How old is Romeo? There’s a simple question. Sure, we all know Juliet is 13, because the nurse immediately tells us. And often, I think we then make the leap and assume that Romeo is also 13.
But that’s hardly true. Would that imply that Mercutio, Tybalt, and Paris are also all about 13? Surely it was the case that men simply chose younger wives (Capulet is much older than his wife, is he not?), and actually, we can assume that Romeo and the others are in what, maybe in late teens or early 20s?
It wouldn’t be a good idea to point out that age difference these days, of course. I can just imagine Romeo & Juliet being closed down because it promotes pedophilia or something. But honestly, I’m cool with it (the age difference, not the pedophilia!) The more I read the play, the more I appreciate that Juliet is the most mature person in it. That she’s 13, surrounded by people a generation older than her, is quite impressive. I don’t need to make her older to justify anything, and I don’t need to make Romeo younger to balance it out.
Romeo can be older and still be rash and impetuous. Juliet can be young and be the smart one. It’s better than trying to imagine 13-year-old Tybalt saying, “I hate the word as I hate Hell….”
But How Old Is Romeo?
The short answer is that Romeo’s age is never mentioned in the play’s text. Romeo is old enough to be running around in the streets of Verona with his friends. His father, Lord Montague, doesn’t even know where he is. That’s all we get to work with.
Did You Know?
I learned something interesting while looking at the trivia for Baz Luhrmann’s movie. Natalie Portman auditioned for the role of Juliet. But because of her small frame, in her words, “Leonardo looked like he was molesting me.” The director said the same thing I said above, only backward — “Leonardo was 21, but could look 18 – and she made him look 21.” In other words, he looked too old, not that she looked too young. So that certainly backs up the idea that you have to cast R&J of roughly equivalent ages to avoid squicking out your audience.
To the last "Anonymous" commenter:
Don't put yourself down just because you happen to be a certain age. That's no qualifier for being able to Think. Your interpretive opinion is as valid as anyone else's who happens to be attempting to formulate ideas about the play from information we don't have.
In terms of Romeo being ageless, you make a great deal of sense. And given the fact that he has been played successfully, since the very beginning, by actors of varying ages contributes to your point. It's thought that Richard Burbage was the first to play the role. Burbage also played almost every leading character Shakespeare wrote. In fact, he wrote Lear, Hamlet, Othello, and Richard III, among others, FOR Burbage. And Burbage is known to have been in his late 20's/30's when he was the star player for The Chamberlains Men & The King's Men. Maybe that's one reason (but not the only one) why Shakespeare made Romeo "ageless". 🙂
Juliet is 13 and Romeo is about 15 years old. My teacher told me. I believe they're quite near that ages. And they're definitely young, yes. But it would be TERRIBLE if they had been like 18 years old, it just seems so, I don't know why. Btw, Juliet's not THAT young, you know. She's perfect to get in love. I mean it's so much better. It feels way better when they're younger. Like, around 18 years old, would be too old, IMHO. I like them very much that way. Thanks for this. XO.
xX.I'm 13, BTW.Xx
Welcome, PL. I agree with everything you said except for the "it's right because my teacher told me" bit. The sooner you stop believing that, the less surprised you'll be when it becomes more obvious later on. Teachers are not perfect.
The text of the play *does not say* how old Romeo is. Therefore no one can say "He is X years old" and have it be anything but a guess. No matter who says it.
Well it obviously says juliet's age "come lamas eve night shall she be 14." so she's obviously 13. As for me, i always pictured romeo being about 15 or 16. I don't think anything about this play is supposed to be of a pedophiliac nature. the way things are is simply a reflection of the culture at the time of it being written. Romeo and Juliet is perhaps the most famous love story of all time and a large part of that is that they were both so young, rash and impulsive. If they were older the story would be missing that crucial element and perhaps have an entirely different ending.
i can see JM's point. however as a 14 year old girl who's just played Juliet, i find the accusation that someone my age can't adequately play juliet a tad insulting. I did mountains of research preparing for the role.
to Dana about it not being about physical attraction: i realize whole silioquy to juliet at her balcony is a big display of love and all, but it's also romeo musing on juliet's chastity. so i definitely think it's a love story, but romeo definitely has physical and sexual attraction to her as well.
