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Romeo and Juliet is an early tragedy by William Shakespeare about two teenage "star-cross'd lovers"
whose "untimely deaths" ultimately unite their feuding households. The play has been highly praised
by literary critics for its language and dramatic effect. It was among Shakespeare's most popular plays during his lifetime and,
along with Hamlet, is one of his most frequently performed plays. Romeo and Juliet are
widely represented as archetypal young lovers.
Romeo and Juliet belongs to a tradition of tragic romances stretching back to Ancient Greece. Its plot is based on an
Italian tale, translated into verse as Romeus and
Juliet by Arthur Brooke in 1562, and retold in prose in Palace of Pleasure by William Painter in 1582. Brooke and
Painter were Shakespeare's chief sources of inspiration for Romeo and Juliet. He borrowed heavily from both, but developed
minor characters, particularly Mercutio and Paris, in
order to expand the plot. The play was probably written around 1595-6, and first published as a quarto in 1597. The text was of poor quality, and later editions corrected it, bringing it more in line
with Shakespeare's original text.
Shakespeare's use of dramatic structure, especially his expansion of minor
characters, and the use of subplots 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 form over time. Characters frequently compare love and death and allude to the role of
fate.
Since its publication, Romeo and Juliet has been adapted numerous times in stage, film, musical and operatic forms.
During the Restoration, it was revived and heavily revised by William Davenant. Garrick's 18th century version, which
continued to be performed into the Victorian era, also changed several scenes, removing
material then considered indecent. Nineteenth century performers, including Charlotte Cushman, restored the original text, and focused on performing the story with
greater realism. Gielgud's 1935 version kept very close to Shakespeare's text, and used
Elizabethan costumes and staging to enhance the drama. More recent versions, including those on film, have adapted the play for a
modern audience, often placing the action in a familiar context.
Sources
Frontispiece of Brooke's poem,
Romeus and Juliet.
Romeo and Juliet is a dramatisation of Arthur Brooke's narrative poem The Tragical History of
Romeus and Juliet (1562). Shakespeare follows the poem closely[1] but adds extra detail to both major and minor characters, in particular the Nurse and
Mercutio. "The goodly History of the true and constant love of Rhomeo and Julietta"
retells in prose a story by William Painter, with which Shakespeare may have been
familiar. It was published in a collection of Italian tales entitled Palace of Pleasure in 1582.[2] Painter's version was part of a trend among writers and playwrights of the time
to publish works based on Italian novelles. At the time of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, Italian tales were very
popular among theatre patrons. Critics of the day even complained of how often Italian tales were borrowed to please crowds.
Shakespeare took advantage of their popularity, as seen in his writing of both All's Well That Ends Well and Measure for
Measure (from Italian tales) and Romeo and Juliet. Arthur Brooke's poem belonged to this trend, being a
translation and adaptation of the Italian Giuletta e Romeo, by Matteo Bandello,
included in his Novelle of 1554.[3]
Bandello's story was translated into French and was adapted by Italian theatrical troupes, some of whom performed in London at
the time Shakespeare was writing his plays. Although nothing is known of the repertory of these troupes, it is possible that they
performed some version of the story.[4][5]
Pyramus and Thisbe: Their tragic story seems to have connections with Shakespeare's
Romeo and Juliet.
