105-451: The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet , often shortened to Romeo and Juliet , is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare early in his career about the romance between two Italian youths from feuding families. It was among Shakespeare's most popular plays during his lifetime and, along with Hamlet , is one of his most frequently performed. Today, the title characters are regarded as archetypal young lovers. Romeo and Juliet belongs to
210-587: A ball on 26 February 1511, at a residence of the pro- Venice Savorgnan clan in Udine , following a peace ceremony attended by the opposing pro- Imperial Strumieri clan. There, Da Porto fell in love with Lucina, a Savorgnan daughter, but the family feud frustrated their courtship. The next morning, the Savorgnans led an attack on the city , and many members of the Strumieri were murdered. Years later, still half-paralyzed from
315-525: A battle-wound, Luigi wrote Giulietta e Romeo in Montorso Vicentino (from which he could see the "castles" of Verona), dedicating the novella to the bellisima e leggiadra (the beautiful and graceful) Lucina Savorgnan. Da Porto presented his tale as historically factual and claimed it took place at least a century earlier than Salernitano had it, in the days Verona was ruled by Bartolomeo della Scala (anglicized as Prince Escalus ). Da Porto presented
420-468: A blood relative to Prince Escalus and Count Paris . As such, Mercutio is one of the named characters in the play with the ability to mingle around those of both houses. The invitation to Lord Capulet 's party states that he has a brother named Valentine. Though often fun-loving and witty, the latter demonstrated in his Queen Mab speech in the first act, Mercutio's sense of humour can at times be facetious or even coarse, much to his friends' annoyance. He
525-634: A climate of incessant bickering and warfare between rival political parties in Lombardy. History records the name of the family Montague as being lent to such a political party in Verona , but that of the Capulets as from a Cremonese family, both of whom play out their conflict in Lombardy as a whole rather than within the confines of Verona. Allied to rival political factions, the parties are grieving ("One lot already grieving") because their endless warfare has led to
630-456: A draft in 1591, which he completed in 1595. Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet was published in two quarto editions prior to the publication of the First Folio of 1623. These are referred to as Q1 and Q2. The first printed edition, Q1, appeared in early 1597, printed by John Danter. Because its text contains numerous differences from the later editions, it is labelled a so-called ' bad quarto ';
735-500: A dramatic character is not a human being with mental processes separate from those of the author. Critics such as Julia Kristeva focus on the hatred between the families, arguing that this hatred is the cause of Romeo and Juliet's passion for each other. That hatred manifests itself directly in the lovers' language: Juliet, for example, speaks of "my only love sprung from my only hate" and often expresses her passion through an anticipation of Romeo's death. This leads on to speculation as to
840-429: A duel. However, Romeo refuses to fight Tybalt, because Romeo now considers Tybalt to be kin due to his secret marriage to Juliet. Mercutio is incensed at his friend's "calm, dishonorable, vile submission", and decides to fight Tybalt himself, referring to his own sword as his "fiddlestick." Romeo attempts to intervene. By stepping between the dueling men, however, he inadvertently hinders Mercutio, allowing Tybalt to inflict
945-456: A fatal blow. Before he dies, Mercutio curses both the Montagues and Capulets, crying several times, "A plague o' both your houses!" (Act III, Sc. 1, often quoted as "A pox on both your houses"). He makes one final pun before he dies: "Ask for me to-morrow, and you shall find me a grave man.". A grief-stricken and enraged Romeo kills Tybalt, resulting in his banishment from Verona and beginning
1050-446: A foreboding he feels in the stars' movements early in the play, and when he learns of Juliet's death, he defies the stars' course for him. Another central theme is haste: Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet spans a period of four to six days, in contrast to Brooke's poems spanning nine months. Scholars such as G. Thomas Tanselle believe that time was "especially important to Shakespeare" in this play, as he used references to "short-time" for
1155-451: A girl named Rosaline , one of Capulet's nieces. Persuaded by Benvolio and Mercutio , Romeo attends the ball at the Capulet house in hopes of meeting Rosaline. However, Romeo instead meets and falls in love with Juliet. Juliet's cousin, Tybalt , is enraged at Romeo for sneaking into the ball but is stopped from killing Romeo by Juliet's father, who does not wish to shed blood in his house. After
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#17330849287931260-413: A high-status central character, but they end happily like Shakespearean comedies . Almost three centuries after Shakespeare's death, the scholar F. S. Boas also coined a fifth category, the " problem play ," for plays that do not fit neatly into a single classification because of their subject matter, setting, or ending. Scholars continue to disagree on how to categorize some Shakespearean plays. Below
