I am going to take a different perspective on the play in
            this response. It is easy for us analysing the play from our contemporary perspective to
            underestimate the extent of the foolishness of Romeo and Juliet's actions. We live in a
            culture where it is expected that we will pick our own life partner, but let us remember
            that at the time of the initial performance of the play, very few people actually had
            the luxury of selecting their own wife or husband. In particular, for people of Romeo
            and Juliet's standing in society, marriage was something that your family organised for
            you as marriage was conducted amongst the upper classes for means of wealth, prestige
            and alliances. Thus, if we think about it from this perspective, it is clear that both
            Romeo and Juliet were very foolish to marry in secret and to let their own feelings of
            love overwhelm other, more important feelings such as their own family responsibility
            and duty to their houses. Note how Lord Capulet views his own procuring of Paris as
            Juliet's future husband in Act III scene 5:
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How? Will she none? Doth she not give us
            thanks?
Is she not proud? Doth she not count her
            blest,
Unworthy as she is, that we have
            wrought
So worthy a gentleman to be he
            bride?
From Capulet's
            perspective, he has been a good father, finding an excellent, wealthy husband who
            occupies an important position in society. Juliet therefore owes it to herself and to
            her family to marry Paris. Her love for Romeo has therefore foolishly made her cherish
            her own wants above those of her family.
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