Bandello's version was an adaptation of Luigi da Porto's Giulietta e Romeo,
included in his Istoria novellamente ritrovata di due Nobili Amanti (c. 1530).[3] The latter gave the story much of its modern form, including the names of the
lovers, the rival families of Montecchi and Capuleti, and the location in Verona, in the
Veneto.[6] Da
Porto is probably also the source of the tradition that Romeo and Juliet is based on a true story.[7] The names of the families (in Italian, the
Montecchi and Capelletti) were actual political factions of the thirteenth century.[8] The tomb and balcony of Giuilietta are still popular tourist spots in Verona, although scholars have
disputed the assumption that the story actually took place.[7] Before Da Porto, the earliest known version of the tale is the 1476 story of Mariotto and
Gianozza of Siena by Masuccio Salernitano, in
Il Novellino (Novella XXXIII).[6]
Romeo and Juliet borrows from a tradition of tragic love stories dating back to antiquity. One of these,
Pyramus and Thisbe, is thought by many scholars to have influenced da Porto's
version. The former contains parallels to Shakespeare's story: the lovers' parents despise each other, and Pyramus' falsely
believes his lover Thisbe is dead.[9] Brooke adjusted the
Italian translation to reflect parts of Chaucer's Troilus and Criseyde. The
Ephisiaca of Xenophon of Ephesus, written in the
third century, also contains several similarities to the play, including the separation of
the lovers, and a potion which induces a deathlike sleep. 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 created an atmosphere in which tragic love stories could thrive.[10]
Date and text
Title page of the Second Quarto of
Romeo and Juliet (published 1599)
It is unknown when exactly Shakespeare wrote Romeo and Juliet. Juliet's nurse refers to an earthquake which she says
occurred eleven years ago[11]. An earthquake did occur in
England in 1580, possibly dating that particular line to 1591. But the play's stylistic similarities with A Midsummer Night's
Dream, as well as evidence of performances at the time (the play was becoming popular at around 1595), place the writing
between 1595 and 1596. One widely-accepted conjecture has that Shakespeare may have begun a draft in 1591, which he completed in
1595-6.[12][13]
Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet was published in two distinct quarto editions prior
to the publication of the First Folio of 1623. These are referred to as Q1 and Q2. Q1, the first printed edition, appeared in 1597, printed
by John Danter. Because its text contains numerous differences from the later editions, it is labelled a 'bad quarto'; the twentieth 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.[14] 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.[15]
The superior Q2 called the play The Most Excellent and Lamentable Tragedie of Romeo
and Juliet. It was printed in 1599 by Thomas Creede and published by Cuthbert Burby. Q2 is about 800 lines longer than Q1.[15] 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 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).[14] 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 arise from editors or compositors, not from
Shakespeare.[16]
The First Folio text of 1623 was based primarily on Q3, with clarifications and
corrections possibly coming from a theatrical promptbook or Q1.[14][17] Other
Folio editions of the play were printed in 1632 (F2), 1664 (F3), and 1685 (F4).[18] Modern versions considering several of the Folios and
Quartos began printing with Nicholas Rowe's 1709 edition, followed by Alexander Pope's 1723 version. Pope began a tradition of editing 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.[19]
Characters
Ruling house of Verona
Capulets
- Lord Capulet: Patriarch of the house of Capulet.
- Lady Capulet: Matriarch of the house of Capulet; wishes
Juliet to marry Paris.
- Juliet: Daughter of the Capulets; the female protagonist.
- Tybalt: Cousin of Juliet, nephew of Lady Capulet.
- Rosaline, an unseen character with whom
Romeo briefly falls in love with before meeting Juliet.
Capulet Servants
- Nurse: Juliet's personal attendant and confidante.
- Peter: Capulet servant, assistant to the nurse.
- Samson: Capulet servant.
- Gregory: Capulet servant.
Montagues
Montague Servants
- Abraham: Montague servant.
- Balthasar: Romeo's personal servant.
Others
- Friar Lawrence (Friar Laurence): a Franciscan friar and Romeo's
confidant.
- Chorus, who gives the opening prologue and one other speech, both in the form of a
Shakespearean sonnet.
- Friar John: Another friar who is sent to deliver Friar Lawrence's letter to Romeo.
- Apothecary: Druggist who reluctantly sells Romeo poison.
Synopsis
"Two Households, both alike in dignity ..."
—Chorus
The play begins with a street-battle between two families: the Montagues and the Capulets. The Prince of Verona, Escalus,
intervenes with his men and declares that the heads of the two families will be held personally accountable for any further
breach of the peace. Later Count Paris, a young nobleman talks to Lord Capulet about marrying his thirteen-year-old daughter
Juliet. Capulet demurs citing the girl's tender age, and invites him to attract the attention of Juliet during a ball that the
family is to hold that night. Juliet's mother tries to persuade her daughter to accept Paris' courtship during this ball; and
Juliet says that although she will make an effort to love him, she will not express love that is not there. In this scene
Juliet's nurse is introduced as a talkative and humorous character, who raised Juliet from infancy.