1365-534: A man and the beauty of a woman. The balcony scene was introduced by Da Porto in 1524. He had Romeo walk frequently by her house, "sometimes climbing to her chamber window", and wrote, "It happened one night, as love ordained, when the moon shone unusually bright, that whilst Romeo was climbing the balcony, the young lady ... opened the window, and looking out saw him". After this they have a conversation in which they declare eternal love to each other. A few decades later, Bandello greatly expanded this scene, diverging from
1470-634: A man she has no feeling for, she is challenging the patriarchal order in a way that would not have been possible at an earlier time. A number of critics have found the character of Mercutio to have unacknowledged homoerotic desire for Romeo. Jonathan Goldberg examined the sexuality of Mercutio and Romeo utilising queer theory in Queering the Renaissance (1994), comparing their friendship with sexual love. Mercutio, in friendly conversation, mentions Romeo's phallus , suggesting traces of homoeroticism . An example
1575-519: A single genre. In Elizabethan England there was no copyright law or protections against plagiarism , so characters, plots, and even whole phrases of poetry were considered common property. The majority of Shakespeare's tragedies are based on historical figures, with the exception of Measure for Measure and Othello , which are based on narrative fictions by Giraldi Cintio . The historical basis for Shakespeare's Roman plays comes from The Lives of Noble Grecians and Romans by Plutarch , whereas
1680-555: A tradition of tragic romances stretching back to antiquity . The plot is based on an Italian tale written by Matteo Bandello and 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, in particular Mercutio and Paris . Believed to have been written between 1591 and 1595,
1785-450: A tragedy at all, but an emotional melodrama . Ruth Nevo believes the high degree to which chance is stressed in the narrative makes Romeo and Juliet a "lesser tragedy" of happenstance, not of character. For example, Romeo's challenging Tybalt is not impulsive; it is, after Mercutio's death, the expected action to take. In this scene, Nevo reads Romeo as being aware of the dangers of flouting social norms , identity, and commitments. He makes
1890-484: A tragic tone. When Romeo is banished, rather than executed, and Friar Laurence offers Juliet a plan to reunite her with Romeo, the audience can still hope that all will end well. They are in a "breathless state of suspense" by the opening of the last scene in the tomb: If Romeo is delayed long enough for the Friar to arrive, he and Juliet may yet be saved. These shifts from hope to despair, reprieve, and new hope serve to emphasise
1995-479: A version in prose of the Romeo and Juliet story named "The goodly History of the true and constant love of Romeo and Juliett" . Shakespeare took advantage of this popularity: The Merchant of Venice , Much Ado About Nothing , All's Well That Ends Well , Measure for Measure , and Romeo and Juliet are all from Italian novelle . Romeo and Juliet is a dramatization of Brooke's translation, and Shakespeare follows
2100-481: A violent mode, regretting that Juliet has made him so "effeminate". In this view, the younger males "become men" by engaging in violence on behalf of their fathers, or in the case of the servants, their masters. The feud is also linked to male virility, as the numerous jokes about maidenheads aptly demonstrate. Juliet also submits to a female code of docility by allowing others, such as the Friar, to solve her problems for her. Other critics, such as Dympna Callaghan, look at
2205-521: A window. The word balcone is not known to have existed in the English language until two years after Shakespeare's death. The balcony was certainly used in Thomas Otway 's 1679 play, The History and Fall of Caius Marius , which had borrowed much of its story from Romeo and Juliet and placed the two lovers in a balcony reciting a speech similar to that between Romeo and Juliet. Leveen suggested that during
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#17330849287932310-406: Is also moody and given to sudden outbursts of temper, one of which sets a key plot development in motion. One of Romeo's closest friends, Mercutio entreats Romeo to forget about his unrequited love for a girl named Rosaline and come with him to a masquerade ball at Lord Capulet 's estate, through use of his Queen Mab speech. There, Mercutio and his friends become the life of the party, but Romeo
2415-650: 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,
2520-457: Is drawn to Capulet's daughter, Juliet . He finds himself in love, and immediately forgets about Rosaline. When Mercutio sees Romeo the next day, he is glad to see that his friend is his old self again, and he encourages Romeo, all the while making bawdy jokes at the expense of Juliet's Nurse . After Romeo receives a death threat from Juliet's cousin Tybalt , Mercutio expects Romeo to engage Tybalt in
2625-401: Is forced to take up the sword to defend himself. He is then banished rather than executed because the killing was provoked. In 1672, English poet John Dryden wrote, "Shakespeare show'd the best of his skill in his Mercutio, and he said himself, that he was forced to murder him in the third Act, to being killed by him." The addition of Mercutio into the fray increases the tension, and Tybalt
2730-406: Is having trouble creating offspring and who may be seen as being a homosexual. Goldberg believes that Shakespeare may have used Rosaline as a way to express homosexual problems of procreation in an acceptable way. In this view, when Juliet says "...that which we call a rose, by any other name would smell as sweet", she may be raising the question of whether there is any difference between the beauty of
