Though Hulu’s movie is inspired by Shakespeare’s Romeo And Juliet, Rosaline has a different ending. Based on the novel When You Were Mine by Rebecca Serle, Rosaline follows the familiar story of Romeo and Juliet’s forbidden love but from the point of view of Rosaline, the girl whom Romeo was hung up on at the beginning of the original play and quickly discarded upon meeting Juliet. Rosaline’s story is complicated when her cousin, Juliet, falls in love with her secret boyfriend, Romeo, and Rosaline endeavors to get Romeo back. As Rosaline‘s ending approaches, the titular character’s main motivation is to obstruct the love affair of Romeo and Juliet in any way possible, until she has a change of heart.
Rosaline sees its protagonist accept the loss of her former boyfriend as well as come to the realization that love takes different forms than she originally thought, challenging the “perfect love story” featured in Romeo And Juliet. Although Rosaline’s plot borrows events from Romeo And Juliet, its ending is vastly different to William Shakespeare’s original work. Here is the Rosaline’s ending explained in detail, including the real meaning of the movie’s conclusion.
What Happened In Rosaline’s Ending
After finding out that Romeo and Juliet have plans to elope, Rosaline rushes to stop their wedding at the end of Rosaline. On the way, Rosaline convinces Dario to help her, and they begin to warm up to each other over the course of the journey. The two Rosaline characters are intercepted by the Montagues’ guards on their way to stop Romeo and Juliet’s wedding, and are taken captive instead. After they escape from the Montagues, Dario reveals that he plans to rejoin the Navy, and he and Rosaline part ways, with Rosaline deciding not to stop Romeo and Juliet’s union after all.
Rosaline decides to send Juliet’s love letters from Romeo back to her, but they are intercepted by Tybalt, who challenges Romeo to a duel and is killed. This event leads to the public discovering Romeo and Juliet are married, and their fathers vow to separate them. Rosaline and Dario, who Rosaline makes amends with, rush to help Romeo and Juliet escape their families so they can be together. This endeavor proves to be successful after Rosaline convinces them to fake their deaths, and she scolds the Capulet and Montague patriarchs for their feud. After the Montague and Capulet families leave, Romeo and Juliet sail to Cyprus for their honeymoon, and Dario and Rosaline share a kiss as they watch them leave.
Why Did Rosaline Decide Not To Stop The Wedding
Going into the ending of Rosaline, the titular character is set on stopping Romeo and Juliet’s wedding so she can win Romeo back, but after Rosaline and Dario escape the Montagues, she has a change of heart and doesn’t interfere with the wedding. Although the Hulu movie doesn’t give an explicit explanation for why Rosaline changes her mind about stopping the wedding, the answer can be found in an earlier conversation between Rosaline and Dario. As the pair were traveling to put a stop to the wedding, Dario asks Rosaline what she loves about Romeo, and she responds that she can’t put it into words. This prompts Dario to give a monologue about what love is, concluding that “it’s not that hard.” Dario’s speech makes Rosaline realize that she doesn’t actually love Romeo after all, which is ultimately why she abandoned her plans to stop his wedding to Juliet.
Why Did Tybalt Challenge Romeo To A Duel
After Rosaline comes to the conclusion that she doesn’t love Romeo, she decides to make amends with Juliet. Rosaline sends Juliet’s love letters from Romeo back to her as an olive branch, writing, “these letters are your love story, not mine.” Unfortunately, the postman (Nico Hiraga, Booksmart) hands her letter to Tybalt rather than Juliet. This reveals the love affair of Romeo and Juliet to their families, the Montague and the Capulets, who have a longstanding feud. The revelation of Romeo and Juliet’s love jeopardizes both their relationship and their lives, as reading the letters leads Tybalt to challenge Romeo to a duel. This is largely inspired by the original Shakespeare play, with Romeo’s killing of Tybalt in a duel leading him to flee to exile.
Why Did Rosaline Help Romeo And Juliet
Although Rosaline decides to not interfere with Romeo and Juliet’s wedding, it might seem odd that she would go as far as to help them escape their families after their marriage became public knowledge. However, it makes sense that Rosaline would aid them as nearly every obstacle Romeo and Juliet had encountered up to this point in the movie is Rosaline’s fault, whether directly or tangentially. Rosaline’s actions at the end of the movie are her attempt to apologize to the couple and to try to make amends for obstructing their romance and inadvertently exposing their relationship.
Why Dario Didn’t Rejoin The Navy
After Rosaline and Dario escaped from the Montagues, he told her that he planned to rejoin the Navy, but this clearly isn’t the case at the end of Rosaline, with it being ambiguous why he stayed. Once Romeo and Juliet have successfully evaded their families and saved their marriage, Rosaline asks Dario why he didn’t rejoin the Navy, pointing out that he could have been far away from Verona at that point. Dario (Sean Teale, who was also in X-Men spinoff The Gifted) replies that Rosaline inspires him to “do stupid things,” and Rosaline does not pursue the subject further. This is Dario’s way of saying that he is still in love with Rosaline, which is ultimately why he chose not to rejoin the Navy.
The Real Meaning Of Rosaline’s Ending
Rosaline is a take on Romeo And Juliet, one of the most famous love stories of all time, but the romantic comedy has a slightly different meaning than its source material. The original Romeo And Juliet is about a pair of young lovers who were perfect for each other but doomed by outside factors, but Rosaline complicates this when Romeo and Juliet survive, ending up together. Instead of being about doomed love, the real meaning of the Shakespeare adaptation is that true love is not synonymous with perfect love. During the eponymous movie, Rosaline thought her true love was Romeo, a cliche of a “perfect” romantic, but it was actually Dario, who she argues with constantly, yet intellectually challenges her, which she appreciates. Contrastingly, Romeo and Juliet, who are supposed to have the “perfect” love story, are seen in the mid-credits scene struggling to make conversation due to having nothing in common. The end of Hulu’s Rosaline demonstrates that although society advocates for people to pursue perfection, it is better to have a love story that is true to oneself.