Meantime, Benvolio queries his cousin Romeo, Lord Montague's son, to find out the source of his melancholy. He discovers that
it stems from an unrequited love for a girl named Rosaline, Capulet's niece. Upon the insistence of Benvolio and another friend
Mercutio, Romeo decides to attend the masquerade ball at the Capulet house. In hope of meeting Rosaline. Alongside his masked
friends Romeo attends the ball as planned, but falls in love with Juliet and she with him. Despite the danger brought on by their
feuding families, Romeo sneaks into the Capulet courtyard and overhears Juliet on her balcony vowing her love to him. He makes
himself known to her, and the two declare their love for each other and agree to be married. With the help of the Franciscan
Friar Lawrence, who hopes to reconcile the two families through their children's union, the two are married secretly the next
day.
All seems well until Tybalt, Juliet's hot-blooded cousin challenges Romeo to a duel for appearing at the Capulets' ball in
disguise. Though no one is aware of the marriage yet, Romeo refuses to fight Tybalt since they are now kinsmen. Mercutio is
incensed by Tybalt's insolence, and accepts the duel on Romeo's behalf. In the ensuing scuffle, Mercutio is fatally wounded when
Romeo tries to separate them. Romeo angered by his friend's death, pursues and slays Tybalt, then flees.
Despite his promise to call for the head of the wrong doers, the Prince merely exiles Romeo from Verona, reasoning that Tybalt
first killed Mercutio, and that Romeo merely carried out a just punishment of death to Tybalt. Although without legal authority.
Juliet grieves at the news, and Lord Capulet, misinterpreting her grief agrees to engage her to marry Paris in three days time,
threatening to disown her if she does not. The Nurse once Juliet's confidante, now tells her she should discard the exiled Romeo,
and comply. Juliet desperately visits Friar Lawrence for help. He offers her a drug, which will put her into a death-like coma
for forty-two hours. She is to take it and, when discovered apparently dead, she will be laid in the family crypt. While in her
sleep the Friar will send a messenger to inform Romeo, so that she can rejoin him when she awakes.
The messenger however does not reach Romeo. Romeo instead learns of Juliet's "death" from his servant Balthasar.
Grief-stricken he buys poison from an apothecary, returns to Verona in secret and visits the Capulet crypt. He encounters Paris
who has come to mourn Juliet privately. Paris confronts Romeo believing him to be a vandal, and in the ensuing battle Romeo kills
Paris. He then says his final words to the comatose Juliet and drinks the poison to commit suicide. Juliet then awakes. Friar
Lawrence arrives and aware of the cause of the tragedy, begs Juliet to leave but she refuses. At the side of Romeo's dead body,
she stabs herself with her lover's dagger. The feuding families and the Prince meet at the tomb to find the three of them dead.
In explanation Friar Lawrence recounts the story of the two lovers. Montague reveals that his wife has died of grief after
hearing of her son's exile. The families are reconciled by their children's deaths and agree to end their violent feud. The play
ends with the Prince's brief elegy for the lovers: "For never was a story of more woe / Than this of Juliet and her Romeo."
Analysis
Dramatic structure
Shakespeare shows his dramatic skill freely in Romeo and Juliet, providing intense moments of shift between comedy and
tragedy. Before Mercutio's death in Act three, the play is largely a comedy.[20] After his accidental demise, the play suddenly becomes very serious and takes on more of a tragic
tone. Still, the fact that Romeo is banished, rather than executed, offers a hope that things will work out. When Friar Lawrence
offers Juliet a plan to reunite her with Romeo the audience still has a reason to believe 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.[21] This only
makes it all the more tragic when everything falls apart in the end.[22]
Shakespeare also uses subplots to offer a clearer view of the actions of the main characters, and provide an axis around which
the main plot turns. 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
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 is the
main contributor to the play's tragic end.[22]
Shakespeare gave Juliet's nurse a unique style of
blank verse in her dialogue.