2835-429: Is his joking wish "To raise a spirit in his mistress' circle ... letting it there stand / Till she had laid it and conjured it down." Romeo's homoeroticism can also be found in his attitude to Rosaline, a woman who is distant and unavailable and brings no hope of offspring. As Benvolio argues, she is best replaced by someone who will reciprocate. Shakespeare's procreation sonnets describe another young man who, like Romeo,
2940-447: Is laid in the family crypt . The messenger, however, does not reach Romeo and, instead, Romeo learns of Juliet's apparent death from his servant, Balthasar. Heartbroken, Romeo buys poison from an apothecary and goes to the Capulet crypt. He encounters Paris who has come to mourn Juliet privately. Believing Romeo to be a vandal, Paris confronts him and, in the ensuing battle, Romeo kills Paris. Still believing Juliet to be dead, he drinks
3045-482: Is one of the first Shakespeare plays to have been performed outside England: a shortened and simplified version was performed in Nördlingen in 1604. Shakespearean tragedy Shakespearean tragedy is the designation given to most tragedies written by playwright William Shakespeare . Many of his history plays share the qualifiers of a Shakespearean tragedy, but because they are based on real figures throughout
3150-556: Is passionate, it is only consummated in marriage, which keeps them from losing the audience's sympathy. The play arguably equates love and sex with death. Throughout the story, both Romeo and Juliet, along with the other characters, fantasise about it as a dark being , often equating it with a lover. Capulet, for example, when he first discovers Juliet's (faked) death, describes it as having deflowered his daughter. Juliet later erotically compares Romeo and death. Right before her suicide, she grabs Romeo's dagger, saying "O happy dagger! This
3255-464: Is seen as a slightly more peaceful character than in previous versions, as Mercutio is disgusted by the fact that Tybalt continues to search for a quarrel with Romeo, when Romeo is trying to bring peace between them. Mercutio hurls insults and taunts at Tybalt, and draws the sword first, in reaction to Tybalt's insults, which are directed to Romeo. Mercutio's death in Act III, scene I is the pivotal point of
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3360-459: Is such an obvious subject of the play, several scholars have explored the language and historical context behind the romance of the play. On their first meeting, Romeo and Juliet use a form of communication recommended by many etiquette authors in Shakespeare's day: metaphor. By using metaphors of saints and sins, Romeo was able to test Juliet's feelings for him in a non-threatening way. This method
3465-522: Is the list of Shakespeare's plays listed as tragedies in the First Folio , along with the date range in which each play is believed to have been written. The English Renaissance , when Shakespeare was writing, was fueled by a renewed interest in Roman and Greek classics and neighboring renaissance literature written years earlier in Italy, France, and Spain. Shakespeare wrote the majority of his tragedies under
3570-435: Is the main contributor to the play's tragic end. Shakespeare uses a variety of poetic forms throughout the play. He begins with a 14-line prologue in the form of a Shakespearean sonnet , spoken by a Chorus. Most of Romeo and Juliet is, however, written in blank verse , and much of it in strict iambic pentameter , with less rhythmic variation than in most of Shakespeare's later plays. In choosing forms, Shakespeare matches
3675-425: Is thy sheath. There rust, and let me die." "O, I am fortune's fool!" Scholars are divided on the role of fate in the play. No consensus exists on whether the characters are truly fated to die together or whether the events take place by a series of unlucky chances. Arguments in favour of fate often refer to the description of the lovers as " star-cross'd ". This phrase seems to hint that the stars have predetermined
3780-577: The Dover Straits earthquake of 1580 , which would date that particular line to 1591. Other earthquakes—both in England and in Verona—have been proposed in support of the different dates. But the play's stylistic similarities with A Midsummer Night's Dream and other plays conventionally dated around 1594–95, place its composition sometime between 1591 and 1595. One conjecture is that Shakespeare may have begun
3885-527: The history of England , they were classified as "histories" in the First Folio . The Roman tragedies— Julius Caesar , Antony and Cleopatra and Coriolanus —are also based on historical figures , but because their sources were foreign and ancient, they are almost always classified as tragedies rather than histories. Shakespeare's romances ( tragicomic plays ) were written late in his career and published originally as either tragedy or comedy . They share some elements of tragedy , insofar as they feature
3990-434: The "pseudo-Aristotelian" concept of the tragic flaw does not apply to Shakespeare's tragic figures. ) Revenge tragedy was another increasingly popular genre in this age; Shakespeare's Hamlet is one example of this. Plays of this age were also decidedly secular, in contrast to the religious morality plays which, by this time, were outlawed by Elizabeth I . One marked difference between English renaissance tragedies and
4095-476: The 'bad quarto' was reconstructed from memory by some of the actors is now under attack. Alternative theories are that some or all of 'the bad quartos' are early versions by Shakespeare or abbreviations made either for Shakespeare's company or for other companies." In any event, its appearance in early 1597 makes 1596 the latest possible date for the play's composition. The superior Q2 called the play The Most Excellent and Lamentable Tragedie of Romeo and Juliet . It
