Romeo and Juliet
Romeo and Juliet is a famous play by
William Shakespeare concerning the fate of two young
star-crossed lovers. It was probably first performed on
January 29,
1595.
Though the story originates through several retellings from a
1476 story of Mariotto and Gianozza by
Masuccio Salernitano, Shakespeare enriched its texture through his vivid characterizations of both major and minor characters, in particular the Nurse and Mercutio.
The Characters
- Escalus: Prince of Verona\n*Paris: a young count related to the prince\n*Montague: head of the house of Montague\n*Capulet: head of the house of Capulet\n*Romeo: Montague's son\n*Mercutio: kinsman to the prince and friend to Romeo\n*Benvolio: nephew to Montague and friend to Romeo\n*Tybalt: nephew to Lady Capulet\n*Friar Lawrence: of the Franciscan order\n*Friar John: of the Franciscan order\n*Balthazar: servant to Romeo\n*Sampson: servant to Capulet\n*Gregory: servant to Capulet\n*Antony: servant to Capulet\n*Potpan: servant to Capulet\n*Peter: servant to Juliet's nurse\n*Abraham: servant to Montague\n*Apothecary: drug dealer\n*Lady Montague: wife to Montague\n*Lady Capulet: wife to Capulet\n*Juliet: daughter to Capulet\n*Nurse: Juliet's nurse
The Story
The play begins with a prologue in the form of a sonnet. The speaker explains to the audience that the story concerns two warring families in Verona, Italy, and how the feud is ended in a manner which neither side could have wanted or expected.
The action proper starts with a typical street-brawl between the two families, started by their servants and put down by the Prince of Verona. He fines the heads of both families and declares severe penalties, including death, for those who disturb the peace again, and leaves.
Paris, a nobleman and the Prince's relative, talks to old Capulet about marrying his daughter Juliet. The Capulet asks him to attract the attention of Juliet during a ball that the family is to hold a day later. Meanwhile Juliet's mother tries to persuade her young daughter to accept Paris's wooing during their coming ball. Juliet does not want to, but she does so only because her mother asked her to.
Romeo, the son of Montague, is infatuated with Rosaline, a relative of the Capulets. Hearing that she will appear at the ball at the Capulets, he decides to visit the Capulets' house masked with his cousin Benvolio and friend Mercutio, who all want him to forget about Rosaline and find another woman, since Rosaline does not return Romeo's love.
At the ball, Romeo falls instead for the approximately fourteen-year-old Juliet. He stays behind, risking his life by remaining on Capulet property, to catch another glimpse of Juliet at her room, and in the famous balcony scene, the two eloquently declare their love for each other. The young lovers decide to marry without informing their parents, because they would undoubtedly disallow it due to the planned union between Paris and Juliet.
With the help of Juliet's Nurse and the Franciscan priest Friar Lawrence, the two are wedded days later. Friar Lawrence performs the ceremony, hoping to bring the two families to peace with each other through their mutual union.
Things take a darker turn in the next Act. Tybalt, a bloodthirsty Capulet and Juliet's cousin, decides to seek out Romeo for appearing in the Capulets' house uninvited. Romeo refuses to fight him because he is now part of his family, but Mercutio accepts the duel on his behalf. In the ensuing fight Mercutio is fatally wounded by Tybalt and Romeo, in his anger, kills Tybalt. Although under the Prince of Verona's prior proclamation Romeo would be subject to the death penalty, the Prince reduces Romeo's punishment to exile in light of the fact that Tybalt initiated the duel. Romeo flees to Mantua.
Juliet is extremely grieved when she hears this, and when she realizes that her father will force her to go through with the marriage to Paris, she seeks the help of Friar Lawrence once more. Friar Lawrence, an expert in herbal medicines and potions, gives Juliet a potion and a plan: the potion will put her in a death-like coma for two days; she is to take it before her marriage day, and when discovered dead, she will be laid in the family crypt. Meanwhile, the Friar will send a messenger to inform Romeo so that he can rejoin her when she awakes. The two can then leave for Mantua and live happily ever after.
Juliet takes the potion, and things proceed as planned. Unfortunately, the Friar's messenger is unable to reach Romeo due to Mantua being under quarantine, and Romeo learns only of Juliet's supposed "death" through a family servant. Grief-stricken, he buys some strong poison, returns to Verona in secret, and proceeds to the Capulets' crypt, determined to join Juliet in death. After killing Paris who has come to mourn privately for his lost love, he drinks the poison after seeing Juliet one last time. Seconds later Juliet awakens and sees Romeo dead. Juliet cannot imagine a rewarding life without Romeo and so she stabs herself fatally with his dagger. The two lovers lie dead by each other's sides, madly in love and devoted until the last breath of life.
The two families meet at the tomb with the Prince, and Friar Lawrence, who has hurried to the crypt but is too late to prevent the tragedy, reveals to them the love and secret marriage of Romeo and Juliet. The feuding families are reconciled by their children's deaths, as explained by the prologue.
Commentary
The text, in common with many of Shakespeare's other plays, is almost entirely written in iambic pentameter.
