We have all come across the “Romeo and Juliet” story countless times, in one form or another. Perhaps it was introduced to you by Leonardo DiCaprio’s dreamy film portrayal, the lyrics of Taylor Swift’s “Love Story” or best of all, Shakespeare’s original text. This fall, I saw the story reframed in a modern political context. In this rendition, the producers extrapolated from Shakespeare’s original story to reveal how a 16th century tragedy can help us grapple with the dangers of partisan polarization today.
On the night my childhood best friend and I attended “Romeo and Juliet” at The Folger Shakespeare Library on Capitol Hill, we were brimming with excitement and nostalgia. As we walked through the dimly lit theater, we reminisced about our first memories of “Romeo and Juliet.” We discovered the story together in eighth-grade English class, where we attempted to decipher the intense emotions and themes concealed by Shakespeare’s archaic prose. Sitting in the theater before the start of the play, it felt like things were coming full circle — until we noticed the flashing red, white and blue strobe lights and booming voices coming from the screens on stage.
We turned to each other with identical looks of disbelief. “Wow,” I said, “D.C. really does have to make everything political.” The screens depicted snippets of election speeches from a variety of characters in the play. While Lady Montague advocated for reproductive rights, Lord Capulet called for increased border security. To our dismay, it became clear that in the retelling of this Shakespeare classic, the Capulets and Montagues were meant to represent rival political parties. We worried that the emphasis on political controversies would overshadow the love story that we remembered and cherished.
But as the performance unfolded, I realized the strength of this interpretation. In the play, Romeo and Juliet’s families were more concerned with pushing their political agendas and defeating their opponent rather than caring about the actual people their politics affected, including their own children. What stood out to me wasn’t the heartbreak of doomed love, as it had so dramatically in middle school. This time, I was primarily struck by the sheer destructiveness of political division. The tragedy of “Romeo and Juliet” is not just that two young lovers die. It is that their deaths were entirely preventable — caused by the blind, selfish hatred and stubbornness of their feuding families. The Montagues and Capulets refused to hear each other, let alone reconcile, and in the end both sides lost.
The parallels to our present moment are clear. In the aftermath of a divisive presidential election, we have all been bombarded with commentary and speculation about the next four years. I admire those around me who are pursuing their post-election efforts with introspection and forward thinking, finding ways to build and support community and protect initiatives that fight for all people. However, many spaces, including social media, have become an echo chamber, more concerned with who can loudly demonstrate moral superiority than with what might actually help people manage this turbulent time. I have scrolled through posts declaring, “If you voted for Trump, unfollow me,” or, “If you’re upset about this election, you’re what’s wrong with America,” mirroring the dangerous lack of communication between the Montagues and Capulets.
While emotions are raw and passions run high, I think these reactions exacerbate what the performance warned against. Regardless of your feelings toward the incoming president, I hope we can agree that to effectively promote the general welfare, we need to dialogue with everyone, regardless of whom they voted for.
As we move forward as a country, “Romeo and Juliet” offers a crucial lesson: division is unsustainable, and its costs are ruinous. To prevent our own American tragedy, we must be willing to do more than fight with each other. We must avoid letting anger or fear dictate our actions and instead lead with empathy, humility and unity. Whether that means joining a nonprofit organization, doing advocacy work or engaging in civil discourse, there are ways to take political action and seek common ground without hostility. After all, the world Romeo and Juliet dreamed of — a world where love transcends hatred — is the one we should all aspire to build.
Meher Sandhu ’25 can be reached at meher_sandhu@brown.edu. Please send responses to this column to letters@browndailyherald.com and op-eds to opinions@browndailyherald.com.