Language
Shakespeare uses a large variety of poetic forms throughout the play. He begins with a 14-line prologue by a Chorus in the form of a Shakespearean sonnet. Like this sonnet
much of Romeo and Juliet is written in iambic pentameter, with ten syllables of
alternating stress in each line. However, the most common form used is blank verse, a more
fluid, nonstructured approach, although Shakespeare uses this form less often in this play than in his later plays. In choosing
forms, Shakespeare matches 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 uses the Petrarchan sonnet form. Petrarchan sonnets were often
used by men at the time to exaggerate the beauty of women who were impossible for them to attain, as in Romeo's situation with
Rosaline. This sonnet form is also 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 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?"[23] 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.[24] 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 the common people in the play, though at times for other characters, such as Mercutio.[25]
Themes and motifs
Scholars have found it extremely difficult to assign one specific, over-arching theme to 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,[26] 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 which intertwine in complex ways. Several of those which are most often
debated by scholars are discussed below.[27]
Love
Romeo and Juliet is sometimes considered to have no unifying theme, save that of young love.[26] In fact, the characters in it have become emblems of all who die
young for their lovers. Since it is such an obvious subject of the play, several scholars have explored the language and
historical context behind the romance of the play.[28]
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 can test Juliet's feelings for him in a non-threatening way. This
method 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 the man, and the man could take the hint and back away without losing his honour. Juliet, however, makes it clear that
she is interested in Romeo by playing along with his metaphor. Later, in the balcony scene, Shakespeare has Romeo overhear
Juliet's declaration of love for him. In Brooke's version of the story, her declaration is done in her bedroom, alone. By
bringing Romeo into the scene to eavesdrop, Shakespeare breaks from the normal sequence of courtship. Usually, a woman was
required to play hard to get, to be sure that her suitor was sincere. Breaking this rule, however, serves to speed along the
plot. The lovers are able to skip a lengthy part of wooing, and move on to plain talk about their relationship—developing into an
agreement to be married after knowing each other for only one night.[28] In the final suicide scene, there is a contradiction in the message - in Christianity,
suicides are 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 Christian view. Another point is that although their love is passionate, it is only consummated in marriage,
which prevents them from losing the audience's sympathy.[29]
The play arguably equates love and sex with death. Throughout the story, both Romeo and Juliet, along with the other
characters, fantasize about it as a dark being, often equating him with a lover.
Capulet, for example, when he first discovers Juliet's (faked) death, describes it as having deflowered his daughter.[30] Juliet
later even compares Romeo to death in an erotic way. One of the strongest examples of this in the play is in Juliet's suicide,
when she says, grabbing Romeo's dagger, "O happy dagger! / ...This is thy sheath / there rust, and let me die." The dagger here
can be a sort of phallus of Romeo, with Juliet being its sheath in death, a strong sexual
symbol.[31]
Fate and chance
| ""O, I am fortune's fool!" |
| —Romeo, Act 3, Scene 1 |
Scholars are divided on the role of fate in the play. No consensus exists on whether the characters are truly fated to die
together no matter what, 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".[32]
This phrase seems to hint that the stars have predetermined the lovers' future.[33] Another scholar of the fate persuasion, Draper, points out the parallels between the Elizabethan
belief in humours and the main characters of the play (for example, Tybalt as a choleric).
Interpreting the text in the light of the Elizabethan science of humourism reduces the amount of plot attributed to chance by
modern audiences.[34] Still,
other scholars see the play as a mere series of unlucky chances—many to such a degree that they do not see it as a tragedy at
all, but an emotional melodrama.[34] 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 the choice to kill, not because of a
tragic flaw, but because of circumstance.[35]
Light and dark
| ""In Romeo and Juliet...the dominating image is light, every form and manifestation of it; the sun, moon, stars, fire,
