[Classical music]
HOST: Yo! What it do?! This week on Thug Notes we gettin'
love struck with Romeo
and Juliet by William Shakespeare.
[Classical music]
Up in the swanky part of Verona,
two families called the Montagues
and the Capulets been beefin' since forever.
After dodgin' a all-out war in the streets,
big daddy Montague and his boo, Lady
Montague, start talkin'
bout their emo son, Romeo,
who got it baaaad for some fox, Rosaline.
But Rosaline ain't feelin' it.
And now Romeo mopin' around
like he done lost his nuts.
So Romeo's homie-os, Benvolio
and Mercutio, try to get his mind off
that trick by crashin' a party
over at the Capulets' crib.
But as soon as Romeo peeps
the most-tappable ass
of Juliet Capulet, he forgets
all about that Rosalineness
and steps up to holla' like a champ.
Romeo loves himself some fast
women so he drops his A-game,
gets a little lip action, and snags
those digits! Get it, Romeo!
Then Romeo creeps up to Juliet's balcony.
Turns out she bats**t
crazy in love with him too!
But since their families got so much beef,
they gotta keep it all on the D.L.
Next day, Romeo and Juliet
run off to local preacher man
Friar Laurence's spot and get hitched!
Later, Benvolio and Mercutio
takin' it easy when Tybalt,
the baddest mo-fo of all the Capulets,
steps up and starts talkin' [s**t].
Mercutio boot up and start scrappin' with Tybalt
till Romeo bustses in and tries to break it up!
But Romeo just gets in the way
and Tybalt shanks Mercutio.
Damn!
Romeo goes from whiny bitch
to the hardest thug in the streets
and straight merks Tybalt.
The Prince of Verona had
it with all this gang violence,
so he boots Romeo right outta town!
When Juliet's momma say she gotta marry
some candy-ass scrub named
Paris, Juliet gets all torn up
and hits up Friar Laurence for some help.
Fri Daddy comes up with
the plan to fake Juliet's death
by givin' her some juice that
makes her take a long ass nap!
Then he gonna write Romeo
a letter, sayin' all he has to do
is play it cool and once Juliet wakes up,
Romeo will have a lifetime
supply of poontang.
Problem is... the letter never makes it to Romeo!
So when he hears Juliet bit the dust,
he thinks this [s**t]'s for real!
Romeo straight flips!
So he rolls up to Juliet's crypt,
peeps her layin' stiff,
and throws back some poison.
When Juliet wakes up
and sees his dead body,
she gets all crump, grabs a knife, and kills herself.
Teenagers, man. Damn!
[Classical music]
Peep this motif, blood!
Willy Shake's flippin' opposites all up in this play.
Love, hate, youth, age, life, death...
I ain't even trippin'.
Even characters got opposites.
For example, while Benvolio
be all chill and peace-lovin',
Tybalt always comin' out hard,
tryna throw down.
Sheee*t! You can even peep
these paradoxes in the text, B.
"My only love sprung from my only hate."
"My grave is like to be my wedding bed."
But Willy ain't just playin'!
All these clashin' opposites makin'
that dramatic action mo' intense!
Listen up, partna!
The full title of this play is The Most Excellent...
and Lamentable Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet.
'Cept, is it really a tragedy?
Some homies don't think so.
See in most tragedies, the characters got something
in their dome that's so [f**k]ed up,
that no matter what, they gonna
end up feelin' the hurt.
Peeps called this: The Tragic Flaw.
Thang is, some thugs say Romeo and Juliet
ain't rollin' with no tragic flaws!
It ain't their fault that [s**t] gets so cray!
But what is tragic is that something
else is trippin' up their game:
Chance.
All throughout this play, fate
doin' our lovers straight dirty.
Just look at all deez ridiculous coincidences.
That letter don't find Romeo,
the Friar too late in stoppin' 'em,
Juliet wakes up right after
Romeo bit the Big One,
I could go on, playa!
So when the prologue sayin'
that these kids be star-crossed,
maybe it's cuz' the heavens
got it in for these fools.
But maybe it ain't fate so much as it is
kids actin' like stupid little [s**ts].
Some say Romeo and Juliet's tragic flaw
be a love all insane in the membrane!
And they willin' to do anything to keep it real.
Even Friar Laurence say
that [s**t] a sin.
"These violent delights have violent ends. /
And in their triumph,
die like fire and powder, /
which, as they kiss, consume.
The sweetest honey is loathsome
in his own deliciousness. /
And in the taste confounds the appetite. /
Therefore love moderately.
Love love doth so. /
Too swift arrives as tardy as too slow."
Could be they ain't sinnin' at all,
but that the world that they
live in is just too twisted
to deal with the love as pure as theirs.
Maybe it ain't our lovers that got the flaw, son.
Maybe it's the world.
But all scholars agree it will be a damn tragedy
if you didn't subscribe. Peace, ya'll!
[Classical music]