4200-423: The 18th century, David Garrick chose to use a balcony in his adaptation and revival of Romeo and Juliet and modern adaptations have continued this tradition. Romeo and Juliet ranks with Hamlet as one of Shakespeare's most performed plays. Its many adaptations have made it one of his most enduring and famous stories. Even in Shakespeare's lifetime, it was extremely popular. Scholar Gary Taylor measures it as
4305-454: The 20th-century editor T. J. B. Spencer described it as "a detestable text, probably a reconstruction of the play from the imperfect memories of one or two of the actors", suggesting that it had been pirated for publication. An alternative explanation for Q1's shortcomings is that the play (like many others of the time) may have been heavily edited before performance by the playing company. However, "the theory, formulated by [Alfred] Pollard," that
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4410-457: The Prince's elegy for the lovers: "For never was a story of more woe / Than this of Juliet and her Romeo." 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
4515-442: The afternoon in broad daylight. This forced the playwright to use words to create the illusion of day and night in his plays. Shakespeare uses references to the night and day, the stars, the moon, and the sun to create this illusion. He also has characters frequently refer to days of the week and specific hours to help the audience understand that time has passed in the story. All in all, no fewer than 103 references to time are found in
4620-613: The arras in the Queen's chamber. The story of Lear appears in Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia regium Britanniae c. 1135 , and then in John Higgins ' poem The Mirror for Magistrates in 1574, as well as appearing in Holinshed's Chronicles in 1587. Some events that happen in Shakespeare's King Lear were inspired by various episodes of Philip Sidney 's Arcadia from 1590, while
4725-509: The audience can see the seriousness of Romeo and Juliet's love and marriage. Paris' love for Juliet also sets up a contrast between Juliet's feelings for him and her feelings for Romeo. The formal language she uses around Paris, as well as the way she talks about him to her Nurse, show that her feelings clearly lie with Romeo. Beyond this, the sub-plot of the Montague–Capulet feud overarches the whole play, providing an atmosphere of hate that
4830-465: The author but erroneously preserved by the typesetter. It is a much more complete and reliable text and was reprinted in 1609 (Q3), 1622 (Q4) and 1637 (Q5). In effect, all later Quartos and Folios of Romeo and Juliet are based on Q2, as are all modern editions since editors believe that any deviations from Q2 in the later editions (whether good or bad) are likely to have arisen from editors or compositors, not from Shakespeare. The First Folio text of 1623
4935-406: The ball, in what is now famously known as the "balcony scene," Romeo sneaks into the Capulet orchard and overhears Juliet at her window vowing her love to him in spite of her family's hatred of the Montagues. Romeo makes himself known to her, and they agree to be married. With the help of Friar Laurence , who hopes to reconcile the two families through their children's union, they are secretly married
5040-514: The beauty of women who were impossible for them to attain, as in Romeo's situation with Rosaline. This sonnet form is used by Lady Capulet to describe Count Paris to Juliet as a handsome man. When Romeo and Juliet meet, the poetic form changes from the Petrarchan (which was becoming archaic in Shakespeare's day) to a then more contemporary sonnet form, using "pilgrims" and "saints" as metaphors. Finally, when
5145-543: The characters indulge in rhetorical outbursts. In his 1562 narrative poem The Tragical History of Romeus and Juliet , Arthur Brooke translated Boaistuau faithfully but adjusted it to reflect parts of Chaucer's Troilus and Criseyde . There was a trend among writers and playwrights to publish works based on Italian novelle —Italian tales were very popular among theatre-goers—and Shakespeare may well have been familiar with William Painter 's 1567 collection of Italian tales titled Palace of Pleasure . This collection included
5250-431: The choice to kill, not because of a tragic flaw , but because of circumstance. "O brawling love, O loving hate, O any thing of nothing first create! O heavy lightness, serious vanity, Misshapen chaos of well-seeming forms, Feather of lead, bright smoke, cold fire, sick health, Still-waking sleep, that is not what it is!" Scholars have long noted Shakespeare's widespread use of light and dark imagery throughout
5355-447: The classical rules of drama: the tragedy must occur because of some character flaw , not an accident of fate. Writer and critic Samuel Johnson , however, considered it one of Shakespeare's "most pleasing" plays. In the later part of the 18th and through the 19th century, criticism centred on debates over the moral message of the play. Actor and playwright David Garrick 's 1748 adaptation excluded Rosaline: Romeo abandoning her for Juliet
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#17330849287935460-475: The classics that inspired them was the use and popularity of violence and murder on stage. Select exemplary (non-Shakespearean) Elizabethan and Jacobean tragedies: Mercutio Mercutio ( / m ər ˈ k juː ʃ i oʊ / mər- KEW -shee-oh , Italian : Mercuzio ) is a fictional character in William Shakespeare 's 1597 tragedy , Romeo and Juliet . He is a close friend to Romeo and