To our 14 year old Juliet. First of all, congrats on doing the role! And the work you say you put into it is truly admirable. But I think yours is a gut reaction without the qualifiers. I think I understand it –let me explain.
Here's my experience with it:
I've done the play three times, directed and edited it for performance once, and conducted a master class for a high school in-rehearsal cast. I said I'd never MET someone that age capable of playing those roles and I meant professionally. (Although the high school Juliet was pretty darned terrific in the role, I don't seriously think she was ready for RSC next day, if you know what I mean.) I've also edited and directed Shakespeare for 5th graders. And some were really great, relatively speaking. But I wouldn't have cast any in the professional production I directed.
This doesn't mean it's not possible that there's some acting genius out there your age who could play the role up to standards demanded professionally. I just haven't met them yet. College age and older actors many times have a lot of difficulty with Shakespeare's great poetic roles. In my experience this has been the rule rather than the exception.
I hope you had a great experience with the role. And once again, congratulations on your accomplishment. It's something to be proud of no matter where you did it, or however old you might be.
I personally don't think that paedophilia had anything to do with Romeo and Juliet as in the time it was written there was no legal age of consent, and most girls had to get married and bare children so young because their life expectancy was so much shorter, a 13 year old girl was probably classed as middle aged!!
I would say Juliet is 13, as the nurse comes out and says it, but Romeo is more complex to age, as in some ways he shows that characteristics of a 15 year old boy, falling in love with one girl an then another, but then again the amount of anger and violence he can sometimes portray makes me want to say 17 or 18.
But I think they mystery of Romeos age makes him an even more intriguing character.
But to suggest paedophilia in this is absurd, obviously all opinions matter, but I think people must consider the time this was written and the great changes that have happened since, both in law and society.
I am in grade 9, and am currently studying Romeo and Juliet. I like to think that Romeo is around 16-17 because it does mention in Act I Scene III, by the nurse that Juliet is turning 14 in two weeks and odd days.
I think a relationship (in those days) with someone about 14 and someone around 17 would be considerably okay. I also think Shakespeare didn't mention the age because it wasn't as much of an issue as for the fact that the Capulets and the Montagues hate each other and all of a sudden their children fall in love.
I also think (because in my eyes Romeo is about 17) that Paris would be a few years older than Romeo. Paris seems to be more concerned with marrying and being happy with Juliet while Romeo (in the balcony scene) is more interested in sex above anything else.
If R&J took place in modern times I think the only realistic way of working through it and having it make sense would be to have Juliet in grade 9 and have Romeo in grade 12. That way you could still have Juliet as the very self confident girl she is and still have Romeo confused and have the thought of sex running through his mind constantly.
Just thought I'd give some input!
Let us go along with Shakespeare's words. Juillet as we all know, was stated to be the age of 13, and Romeo was at least old enough to be considered a man hence the challenge from Tybalt and capable of killing Paris in a duel, people back then wouldn't challenge children to a duel, and at the time, the age of manhood would be 21.
Thinking of Romeo as 21 fundamentally changes the play into something that might as well be called Juliet, because then Romeo becomes just another adult manipulating Juliet's life for her. It's vital to the story that they are both essentially children, doing naive things because they don't know any better and because the adults in their lives aren't there to stop them.
Re the duel, have you considered that Tybalt as well is the same age as Romeo? They are children who are *acting* like grown ups. Tybalt doesn't have Lord Capulet standing behind him, acknowleding the duel. He finds Romeo in the street. He's doing what he thinks a grown up is supposed to do.
