Romeo and Juliet

In Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare creates a violent world, in which two young people fall in love. It is not simply that their families disapprove; the Montagues and the Capulets are engaged in a blood feud. In this death-filled setting, the movement from love at first sight to the lovers’ final union in death seems almost inevitable. And yet, this play set in an extraordinary world has become the quintessential story of young love. In part because of its exquisite language, it is easy to respond as if it were about all young lovers.

Romeo and Juliet

William Sharkespeare

Oxford University Press

1999

Abstract

This is the most famous of all Shakespeare’s plays, first printed in 1597. It is a story of passionate young love in the beautiful Italian city of Verona, Romeo and Juliet are the star – crossed lovers who meet, fall in love and promise to be true to each other for ever. A simple love story, with the saddest of all possible endings.

Love is strong but not as strong as family tradition, or hate or revenge. Like young people all over the world Romeo and Juliet was the right to decide their future for themselves but in the end the state and their families are too powerful for them. Romeo and Juliet cannot live without each other and if they are not allowed to marry and live together there is only one way out.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616) was an actor poet and playwright who lived and worked in Stratford – upon – Avon and London. He wrote more than thirty plays, which are still discusses and performed all over the word today. He is generally considered the greatest writer in the English language.