How does "Romeo and Juliet" relate to Italian family?

The “classic” Italian family can be broken down by its roots in the Catholic religion. Roman Catholics had very strict views on birth control, therefore there were and are today very large Catholic families. For a family of a larger size to exist they need to work harder and usually all work together for the sake of survival. In this age it is possible for a man to provide more for a family of this size, but not so much in the time of Romeo and Juliet. A son was considered a virtue for his ability to work and provide for the family as well as carry on the family name. A daughter was more of a burden on the family for several reasons that might not seem fair. A daughter who was mistreated by her own will or against her will would be seen as a dishonor on the family (a son would not have this problem so long as he didn’t marry the “wrong” girl socially). A daughter could and did provide for the family in many ways, but not in ways that were seen to “further” the status of the family. This is just a blurb of background for you to do some research towards for your paper.

Now, as for Romeo and Juliet….. Shakespeare probably chose the Italian family models for the construct of delivering the tragic love story for its history of brutality (the Roman empire, the birth of western civ., etc.) and the strong connection to family. Every decision made in the play is done out of passion and heat that, for necessity of driving the plot, creating an immediate reaction in the characters. The romance that is a driving force in the young players decisions is also a classic stereotype applied to the Italian culture (People believe that Italians and Frenchmen are romantics at heart as a matter of stereotype) This might give you a place to start looking for the similarities from a history of western civilization, and remember that this story was written long ago in the zeitgeist of a previous era.

The story was written with Italian families in mind and it does hold true to plenty of stereotypes, yet those are just stereotypes. The perception of what an Italian family is as opposed to how it actually is will be a different story every time. The one thing that the story assumes is the very Catholic structure of the families and the feuding amongst rival families. This and any other stereotype cannot be said to be “incorrect”, but it does not do the culture justice for taking the assumptions made to heart and judging any family by those stereotypes.

That was all very circular I am sure, but I hope you can use it to get started on your paper. I know the play well and many other plays by mr. Shakespeare. The breakdown of any of his works may seem to span the ages for relevance, but beware that the truths that make-up the history of many of these plays are far from sensitive or politically correct. This is why in these times we see Romeo and Juliet done over and over. The main character in Much Ado played by Denzel Washington and a very ignorant audience saying “yes, that could happen”. The role of the “moors” in any of the recent versions played down or completely removed. Shakespeare is beautiful words, but the times he wrote in were not so pretty.