Romeo and Juliet Acts 4 and 5

     It seems an end has come to Romeo and Juliet, and a tragic one at that. It starts with a frantic Juliet, going to Friar Lawrence. Somehow he manages to keep her from killing herself, which he is pretty good at, since he stopped Romeo before. Then he pulls out a weird potion sort of thing for Juliet to drink. If I were Juliet, I would question what would make me look like I was dead when I wasn't, but it is a pretty good way out, providing Romeo gets the message to come and get her. And she does question it, what if the friar wants to kills her? (No) But what if she lies there and goes crazy? She definitely freaks out, but in the end, she goes home, and 'dies'. She gets out of the wedding and put into the tomb, and lies there for a while. Meanwhile, the Friar is waiting for Romeo to come, and then John comes and tells him he didn't give him the letter. So he was going to hide Juliet in his cell, which doesn't work when Romeo gets there first, kills Paris, kills himself, and then Juliet wakes up and kills herself.  I thought it was sort of funny how she gets mad at him for drinking all the poison. (You didn't leave any for me?) Then everyone from everywhere comes running in, and the two families are friendly again.
     I was honestly surprised to find Paris there. It would make sense he was there, but I still didn't expect him to be there or to suddenly want to fight Romeo. Why is Romeo always the better swordsman? What if Paris just pulled out his sword and sliced Romeo up? But no, Romeo is, of course, the superior swordsman and kills Paris. I thought it was a little strange and a little funny when it just says 'He dies'. I think it's just so you know he's not lying on the floor, dying while everyone is running around, worrying about Romeo and Juliet. I also was surprised to hear Paris was related to Benvolio, I think he said. He should feel bad. WAIT! If Paris was related to Benvolio, then isn't he a Montague and should not be marrying Juliet? That's so weird! Why isn't that a big deal?
     That's the other thing that doesn't seem fair. Why does Lady Capulet get to live when Lady Montague  dies? She should die of happiness because there is no longer a feud, but instead she dies of grief from Romeo. Did anyone else catch that? Not much chance for a good relationship anymore. Poor Lady Montague.
     I was actually surprisingly okay with the ending. At first I was mad Friar Lawrence comes in right after Romeo dies, but then I felt better when they said he had been there for a while. One thing bothered me: Why couldn't the friar get there faster? It seems like Romeo, coming from another city, would take longer than Friar Lawrence coming from nearby, but I guess it had to happen. I liked the last two lines about Juliet and her Romeo, and it was very satisfying to see everyone happy with each other, even if Lady Montague died and didn't quite make it there.

Other than that, I also finished a book called Stealing Death, that I may or may not have mentioned before. I takes place in, as far as I know, an imaginary place, but still based on a desert-based land, (Saharan Africa?) It's about a young man named Kipp, whose family is lost in a fire at his house, but he has to take care of his sister, who survives. Then the debt collectors come and he has to go and work at the rich landlord's house, on his farm. Unfortunately, he loves his daughter, Zalika, and his braid has been shorn by a witch, which is embarrassing for a man to be seen without a braid. His religion is a little strange, and I don't completely understand it, but much of the story has to do with the Gwali and a sack called the Kwaja. So the Gwali is a man who rides of a mystical ghost horse with a pack of dogs, and collects dead peoples' souls in this sack, or the Kwaja. Kipp is angry that he couldn't stop the Gwali from taking his family, so he swears to steal the Kwaja from the Gwali. So he goes to the witch to figure this out, who gives him a potion sort of thing to help steal the soul sack. A lot happens in between, he steals the sack, Zalika almost dies, he saves her by not letting the sack take her soul, but at the same time, he's being dragged by the magic of the sack, which wants to collect souls. It was surprisingly able to really catch and keep my attention, and I really liked how the author had this whole culture for the people who lived there, not just one predictable sort of idea. And there is a series of different problems that Kipp faces, making the book a bit more interesting. Quite good. :)