Theatre
Romeo and Juliet
William Shakespeare · 1595
Opening lines
Sampson
Gregory: A my word wee'l not carry coales
Text quoted from gutenberg.org
Synopsis
In Verona, the Capulets and the Montagues bear each other an old hatred, revived over a word, and their servants fight in the street; the prince threatens with death anyone who disturbs the peace again. The Montagues' son enters the Capulets' feast masked, hoping to see a young girl who has sworn to remain chaste, and meets another, Juliet. They speak at night beneath a window and decide to marry the next day. A friar helps them, hoping that the news will reconcile the two houses.
Context
The play comes from an English poem of about three thousand lines published in 1562 by Arthur Brooke, itself drawn from a French version by Boaistuau, itself taken from an Italian tale by Bandello. Brooke drowned the following year on his way to Le Havre, where English troops were supporting the Protestants of France. Shakespeare compressed into four days an action that had spread over months, and he kept the nurse from his source. The poem was preceded by a preface in which its author presented the two lovers as an example of what befalls those who do not heed their parents' advice, a moral that the poem itself does not support.
Who it is for
A tragedy in mixed verse and prose, which editors divide into five acts. Bilingual editions give the English text facing the translation.
Prizes and reception
One of its author's most popular plays from its first performances and first printings, since adapted as ballet, musical and film.
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