5565-559: The common people in the play, though at times he uses it for other characters, such as Mercutio. Humour, also, is important: scholar Molly Mahood identifies at least 175 puns and wordplays in the text. Many of these jokes are sexual in nature, especially those involving Mercutio and the Nurse. Early psychoanalytic critics saw the problem of Romeo and Juliet in terms of Romeo's impulsiveness, deriving from "ill-controlled, partially disguised aggression", which leads both to Mercutio's death and to
5670-412: The destruction of both parties, rather than a grief from the loss of their ill-fated offspring as the play sets forth, which appears to be a solely poetic creation within this context. The earliest known version of the Romeo and Juliet tale akin to Shakespeare's play is the story of Mariotto and Ganozza by Masuccio Salernitano , in the 33rd novel of his Il Novellino published in 1476. Salernitano sets
5775-440: The double suicide. Romeo and Juliet is not considered to be exceedingly psychologically complex, and sympathetic psychoanalytic readings of the play make the tragic male experience equivalent with sicknesses. Norman Holland, writing in 1966, considers Romeo's dream as a realistic "wish fulfilling fantasy both in terms of Romeo's adult world and his hypothetical childhood at stages oral, phallic and oedipal" – while acknowledging that
5880-417: The drama. In the 20th and into the 21st century, the play has been adapted to film in versions as diverse as George Cukor 's Romeo and Juliet (1936), Franco Zeffirelli 's Romeo and Juliet (1968), Baz Luhrmann 's Romeo + Juliet (1996), and Carlo Carlei 's Romeo and Juliet (2013). The play, set in Verona , Italy , begins with a street brawl between Montague and Capulet servants who, like
5985-510: The familiar one: Julia has her nurse deliver a letter asking Romeo to come to her window with a rope ladder, and he climbs the balcony with the help of his servant, Julia and the nurse (the servants discreetly withdraw after this). Nevertheless, in October 2014, Lois Leveen pointed out in The Atlantic that the original Shakespeare play did not contain a balcony; it just says that Juliet appears at
6090-512: The final suicide scene, there is a contradiction in the message—in the Catholic religion, suicides were often thought to be condemned to Hell, whereas people who die to be with their loves under the " Religion of Love " are joined with their loves in Paradise. Romeo and Juliet's love seems to be expressing the "Religion of Love" view rather than the Catholic view. Another point is that, although their love
6195-578: The first to perform it. Besides their strong connections with Shakespeare, the Second Quarto names one of its actors, Will Kemp , instead of Peter, in a line in Act V. Richard Burbage was probably the first Romeo, being the company's chief tragedian; and Master Robert Goffe (a boy), the first Juliet. The premiere is likely to have been at The Theatre , with other early productions at the Curtain . Romeo and Juliet
6300-496: The gentle sin is this: My lips, two blushing pilgrims, ready stand To smooth that rough touch with a tender kiss. Juliet Good pilgrim, you do wrong your hand too much, Which mannerly devotion shows in this; For saints have hands that pilgrims' hands do touch, And palm to palm is holy palmers' kiss." Romeo and Juliet is sometimes considered to have no unifying theme, save that of young love. Romeo and Juliet have become emblematic of young lovers and doomed love. Since it
6405-425: The lovers' deaths. In Romeo and Juliet , Shakespeare employs several dramatic techniques that have garnered praise from critics, most notably the abrupt shifts from comedy to tragedy (an example is the punning exchange between Benvolio and Mercutio just before Tybalt arrives). Before Mercutio's death in Act III, the play is largely a comedy. After his accidental demise, the play suddenly becomes serious and takes on
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#17330849287936510-471: The lovers' future. John W. Draper points out the parallels between the Elizabethan belief in the four humours and the main characters of the play (for example, Tybalt as a choleric). Interpreting the text in the light of humours reduces the amount of plot attributed to chance by modern audiences. Still, other scholars see the play as a series of unlucky chances—many to such a degree that they do not see it as
6615-407: The marriage to be delayed, her mother rejects her. Juliet visits Friar Laurence for help, and he offers her a potion that will put her into a deathlike coma or catalepsy for "two and forty hours". The Friar promises to send a messenger to inform Romeo of the plan so that he can rejoin her when she awakens. On the night before the wedding, she takes the drug and, when discovered apparently dead, she
6720-585: The masters they serve, are sworn enemies. Prince Escalus of Verona intervenes and declares that further breach of the peace will be punishable by death. Later, Count Paris talks to Capulet about marrying his daughter Juliet , but Capulet asks Paris to wait another two years and invites him to attend a planned Capulet ball . Lady Capulet and Juliet's Nurse try to persuade Juliet to accept Paris's courtship. Meanwhile, Benvolio talks with his cousin Romeo , Montague's son, about Romeo's recent depression. Benvolio discovers that it stems from unrequited infatuation for
6825-436: The midst of the darkness of the hate around them, but all of their activity together is done in night and darkness while all of the feuding is done in broad daylight. This paradox of imagery adds atmosphere to the moral dilemma facing the two lovers: loyalty to family or loyalty to love. At the end of the story, when the morning is gloomy and the sun hiding its face for sorrow, light and dark have returned to their proper places,