lightning, the flash of gunpowder, and the reflected light of beauty and of love; while by contrast we have night, darkness,
clouds, rain, mist, and smoke."" |
| —Caroline Spurgeon[36] |
Scholars have long noted Shakespeare's widespread use of light and dark imagery throughout
the play. The light theme was initially taken to be "symbolic of the natural beauty of young love", an idea beginning in Caroline
Spurgeon's work Shakespeare's Imagery and What It Tells Us, although the perceived meaning has since its publication
branched in several directions.[35][36]
For example, both Romeo and Juliet see the other as light in a surrounding darkness. Romeo describes Juliet as being like the
sun,[37] brighter than a torch,[38] a jewel sparkling in the night,[39] and a bright angel among dark clouds.[40] Even when she lies apparently dead in the tomb, he says her "beauty makes /
This vault a feasting presence full of light."[41] Juliet
describes Romeo as "day in night" and "Whiter than snow upon a raven's back."[42][43] This contrast of light
and dark can be expanded as symbols—contrasting love and hate, youth and age in a metaphoric way.[35] Sometimes these intertwining
metaphors create dramatic irony. For example, Romeo and Juliet's love is a light in 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, the outward darkness reflecting the true, inner
darkness of the family feud out of sorrow for the lovers. All characters now recognize their folly in light of recent events, and
things return to the natural order, thanks to the love of Romeo and Juliet.[36] 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 the passage of time through descriptions of the sun, moon, and stars.[44]
Time
| ""These times of woe afford no time to woo."" |
| —Paris, Act 3, Scene 4 |
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 attempts to swear his love to
Juliet by the moon, Juliet tells him not to, as it is known to be inconstant over time, and she does not desire this of him. From
the very beginning, the lovers are designated as "star-cross'd"[45] referring to an astrologic belief which is heavily connected to
time. Stars were thought to control the fates of men, and as time passed, stars would move along their course in the sky, also
charting the course of human lives below. Romeo speaks of 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.[46][34]
A "haste theme" can be considered as fundamental to the play.[44] For example, the action of Romeo and Juliet spans a period of four to six days, in
contrast to Brooke's poem's spanning nine months. Scholars such as Tanselle believe that time was "especially important to
Shakespeare" in this play, as he used references to "short-time" for the young lovers as opposed to references to "long-time" for
the "older generation" to highlight "a headlong rush towards doom".[44] Romeo and Juliet fight time to make their love to last forever. In the end, the only way they see
to defeat time is through a noteworthy death which makes them immortal through art.[47]
Time is heavily connected to the theme of light and dark as well. The play is said in the Prologue to be about two hours long,
creating a problem for any playwright wishing to express longer amounts of time.[47] In Shakespeare's day, plays were often performed at noon 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 the play, adding to this illusion of its passage.[48][49]
Other approaches
Psychoanalytic
Psychoanalytic critics focus largely on Romeo's relationships with
Rosaline and Juliet, as well as the looming image of inevitable death.[50] Romeo and Juliet is not considered to be extremely
psychologically complex, and sympathetic psychoanalytic readings of the play make the tragic male experience equivalent with
sicknesses.[51] The first line of criticism argues that
Shakespeare is in love with Rosaline and Juliet because she is the all-present, all-powerful mother which fills a void. According
to this theory, this void was caused by the negligence of his mother. Another theory argues that the feud between the families
provides a source of phallic expression for the male Capulets and Montagues. This sets up a system where patriarchal order is in
power. When the sons are married, rather than focusing on the wife, they are still owed an obligation to their father through the
feud. This conflict between obligation to the father (the family name) and the wife (the feminine), determines the course of the
play. Some critics argue this hatred is the sole cause of Romeo and Juliet's passion for each other. The fear of death and the
knowledge of the danger of their relationship is in this view channelled into a romantic passion.[50]
Feminist literary critics have pointed out Juliet's dependence on male characters, such as Friar Laurence and Romeo.