It is one of the earlier works in the Shakespeare canon, and while it is often classified as a tragedy, it does not bear the hallmarks of the 'great tragedies' like Hamlet and Macbeth. Some argue that Romeo and Juliet's demise does not stem from their own individual flaws, but from the actions of others or from accidents. Unlike the great tragedies, Romeo and Juliet is more a tragedy of mistiming and ill fate. However, others consider rashness and youth to be the tragic flaws of Romeo and Juliet.
It has been noted that the plot of Romeo and Juliet is more that of a farce or comedy of errors than a tragedy, except that it lacks the vital last-minute save and everyone dies at the end instead of living happily ever after. However, it can also be argued that not all is woe at the end. A long-running feud is ended, although at the price of the two lovers' lives, thus, no doubt, future deaths have been prevented.
Adaptations
There have been quite a few adaptations of Romeo and Juliet, created for many media.\nPlays
Other versions of the Romeo and Juliet play had been made, which had the "culture" of where the play was made as the "setting". For instance, a version of the play which had Romeo as a Palestinian and Juliet as a Jew in Israel and the Palestinian territories was made, which criticizes the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Opera
The story was converted into the opera Romeo et Juliette by Charles François Gounod in 1867 with a libretto written by Jules Barbier and Michel Carrè.
It was also the subject of Vincenzo Bellini's opera I Capuletti ed i Montecchi.
Ballet
Several ballet adaptations of the story have been made, the first recorded in the 18th century. The best known feature music by Sergei Prokofiev, and a variety of choreographers have used this music. The first version featuring Prokofiev's music was performed in 1938.
Musical
The musical West Side Story, also made into a film, is based on Romeo and Juliet but updates the story to mid-20th century New York City and the warring families to ethnic gangs.
Movie versions
There have been over forty movie versions of the tale, with the first in 1900. Some of the more notable adaptations include:
;1936 - Romeo and Juliet, produced by Irving Thalberg and directed by George Cukor\n:The 1936 screen version was one of the more notable of classical Hollywood. Thalberg spared no expense, and showcased his wife, Norma Shearer, in the lead role. Romeo was played by Leslie Howard, John Barrymore was Mercutio, and Andy Devine was Peter, the servant to Juliet's nurse. However, the film was criticised because Howard and Shearer were both far too old for the roles.\n:Academy Awards nominations:\n:*Best Picture - Irving Thalberg, producer\n:*Best Actor in a Supporting Role - Basil Rathbone - as Tybalt\n:*Best Actress - Norma Shearer\n:*Best Art Direction - Cedric Gibbons, Fredric Hope and Edwin B. Willis
;1954 - Romeo and Juliet directed by Renato Castellani.\n:A notable Italian production with a strong cast and a colorful setting. The cast includes Galina Ulanova, Laurence Harvey, Bolshoi Ballet, Mervyn Johns, Flora Robson, Yuri Zhdanov and Susan Shentall.
;1968 - Romeo and Juliet, directed by Franco Zeffirelli\n:Filmed in Italy, the performance of the young Olivia Hussey as Juliet has been considered truly inspired by some, as weak by others. It won Oscarss for best cinematography and best costume design, and was nominated for Best Director. It also starred Leonard Whiting as Romeo - he was seen as 'the next big thing' in film at the time, but his career did not match up to expectations.
;1978 - Romeo and Juliet, directed by Alvin Rakoff\n:for the BBC Television Shakespeare series. This production is generally unregarded due to its inexperienced stars and low production values, although Alan Rickman's Tybalt is watchable.
;1983 - Romeo + Juliet, directed by William Woodman (not currently available for rent or purchase)\n:This film features an excellent set of costumes and more naturalistic line delivery than was used in Shakespeare's time. Some viewers believe that the simplicity of the story and speech makes this production more accesible and powerful than most. The cast includes Alex Hyde-White, Blanche Baker, Esther Rolle, Dan Hamilton, and Frederic Hehne.
;1996 - Romeo + Juliet, directed by Baz Luhrmann\n:Starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes in the title roles, Luhrmann gave the famous tale a modern setting. This radical interpretation of the play is either loved or loathed by filmgoers, but its art design and cinematography are undeniably impressive.\n:At the Berlin International Film Festival 1997, it won:\n:* Best Actor (Leonardo DiCaprio) \n:* Alfred Bauer Prize\n:Academy Awards 1996 nominations:\n:* Best Art Direction (Catherine Martin)\n:* Set Decoration (Brigitte Broch)
External links
\n* Romeo and Juliet - The electronic text in Italian of the original story\n*Romeo and Juliet - plain vanilla text from Project Gutenberg\n*Romeo and Juliet - searchable, indexed version from shakespeare-literature.com\n*Romeo and Juliet - A personalized edition starring the reader as Romeo and Juliet\n*Romeo and Juliet - HTML version of this title.\n*Romeo and Juliet - HTML version at MIT\n*Study guide of the play
Romeo y Julieta is also a brand of Cuban cigars.
Category:Shakespearean tragedies\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