6930-430: The moon, th'inconstant moon, / That monthly changes in her circled orb, / Lest that thy love prove likewise variable." From the very beginning, the lovers are designated as "star-cross'd" referring to an astrologic belief associated with time. Stars were thought to control the fates of humanity, and as time passed, stars would move along their course in the sky, also charting the course of human lives below. Romeo speaks of
7035-483: The murder of Mercutio. The Prince, now having lost a kinsman in the warring families' feud, exiles Romeo from Verona, under penalty of death if he ever returns. Romeo secretly spends the night in Juliet's chamber, where they consummate their marriage. Capulet, misinterpreting Juliet's grief, agrees to marry her to Count Paris and threatens to disown her when she refuses to become Paris's "joyful bride". When she then pleads for
7140-473: The narrative in close to its modern form, including the names of the lovers, the rival families of Montecchi and Capuleti (Cappelletti) and the location in Verona. He named the friar Laurence ( frate Lorenzo ) and introduced the characters Mercutio ( Marcuccio Guertio ), Tybalt ( Tebaldo Cappelletti ), Count Paris ( conte (Paride) di Lodrone ), the faithful servant, and Giulietta's nurse . Da Porto originated
7245-601: The next day. Tybalt, meanwhile, still incensed that Romeo had sneaked into the Capulet ball, challenges him to a duel. Romeo, now considering Tybalt his kinsman, refuses to fight. Mercutio is offended by Tybalt's insolence, as well as Romeo's "vile submission", and accepts the duel on Romeo's behalf. Mercutio is fatally wounded when Romeo attempts to break up the fight, and declares a curse upon both households before he dies. (" A plague on both your houses! ") Grief-stricken and racked with guilt, Romeo confronts and slays Tybalt. Montague argues that Romeo has justly executed Tybalt for
7350-467: The nonsensical musings of Edgar's "poor Tom" heavily reference Samuel Harsnett's 1603 book, A Declaration of Egregious Popish Impostures . Tragedies from these eras traced their philosophical essence back to the Senecan tragedy , grounded in nobles who have a tragic flaw or commit a grave error ( hamartia ) which leads to their reversal of fortune ( peripeteia ). (However, some critics have argued that
7455-558: The other in fear. However, the reference is part of a polemic against what Dante saw as moral decay of Florence , Lombardy , and the Italian states in general; through his characters, Dante aimed to chastise Albert I of Germany for neglecting what Dante felt were his responsibilities towards Italy ("you who are negligent") as " King of the Romans ", as well as successive popes for their encroachment from purely spiritual affairs, thus leading to
7560-400: The outward darkness reflecting the true, inner darkness of the family feud out of sorrow for the lovers. All characters now recognise their folly in light of recent events, and things return to the natural order, thanks to the love and death of Romeo and Juliet. The "light" theme in the play is also heavily connected to the theme of time since light was a convenient way for Shakespeare to express
7665-407: The passage of time through descriptions of the sun, moon, and stars. "These times of woe afford no time to woo." Time plays an important role in the language and plot of the play. Both Romeo and Juliet struggle to maintain an imaginary world void of time in the face of the harsh realities that surround them. For instance, when Romeo swears his love to Juliet by the moon, she protests "O swear not by
7770-629: The play to add information such as stage directions missing in Q2 by locating them in Q1. This tradition continued late into the Romantic period. Fully annotated editions first appeared in the Victorian period and continue to be produced today, printing the text of the play with footnotes describing the sources and culture behind the play. Scholars have found it extremely difficult to assign one specific, overarching theme to
7875-424: 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 poetic dramatic structure (including effects such as switching between comedy and tragedy to heighten tension, the expansion of minor characters, and numerous sub-plots to embellish
7980-442: The play's feminism from a historicist angle, stressing that when the play was written the feudal order was being challenged by increasingly centralised government and the advent of capitalism. At the same time, emerging Puritan ideas about marriage were less concerned with the "evils of female sexuality" than those of earlier eras and more sympathetic towards love-matches: when Juliet dodges her father's attempt to force her to marry
8085-411: The play, adding to the illusion of its passage. The earliest known critic of the play was diarist Samuel Pepys , who wrote in 1662: "it is a play of itself the worst that I ever heard in my life." Poet John Dryden wrote 10 years later in praise of the play and its comic character Mercutio: "Shakespear show'd the best of his skill in his Mercutio , and he said himself, that he was forc'd to kill him in
8190-426: The play. Caroline Spurgeon considers the theme of light as "symbolic of the natural beauty of young love" and later critics have expanded on this interpretation. For example, both Romeo and Juliet see the other as light in a surrounding darkness. Romeo describes Juliet as being like the sun, brighter than a torch, a jewel sparkling in the night, and a bright angel among dark clouds. Even when she lies apparently dead in
