TWIL: Why No Wedding Scene?

I thought about this for awhile, and then did some research and this is what I came up with.

I think the main reason Shakespeare didn’t  spend time on the actual wedding ceremony is because the fact that Romeo and Juliet got married is actually far less important to Shakespeare than the reasons why got married. We know the ceremony takes place because in the final lines of Friar Laurence’s scene he declares that the two of them are forbidden to be alone together until the wedding happens, because he is worried they might commit the sin of fornication. This brings us to why they wanted to get married, which is Shakespeare’s focus. The couple wants to marry because they are young and want to be intimate, it’s clear to see. Juliet also kiss in front of the friar in this scene. All of these premarital kisses show how they are unable to control themselves, even in front of the friar. Shakespeare doesn’t show the wedding ceremony, and by putting emphasis on why they got married, instead of just the fact that they did, this makes the meaning easier to understand. I think a different type of understanding is lost with this approach though. If Shakespeare had decided to show the wedding, people watching in this current world may understand that there was actually a wedding, if it was shown in the play.

If I were the director of Romeo and Juliet, I would make the same decision as Shakespeare did. I think not showing the wedding in a scene has great purpose. It brings out that the reason for Romeo and Juliet to marry is much more important than the event itself.