Romeo and Juliet Marriage in the time of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet was very different from today’s time. In the fifteenth century, marriages were more arranged, the couple’s engagement and courting periods were shorter, and they married earlier. In Romeo and Juliet, Juliet’s father decides that she should marry Paris (Act III, scene v, 150). Juliet is clearly distressed about this since she does not love Paris; she loves Romeo. In Act 2, Scene 2, she says, “O Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo. Deny thy father and refuse thy name” (Act 2, Scene 2). This quote demonstrates that the “star-crossed lovers” do not agree with their parents and want to be able to marry for love rather than status. Now, people in the United States are typically
