I first read this in school, when I was not much older than the title characters, and I thought the whole thing was boring and idiotic, two little twits drama-queening it up. I had no sympathy. (14 year old me was not a very tolerant individual.)

And the thing is, my 14 year old self wasn't actually wrong. Romeo and Juliet are two little twits drama-queening it up, but there's a reason Darwin Awards aren't given out to children. They're not mentally and emotionally developed enough to accurately assess risk and reward, or the effects of time and maturity. So reading it now, some 25 years later, I find myself much more compassionate towards them. In many ways this reread reminded me of my recent plough through Macbeth, which I absolutely could not give five stars to because Macbeth was a total moron and I really found it very difficult to suspend my disbelief that anyone could, in fact, be that stupid. But Macbeth was a grown man, and R&J are kids, so despite the similarities their culpability isn't the same - and isn't meant to be the same - and I find myself judging the plays accordingly.

I've gone back and forth as to whether to give this four or five stars. For sheer historical and literary weight it deserves five, but the simple fact is I still don't love it. My opinion of it has gone up dramatically - I found myself genuinely moved by the balcony scene this time round, for instance, and by their pitiful deaths - but there are other of Shakespeare's plays I enjoy reading more than this.

So I've thought about it, and about the reviews I've given in the past, and when in real doubt it's been my habit to privilege objective merit, as far as I can determine, over my own subjective option. Merit over bias, essentially. And, as in Hamlet, whatever I may think of the characters the writing is astonishing. It has to be, to elevate the bones of the story into the classic it has become. Five stars it is.