Feminist
Feminist critics argue that the blame for the family feud lies in
Verona's patriarchal society. In this view, the strict, masculine code of violence imposed on
Romeo is the main force driving the tragedy to its end. When Tybalt kills Mercutio, for example, Romeo shifts into this violent
mode, regretting that Juliet has made him so "effeminate".[52] 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 joke about the maid's heads
shows.[53] 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
the play's feminism from a more historicist angle. They
take into account the fact that the play is written during a time when the patriarchal order was being challenged by several
forces, most notably the rise of Puritanism. When Juliet dodges her father's attempt to force
her to marry a man she has no feeling for, she is successfully challenging the patriarchal order in a way that would not have
been possible at an earlier time.[54]
Gender studies
Gender studies critics largely question the sexuality of two characters, Mercutio and
Romeo. From the perspective of this form of criticism, the difference between the two character's friendship and sexual love is
discussed heavily in the play. Mercutio's friendship with Romeo, for example, leads to several friendly conversations, including
ones on the subject of Romeo's phallus. This would seem to suggest traces of homoeroticism.[55] Romeo, as well,
admits traces of the same in the manner of his love for Rosaline and Juliet. Rosaline, for example, is distant and unavailable,
bringing 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, is having trouble
creating offspring and who is homosexual. Gender critics believe 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 [or
Rosaline] / By any other name would smell as sweet",[56]
she may be raising the question of whether there is any difference between the beauty of a man and the beauty of a woman.[57]
Influences
Romeo and Juliet has had a strong influence on subsequent literature. For example, until this play romance had not been
viewed as a worthy topic for tragedy.[58] The play
directly influenced several literary works, both in Shakespeare's own day through the works
of Francis Beaumont and John
Fletcher,[59] and later works such as those of
Charles Dickens.[60]
The play has also influenced world culture, specifically with regard to romance and relationships. For example, the word
"Romeo" has become synonymous with "male lover" in English.[61] The juliet cap, worn either close to the scalp as a small headpiece
or as a wedding headband to hold the bridal veil, was so named because of the actresses who wore
it on stage in performances of the play.[62][63] It has inspired the name of a psychological problem between
couples, called "The Romeo and Juliet Effect". This title is used to describe relationships which suffer divisions because of
hatred between partners' parents.[64] More recently,
scholars have described the play as having a unique adaptive and iconic ability, causing its characters to transcend the original
texts and project themselves into the modern world. For example, Romeo and Juliet are mentioned in a song by Sublime titled Romeo, which portrays the Montague as a modern character pining for love in a
modern way. Both characters have become symbols of love, teenage struggles, resistance to authority, and doers of the forbidden.
Songs such as Romeo take advantage of the influence these characters have had by communicating through them to achieve
their ends.[65]
Performances and adaptations
Stage history
Shakespeare's day
Romeo and Juliet ranks with Hamlet as one of Shakespeare's most-performed plays.
Its many adaptations have made it today one of his more popular and famous stories.[67] Even in Shakespeare's lifetime it was a popular play. Gary Taylor measures it
as the sixth most popular of Shakespeare's plays, in the period after the death of Marlowe and Kyd but before the ascendancy of Jonson during which Shakespeare was London's dominant playwright.[68] The exact date of the first performance of Shakespeare's Romeo and
Juliet, however, is unknown. The First Quarto, printed in 1597, says that "it hath been often (and with great applause) plaid
publiquely", setting the first performance prior to that date. The Lord Chamberlain's
Men were certainly the first to perform it. Besides their strong connections with Shakespeare, the Second Quarto actually
names one of its actors, Will Kemp, instead of Peter in a line in Act five. Thus,
Richard Burbage was probably the first Romeo, being the company's leading actor, and Master Robert Goffe (a male) the first Juliet.[69]
The Restoration
After the theatres re-opened in the Restoration, Sir William Davenant staged a 1662 production in which Henry Harris
played Romeo, Thomas Betterton was Mercutio, and Betterton's wife Mary Saunderson played Juliet.[70] (Mrs. Saunderson was probably the first female to play Juliet professionally.[71]) This play was criticized by Samuel Pepys as the worst he had ever heard. Versions immediately following this were changed to
tragicomedies, where the two lovers did not die in the end.[71] Thomas Otway's adaptation The History and Fall of
Caius Marius, one of the more extreme of the Restoration versions of Shakespeare, debuted in 1680. The scene is shifted from
Renaissance Verona to ancient Rome; Romeo is Marius, Juliet is Lavinia, the feud is between