I was reading through the comments, and I saw one I needed to reply to. Like most of the other people posting comments here, I'm in grade 9, and we are reading R&J. I agree with the above statement that Romeo would probably be 21. That was how I was always told, and it just seems the most likely to me. However, I have to disagree with the statement that Romeo would just be another adult manipulating Juliet's life. Yes, he would physically be an adult at 21, I have no doubts about that, but MENTALLY? Remember, it isn't his appearance his actions are showing us, but his personality. I have an uncle who is in his late 30s, and he still acts like a teenager. I also have a friend who is 14, and she acts like a mature adult. So, really, we can't even use his actions as a way of estimating his age.
It is clearly stated that Juliet is 13, almost 14. (I believe that's Act I, Scene III.) However, Romeo's age is considerably more difficult to assign.
Firstly, it was not uncommon in those times for women in their early teens marry men years, even decades older than themselves. Juliet being 13, and falling in love with a man many years her senior would not have been a scandalous thing back then. I don't necessarily assert that Romeo was many years Juliet's senior, just that it's possible, even probable, and would not have caused discontent among the audience of the time period.
As to Juliet's having been around 18 in Brooke's work, it has been speculated that Shakespeare changed her age so that it would (nearly)fit the number of lines in a sonnet. I haven't researched that particular standpoint enough to express much of an opinion, but I will say this: I think that Shakespeare aged Juliet so young to create a few juxtapositions. The first: Juliet is younger than all of the other main characters, yet she is by far the most mature. She sees past the long-standing feud of the two families, so that she can love the man that she loves. But it is this, the very essence of her maturity, that makes her incredibly selfish. It seems likely that the relationship between Romeo and Juliet was more lust and youthful infatuation than real love; more the two reaching out to one another and forming a desperate, rebellious bond, as a means of gaining an outlet for the frustration created be the tension and isolation between their two families.
I say this mainly because I don't think it likely that a girl my age would fall in love, real love, especially with someone so much older than her.
The second juxtaposition is this: while all around them hate, Romeo and Juliet love. It is their youth and their opposition to the people and environment around them that makes them such an alluring object of focus. The fact that they turn away from the driving ides of their families attracts the part of us that recognizes love as being superior to hate. That is also why we want their love to be real and to make life happy for them, and why their death is so heart-wrenchingly romantic.
Also, I believe that Romeo's age is not specified because the real focus is Juliet. Romeo is the personification of Juliet's need for a release from the frustration and isolation between their two families. While, in the text, Romeo is a flesh-and-blood character, in concept he is a means of escape for young Juliet. This further highlights the emotional juxtapositions between Juliet and her family.
I would, as a side note, like to point out that a pedophile is by definition someone 16 or older, whose primary sexual attraction is to children 12/13 or younger.
I would also like to point out that I know next to nothing of R&J, Shakespeare, or presenting an argument 🙂 I'm just a kid who wanted to put in her two cents.
Thanks,
-I
Okay, I just think that everyone posting stuff about juliet's age and romeo's age is just ruining a wonderful beloved story about starcrossed lovers. It doesn't need dragging through with a fine tooth comb and the only way we are gunna settle this, is just to leave it! It is a beautiful story and there is no need for it to be criticised because a thirteen year old girl is very mature for her age, and the guy who wrote wasn't very clear about the boys age. Maybe thats how it was meant to be? isn't that like the beauty of it? do not diss R&J!
I would say that Romeo is in his late teens as it is very easy to picture him, as a sorry for himself teenager, I would also suggest that you read the play picturing him as a relatively emo-ish character.
Are you joking R&J is not a romance it is mainly about sex, death and violence… just written in a witty and intelligent style.
Are you joking R&J is not a romance it is mainly about sex, death and violence… just written in a witty and intelligent style.
If you don't agree with me reread it.e
Shakespeare never told us the age of Romeo. Therefore, why name him a age at all?
I think Romeo's age is abstract and left as a mystery because it sparks the imagination of the reader, and captures them, even captivating them to want to analyse deeper, even though the detail wasn't the most important.