8295-598: The play. Proposals for a main theme include a discovery by the characters that human beings are neither wholly good nor wholly evil, but instead are more or less alike, awaking out of a dream and into reality, the danger of hasty action, or the power of tragic fate. None of these have widespread support. However, even if an overall theme cannot be found it is clear that the play is full of several small thematic elements that intertwine in complex ways. Several of those most often debated by scholars are discussed below. " Romeo If I profane with my unworthiest hand This holy shrine,
8400-417: The playwright's psychology, in particular to a consideration of Shakespeare's grief for the death of his son, Hamnet . Feminist literary critics argue that the blame for the family feud lies in Verona's patriarchal society . For Coppélia Kahn , for example, the strict, masculine code of violence imposed on Romeo is the main force driving the tragedy to its end. When Tybalt kills Mercutio, Romeo shifts into
8505-537: The poem closely but adds detail to several major and minor characters (the Nurse and Mercutio in particular). Christopher Marlowe 's Hero and Leander and Dido, Queen of Carthage , both similar stories written in Shakespeare's day, are thought to be less of a direct influence, although they may have helped create an atmosphere in which tragic love stories could thrive. It is unknown when exactly Shakespeare wrote Romeo and Juliet . Juliet's Nurse refers to an earthquake she says occurred 11 years ago. This may refer to
8610-549: The poetry of the time and more likely to be understood as romantic rather than blasphemous, as the concept of sainthood was associated with the Catholicism of an earlier age. Later in the play, Shakespeare removes the more daring allusions to Christ's resurrection in the tomb he found in his source work: Brooke's Romeus and Juliet . In the later balcony scene, Shakespeare has Romeo overhear Juliet's soliloquy, but in Brooke's version of
8715-518: The poetry to the character who uses it. Friar Laurence, for example, uses sermon and sententiae forms and the Nurse uses a unique blank verse form that closely matches colloquial speech . Each of these forms is also moulded and matched to the emotion of the scene the character occupies. For example, when Romeo talks about Rosaline earlier in the play, he attempts to use the Petrarchan sonnet form. Petrarchan sonnets were often used by men to exaggerate
8820-420: The poison. Juliet then awakens and, discovering that Romeo is dead, stabs herself with his dagger and joins him in death. The feuding families and the Prince meet at the tomb to find all three dead. Friar Laurence recounts the story of the two "star-cross'd lovers", fulfilling the curse that Mercutio swore. The families are reconciled by their children's deaths and agree to end their violent feud. The play ends with
8925-438: The remaining basic elements of the story: the feuding families, Romeo—left by his mistress—meeting Giulietta at a dance at her house, the love scenes (including the balcony scene), the periods of despair, Romeo killing Giulietta's cousin (Tebaldo), and the families' reconciliation after the lovers' suicides. In da Porto's version, Romeo takes poison and Giulietta keeps her breath until she dies. In 1554, Matteo Bandello published
9030-557: The rule of James I , and their darker contents may reflect the general mood of the country following the death of Elizabeth I , as well as James's theatrical preferences. Shakespeare, as was customary for other playwrights in his day, used history, other plays, and non-dramatic literature as sources for his plays. Additionally, tragedy was a new and exciting theatrical phenomenon in the late 16th century, rather than an established and self-evident dramatic form; because of this, Shakespeare and his contemporaries' plays did not necessary fit into
9135-433: The second volume of his Novelle , which included his version of Giulietta e Romeo , probably written between 1531 and 1545. Bandello lengthened and weighed down the plot while leaving the storyline basically unchanged (though he did introduce Benvolio ). Bandello's story was translated into French by Pierre Boaistuau in 1559 in the first volume of his Histoires Tragiques . Boaistuau adds much moralising and sentiment, and
9240-463: The sixth most popular of Shakespeare's plays, in the period after the death of Christopher Marlowe and Thomas Kyd but before the ascendancy of Ben Jonson during which Shakespeare was London's dominant playwright. The date of the first performance is unknown. The First Quarto, printed in 1597, reads "it hath been often (and with great applause) plaid publiquely", setting the first performance before that date. The Lord Chamberlain's Men were certainly
9345-586: The source of Shakespeare's Britain-based plays and Hamlet (based on the Danish Prince Amleth) derive from Holinshed's Chronicles . Furthermore, the French author Belleforest published The Hystorie of Hamblet, Prince of Denmarke in 1582, which includes specifics from how the prince pretended madness, to how the prince stabbed and killed the King's counsellor who was eavesdropping on Hamlet and his mother behind
9450-468: The story as Giulietta e Romeo and included it in his Historia novellamente ritrovata di due nobili amanti (A Newly-Discovered History of two Noble Lovers ), written in 1524 and published posthumously in 1531 in Venice. Da Porto drew on Pyramus and Thisbe , Boccaccio 's Decameron , and Salernitano's Mariotto e Ganozza , but it is likely that his story is also autobiographical: He was a soldier present at
