, not hers.
What else do they notice about Tybalt?
They ask how Juliet can think of loving a man who, for a friend, has killed a member of her family. If Romeo had thought of her at all, they write, he should have hesitated in the fight with Tybalt. They also take Shakespeare’s making Tybalt her cousin, not a parent or a sibling, as a way of leaving some room for persuasion. The notes stop there, before a later recap.
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