Universality of Romeo and Juliet There seems to be an ongoing debate about whether we should attempt to "modernize" Shakespeare (or any of Shakespeare's other classics). elsewhere). I think you can look at it two ways. Both appeal to the universality of the work. Either:1. It is universal and its modernization only emphasizes this fact, or2. It is a universal system and there is no need to modernize it. I think you can have it both ways, and I think Romeo and Juliet is a good example of that. The story always touches the audience's lives, whether they see it set in the Elizabethan era in which it was written or in the present. I even think it works well for other time periods, for example I saw it set in the American Civil War. I also think this would work both before the Elizabethan era and in the distant future. The story is universal. Imagine these scenarios: Romeo is African American; Juliette is white. Romeo comes from Mars; Juliet comes from Venus. Romeo is a country boy; Juliette is a city girl. Romeo is Protestant; Juliette is Catholic. Well you get the picture, there are many variations on the theme: a boy and a girl come from different worlds. There are great obstacles between them. Despite these obstacles, they fall in love and get married. A catastrophe befalls them. They are separated. Fate plays against them and they die tragically. Through their deaths, their different worlds realize their common bonds and put aside their differences for a unified future. No matter the differences. The underlying theme still works.