9555-463: The story in Siena and insists its events took place in his own lifetime. His version of the story includes the secret marriage, the colluding friar, the fray where a prominent citizen is killed, Mariotto's exile, Ganozza's forced marriage, the potion plot, and the crucial message that goes astray. In this version, Mariotto is caught and beheaded and Ganozza dies of grief. Luigi da Porto (1485–1529) adapted
9660-465: 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
9765-453: The story, her declaration is done alone. By bringing Romeo into the scene to eavesdrop, Shakespeare breaks from the normal sequence of courtship. Usually, a woman was required to be modest and shy to make sure that her suitor was sincere, but breaking this rule serves to speed along the plot. The lovers are able to skip courting and move on to plain talk about their relationship—agreeing to be married after knowing each other for only one night. In
9870-401: The third Act, to prevent being killed by him." Criticism of the play in the 18th century was less sparse but no less divided. Publisher Nicholas Rowe was the first critic to ponder the theme of the play, which he saw as the just punishment of the two feuding families. In mid-century, writer Charles Gildon and philosopher Lord Kames argued that the play was a failure in that it did not follow
9975-405: The tomb, he says her "beauty makes / This vault a feasting presence full of light." Juliet describes Romeo as "day in night" and "Whiter than snow upon a raven's back." This contrast of light and dark can be expanded as symbols—contrasting love and hate, youth and age in a metaphoric way. Sometimes these intertwining metaphors create dramatic irony . For example, Romeo and Juliet's love is a light in
10080-401: The tragedy when the final hope fails and both the lovers die at the end. Shakespeare also uses sub-plots to offer a clearer view of the actions of the main characters. For example, when the play begins, Romeo is in love with Rosaline, who has refused all of his advances. Romeo's infatuation with her stands in obvious contrast to his later love for Juliet. This provides a comparison through which
10185-632: The tragic turn of events that make up the rest of the play. The name Mercutio was present in Shakespeare's sources for Romeo and Juliet , though his character was not well developed and he was presented as a romantic rival for Juliet. The name is first used in Luigi Da Porto 's 1530 Giulietta e Romeo . Da Porto briefly introduces a character named Marcuccio Guertio, a noble youth "with very cold hands, in July as in January", who makes Giulietta Cappelletti appreciate
10290-548: The two meet on the balcony, Romeo attempts to use the sonnet form to pledge his love, but Juliet breaks it by saying "Dost thou love me?" By doing this, she searches for true expression, rather than a poetic exaggeration of their love. Juliet uses monosyllabic words with Romeo but uses formal language with Paris. Other forms in the play include an epithalamium by Juliet, a rhapsody in Mercutio's Queen Mab speech, and an elegy by Paris. Shakespeare saves his prose style most often for
10395-414: The warm hands of Romeo Montecchi. Earlier versions of the story described a different chain of events leading to Tybalt's death, omitting Mercutio completely. Arthur Brooke 's The Tragical History of Romeus and Juliet and William Painter 's 1567 versions of the story both left the entire episode solely to Romeo and Tybalt. In both stories, Tybalt attacks the pacifist Romeo with such force that Romeo
10500-421: The young lovers as opposed to references to "long-time" for the "older generation" to highlight "a headlong rush towards doom". Romeo and Juliet fight time to make their love last forever. In the end, the only way they seem to defeat time is through a death that makes them immortal through art. Time is also connected to the theme of light and dark. In Shakespeare's day, plays were most often performed at noon or in
10605-454: Was based primarily on Q3, with clarifications and corrections possibly coming from a theatrical prompt book or Q1. Other Folio editions of the play were printed in 1632 (F2), 1664 (F3), and 1685 (F4). Modern versions—that take into account several of the Folios and Quartos—first appeared with Nicholas Rowe 's 1709 edition, followed by Alexander Pope 's 1723 version. Pope began a tradition of editing
10710-426: Was printed in 1599 by Thomas Creede and published by Cuthbert Burby . Q2 is about 800 lines longer than Q1. Its title page describes it as "Newly corrected, augmented and amended". Scholars believe that Q2 was based on Shakespeare's pre-performance draft (called his foul papers ) since there are textual oddities such as variable tags for characters and "false starts" for speeches that were presumably struck through by
10815-408: Was recommended by Baldassare Castiglione (whose works had been translated into English by this time). He pointed out that if a man used a metaphor as an invitation, the woman could pretend she did not understand him, and he could retreat without losing honour. Juliet, however, participates in the metaphor and expands on it. The religious metaphors of "shrine", "pilgrim", and "saint" were fashionable in
10920-508: 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 used 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
11025-491: Was seen as fickle and reckless. Critics such as Charles Dibdin argued that Rosaline had been included in the play in order to show how reckless the hero was and that this was the reason for his tragic end. Others argued that Friar Laurence might be Shakespeare's spokesman in his warnings against undue haste. At the beginning of the 20th century, these moral arguments were disputed by critics such as Richard Green Moulton : he argued that accident, and not some character flaw, led to
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