Another reason I believe this to be the case is because his age didn't matter to Juliet. Her love had no boundaries and it wouldn't matter to her if he was 30 because she loved him so much that she died for him.
Also in Shakespeare's day, in England, marriages were usually arranged and the girls were 'matured' by about 12 though it wasn't unusual for a girl as young as 9 to marry someone of 40. In our day that is a sick thought, but it there it was the custom and tradition.
But as I was saying, for Juliet, love was blind. The same could be said for Romeo.
When you are really in love, things like age fade into the background- because love knows no limits and your heart determines they're the one.
In my opinion the tragedy does centre on Juliet.
She needs a release and she has a lot of love to give, because her family were too overprotective of her and never really showed their 'love' for her. In fact her closest friend was her nurse and that shows how distant she was from her family.
I think both Romeo and Juliet were caught up in their love; the consequences wouldn't matter because whatever happened, they would have each other- even to the death.
Shakespeare focuses very much on love, but also on heartbreak and how love, never really seems to work out quite how you dream. That is the cultural, classic and timeless beauty of his writings.
aggree with the last comment, love can happen to any age. About age differences right or wrong depends on the tradition and norm at certain place and time. My students age of 11 and 12 in love like R n J, talk about they would die if their parents ever tried to seperate them. We parents think that they're too young to fall in love… hei, love is bless that can happen to anyone… we just need to guide them so that they won't end up like R n J or being used by phedophilia,
R&j is not a love story. Its the story of a 13year old and a 17(ish) year old that led 2 the deaths of 6 people – the end.
Hey, I'm almost 15 and I just randombly came across this blog. I was searching for Romeo and Juliet's age because I recently finished reading it. This might sound stupid, but I just finished watching "Letters to Juliet" a second ago and Claire was only 15 when she fell in love with Lorenzo, so I wondered if it is possible to fall in such a deep love at a young age, just like Romeo and Juliet did. I'm just curious, but does any of you think that kind of love can happen these days? I don't know what to think since people these days have changed so much and you don't see that kinda love anymore.
If anyone could answer I would appreciate it, thanks 🙂
I think that Romeo's age is anonymous because Shakespeare wanted for most men to relate to him. By making Romeo ageless, it made most men to relate to him. If he'd made him a certain age maybe the men watching the play wouldn't relate too him as much and think he's too young or too old. The reason Juliet has an age is that, like now, mostly women like romantic films. As for Juliet's age, she's 13 almost 14. In my mind Romeo is about 15/16, this way it wouldn't be as weird for them to love each other. Hope this makes sense.
P.S I'm 14 and doing Romeo and Juliet in school, also my first language is Welsh 😀
I think that Romeo's age is anonymous because shakespeare wanted men in the audience to relate to him. Like now, most women prefer to watch a romantic film than most men. So in order to get the men's attention he made it so that most men could relate to Romeo. As for Juliet she is 13, almost 14. To me Romeo is about 16, this way its not a weird thing that they marry. Hope this makes sense.
P.S I'm 14, and I'm doing Romeo and Juliet in school. Sorry if my language isn't very mature, Welsh is my first language. 😀
Lmao people are talking about fictional people they never existed and if we look at the past The French Napoleonic code provided the legal context in 1791 when it established an age of consent of 11 years. The age of consent, which applied to boys as well as girls, was increased to 13 years in 1863. Like France, many other countries, increased the age of consent to 13 in the 19th century. Nations, such as Portugal, Spain, Denmark and the Swiss cantons, that adopted or mirrored the Napoleonic code likewise initially set the age of consent at 10-12 years and then raised it to between 13 and 16 years in the second half of the 19th century. In modern times legal age in most countries is 16 believe it or not. Now enjoy the classic without involving age even if romeo was 49 y/o pervert and Juliet a 16 y/o the true moral of the story is love is timeless and never ending.