“Jughead Is Getting Thrown into a Snake Pit”

Reputation in Riverdale and Romeo and Juliet

Jughead in the show Riverdale, and Juliet in the classic novel of Romeo and Juliet both face challenges that can change their reputation. Jughead is from the south side, which in the show Riverdale is where the poorer people of the town live, and from that part of town there is a gang called the Serpents. While Jugheads Dad is in prison he has to decide whether or not he wants to be a part of this gang to protect himself. But if he does join this gang, then his reputation will crumble and the love of his life, Betty, might see him in a different way. And in Romeo and Juliet, which is a classic tale about star crossed lovers in the city of Verona, Italy, Juliet needs to decide if she wants to be in a relationship with Romeo, who is the only son of her only enemy, or if she wants her reputation with her parents to stay steady. Both characters make their decisions based off of what is best for themselves and not what is best for their reputation.

When Jughead has to decide between becoming a serpent and his reputation, he chooses to become a serpent because it is best for him. Joining the serpents means that he can stay protected and have a family. This is changing his reputation because his friends on the other side of town, will think he’s dangerous and might stop trusting him. The Serpents don’t have the best reputation, unlike Jughead they are violent, snakey, and dangerous. Even though the serpents usually aren’t the reason for bad things happening in Riverdale, they tend to get blamed for almost everything. So this shows that even if they haven’t done anything, their reputation still leads people thinking that a serpent was behind an attack in Riverdale, or that a serpent was the one who was dealing drugs in Riverdale. And obviously Jughead doesn’t want to be part of a gang that has a tendency to get thrown under the bus. The serpent’s, unlike Jughead kill people, deal drugs, and have a horrible reputation within the small town of Riverdale. But, Jughead is still a part of the south side, so he is still a part of their community. Since his father is in jail, joining them would benefit him greatly because he could stay protected from any danger that may come his way, and the gang will act as his family. Joining the serpents is something that Jughead could highly benefit from, it’s something he definitely needs. And I feel that he recognizes that during a scene in one of the episodes when one of the serpents says that he needs to make up his mind and either join or not join because there is no in the middle. The only downside is honestly just his reputation within the town of Riverdale and how joining the serpents could take him away from his friends. Friends are one of the most important things in Jugheads life, it’s something that he definitely values, but also something that he might need to give up in order to make new bonds with new people for his own good. We see signs of Jughead losing parts of his friends, when Archie, who is Jugheads best friend says “Jughead is getting thrown into a snake pit and I can’t do anything about it” (S2, E1). This shows that Archie is defiantly losing trust in his best friend along with being worried for him. But Jughead will obviously have to give up his reputation and trust once he becomes a serpent. Sometimes you have to do things for yourself, which Jughead definitely struggles with at times. Jughead first exhibits a scene of judgment and mistrust when Betty, who is Jughead’s girlfriend and Jughead are in his trailer eating dinner. All of the sudden there is a knock at the door, sure enough it is the serpents, which was a group of people who Jughead never expected to see. When the serpents come to the door they say “no matter how long he’s (jugheads dad) gone, we got your back, this is yours, if you want it” and they hand Jughead the a serpent jacket and he puts it on. Mid way through Jughead putting on the jacket, Betty goes “Jug” and they look at each other and the eye contact is so intense that you can tell Jughead is thinking about how everything would crumble if he joined the serpents.

This was definitely something that was contributing to the fact that Jughead might not join the serpents. But overall, once Jughead went through his options, he knew that the serpents may not have been the thing that other people wanted him to do or that other people even thought he would do, bt what was best for him, and only him.

