Romeo and Juliet
Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare
early in his career about two young star-crossed lovers whose deaths ultimately
reconcile their feuding families. It was among Shakespeare's most popular plays
during his lifetime and along with Hamlet, is one of his most frequently
performed plays. Today, the title characters are regarded as archetypal young
lovers.
Romeo and Juliet belongs to a tradition of tragic romances
stretching back to antiquity. The plot is based on an Italian tale translated
into verse as The Tragical History of Romeus and Juliet by Arthur Brooke in
1562 and retold in prose in Palace of Pleasure by William Painter in 1567.
Shakespeare borrowed heavily from both but expanded the plot by developing a
number of supporting characters, particularly Mercutio and Paris. Believed to
have been written between 1591 and 1595, the play was first published in a
quarto version in 1597. The text of the first quarto version was of poor
quality, however, and later editions corrected the text to conform more closely
with Shakespeare's original.
Shakespeare's use of his poetic dramatic structure
(especially effects such as switching between comedy and tragedy to heighten
tension, his expansion of minor characters, and his use of sub-plots to
embellish the story) has been praised as an early sign of his dramatic skill.
The play ascribes different poetic forms to different characters, sometimes
changing the form as the character develops. Romeo, for example, grows more
adept at the sonnet over the course of the play.
Romeo and Juliet has been adapted numerous times for stage,
film, musical, and opera venues. During the English Restoration, it was revived
and heavily revised by William Davenant. David Garrick's 18th-century version
also modified several scenes, removing material then considered indecent, and
Georg Benda's Romeo und Julie omitted much of the action and added a happy
ending. Performances in the 19th century, including Charlotte Cushman's, restored
the original text and focused on greater realism. John Gielgud's 1935 version
kept very close to Shakespeare's text and used Elizabethan costumes and staging
to enhance the drama. In the 20th and into the 21st century, the play has been
adapted in versions as diverse as George Cukor's 1935 film Romeo and Juliet,
Franco Zeffirelli's 1968 version Romeo and Juliet, and Baz Luhrmann's 1996
MTV-inspired Romeo + Juliet.
Romeo and Juliet borrows from a tradition of tragic love
stories dating back to antiquity. One of these is Pyramus and Thisbe, from
Ovid's Metamorphoses, which contains parallels to Shakespeare's story: the
lovers' parents despise each other, and Pyramus falsely believes his lover
Thisbe is dead. The Ephesiaca of Xenophon of Ephesus, written in the 3rd
century, also contains several similarities to the play, including the
separation of the lovers, and a potion that induces a deathlike sleep.
One of the earliest references to the names Montague and
Capulet is from Dante's Divine Comedy, who mentions the Montecchi (Montagues)
and the Cappelletti (Capulets) in canto six of Purgatorio:
Come and see, you who are negligent,
Montagues and Capulets, Monaldi and Filippeschi
One lot already grieving, the other in fear.
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