In Romeo and Juliet, Juliet has to decide between jumping into a relationship with Romeo or marrying Paris and staying true to her father’s wishes. And she bases her decision on the fact that she could be with the love of her life and disobey her father along with having a bad reputation among her family, or that she could be stuck in a forced relationship that her father planned and have to live with the fact that she isn’t with the love of her life. The hardest thing about this decision is that Juliet’s only love is the only son of her only enemy. Her father, Lord Capulet, has already planned that Juliet is going to marry Paris. Paris is loved by Juliet’s family and he is really someone that they want Juliet to value. But what Juliet wants is the opposite of what her world along with her parents want her to have. She wants Romeo. She states in the book that “My only love sprung from my only hate!, too early seen unknown, and known too late!, prodigious birth of love it is to me that I must love a loathed enemy” (1.5, 152–155). In modern day times, like today, Juliet is saying, the only man I love is the son of the only man/family I hate, I didn’t know when which was when I first met him and when I first fell in love, but love is a monster for making me fall in love with my worst enemy. Juliet was happy and in love when she first met Romeo, she was head over heels for this guy, and then all the sudden she is informed from that nurse that “His name is Romeo, and a Montague, the only son of your great enemy” (1.5 150–151). And even though Juliet might not want to marry Paris, her father has made it pretty clear that she will not be welcomed in the Capulet family if she doesn’t go through with this marriage,

God’s bread! It makes me mad.
Day, night, hour, tide, time, work, play,
Alone, in company, still my care hath been
To have her matched. And having now provided
A gentleman of noble parentage,
Of fair demesnes, youthful, and nobly trained,
Stuffed, as they say, with honorable parts,
Proportioned as one’s thought would wish a man —
And then to have a wretched puling fool,
A whining mammet, in her fortune’s tender,
To answer “I’ll not wed,” “I cannot love,”
“I am too young,” “I pray you, pardon me.” —
But, an you will not wed, I’ll pardon you.
Graze where you will, you shall not house with me.
Look to’t, think on’t, I do not use to jest.
Thursday is near. Lay hand on heart, advise.
An you be mine, I’ll give you to my friend.
An you be not, hang, beg, starve, die in the streets,
For, by my soul, I’ll ne’er acknowledge thee,
Nor what is mine shall never do thee good.
Trust to’t, bethink you. I’ll not be forsworn. (3.5, 176)

There are so many consequences that come with both options, if she doesn’t marry him then she has to live with herself knowing that she let her one true love go, and she will also have to marry paris. But if she does marry and date Romeo, she can be with her one true love, but will be with her only love who is from her only enemy. So both options for Juliet have ups and downs and obviously anyone can see that choosing between her father and the love of her life isn’t easy. But after a conversation with Nurse, about her love for Romeo it is clear that Juliet has chosen true love and her well being over her father’s wishes and her reputation. She did what was best for her, not her father, into society and not her reputation.

In conclusion, both Jughead and Juliet, both made the right decision by doing what they want and what their heart desires, rather than doing things that would only save their reputation or their relationships. Jughead chose to join the serpents for his safety and for a family, and Juliet chose to marry and be with Romeo because he is the love of her life. I agree with both of their decisions because they did what they wanted to do, there is no right or wrong in both of their situations, which shows that it is no one else’s decision but there own. Even though Jughead may have lost his friends along with his reputation and Juliet may have lost her family and her reputation within Verona and her family, if their friends and family really loved them, then they will come around to the fact that they did what was best for them.

Abstract

My research question/motivation was that both characters had to make decisions that would change their lives along with their reputations greatly. I cared about this because I felt that both characters really related when they had to make decisions, because they would both lose something and they would both gain something. For example, Jughead could lose his friends and their trust but he would gain safety and a family. I basically just thought about how similar both of the characters were and how they really relate in the ways of how they want to make decisions based on what is best for them and not what is best for people around him. To get my results I just rewatched some of the Riverdale episodes and really payed attention to the dialogue and the facial expression/body language of Jughead, and then I kind of played it by ear and found passages and scenes that relate to Jughead with Juliet. I learned that doing these sort of projects aren’t easy because you really have to think deep when trying to find your topic sentence and that lots of characters in different types of shows and novels have lost of things in common in weird ways that you would never really think of. My conclusions matter because it just shows how people need to not always do what other people want them to do, and it also shows that love is a very strong thing and is something that will always contribute to a decision even if it isn’t specifically about love. And in conclusion both of the characters (Jughead and Juliet) both chose decisions that they valued and believed in.

Citations

Shakespeare, William. Romeo and Juliet. Simon and Schuster, 2004.

“Riverdale.” Netflix, Netflix, 11 Sept. 2017, www.netflix.com/title/80133311.