patricians and plebeians; Juliet/Lavina wakes from her potion before Romeo/Marius dies. Otway's version was a hit, and was acted
for the next seventy years. It altered the sexual language of the play as well, toning down the Queen Mab speech, for
example.[71] Theophilus Cibber mounted his own adaptation in 1744, followed by David Garrick's in 1748. Both Cibber and Garrick used variations on Otway's innovation in the tomb
scene.[72] These versions also eliminated elements deemed
inappropriate for the time. For example, Garrick's version transferred all language describing Rosaline to Juliet, in order to
heighten the idea of faithfulness and downplay the love-at-first-sight theme.[73][74] In 1750 a "Battle of
the Romeos" began, with Spranger Barry and Susannah
Maria Arne (Mrs. Theophilus Cibber) at Covent Garden versus David Garrick and George Anne Bellamy at Drury Lane.[75]
19th century
Garrick's altered version of the play was very popular, and ran for nearly a century.[76] Not until 1845 did Shakespeare's original returned to the stage in the United
States (with the sisters Charlotte and Susan Cushman as Romeo and
Juliet),[77][78] and in 1847 in Britain (Samuel Phelps at
Sadler's Wells).[79] Saunders actively reverted Garrick's additions and changes to the original, and adhered to
Shakespeare's version, beginning a string of eighty-four performances. Her portrayal of Romeo was considered genius by many, as
she called more attention to Romeo's character than other's, making the play largely his tragedy. Cushman's success broke the
Garrick tradition and paved the way for later plays.[80]
Henry Irving's 1882 production at the Lyceum
Theatre is considered an archetype of his "pictorial" style, placing the action on elaborate sets. Irving himself played
Romeo, and Ellen Terry played Juliet.[81] In 1895, actor Forbes-Robertson took over for Irving, and laid the
groundwork for a more natural portrayal of Shakespeare that remains popular today. Forbes-Robertson avoided the showiness of
Irving and instead portrayed a down-to-earth Romeo, expressing the poetic dialogue as realistic prose and avoiding melodramatic
flourish. Meanwhile, American theaters began performing the play, eventually rivalling their British counterparts with the likes
of Edwin Booth (brother to John Wilkes Booth) and
Mary McVicker as Romeo and Juliet. The play found popularity throughout continental Europe, as
well.[82]
20th century
John Gielgud among the more famous actors of the twentieth century to play Romeo, Friar
Laurence and Mercutio on stage
In one of the most notable twentieth century performances, staged by John Gielgud at the
New Theatre in 1935, Gielgud and Laurence
Olivier played the roles of Romeo and Mercutio, exchanging roles six weeks into the run, with Peggy Ashcroft as Juliet.[83]
Gielgud used a scholarly combination of Q1 and Q2 texts, omitting only minor portions of the originals, such as the second
Chorus. He also organized the set and costumes to match as closely as possible to the Elizabethan period. His efforts were a huge success at the box office, and set the stage for increased
historical realism in later plays. Meanwhile, Peter Brook's
1947 version was the beginning of a different style of Romeo and Juliet performances. Brook was less concerned with
realism, and more concerned with translating the play into a form that could communicate with the more modern world. He argued,
"A production is only correct at the moment of its correctness, and only good at the moment of its success."[84] Other notable twentieth century productions include Guthrie McClintic's 1934 Broadway staging in which Katharine Cornell had a triumph as
Juliet opposite Basil Rathbone as Romeo and Edith
Evans (who also played the role in the Gielgud production) as the Nurse. Cornell
later revived the production with Maurice Evans as Romeo and Ralph Richardson as Mercutio, both making their Broadway
debuts. Franco Zeffirelli mounted a legendary staging for the Old Vic in 1960 with John Stride and Judi
Dench that served as the basis for his 1968 film.[85] Zefferalli borrowed from Brook's ideas, altogether removing
nearly a third of the play's text in order to make it more accessible to a contemporary audience. He also paid close attention to
detail, making sure that nothing which would add to the realism of the performance was neglected. Zefferelli's performances were
so successful worldwide that he made a film of the play in 1968.[86]
More recent professional performances have grown more and more adaptive to the contemporary world. For example, the
prestigious Royal Shakespeare Company developed a 1986 version of the play set
in present-day Verona, Italy. Switchblades replace swords, feasts and balls become drug-laden rock parties, and Romeo commits
suicide by hypodermic needle. Later, in 1997, the Folger
Shakespeare Theatre produced another modern version, this time set in a typical suburban world. Romeo sneaks into the
Capulet barbecue to meet Juliet, and Juliet discovers Tybalt's death while in class at school.[87] Other contemporary performances give the play a well-known historical setting,
enabling audiences to understand, and perhaps to reflect upon, the underlying conflicts. For example, adaptations have been set
in the midst of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict,[88] in the apartheid era in South
Africa,[89] and in the aftermath of the
Pueblo Revolt.[90]
Among the most famous of such adaptations is Peter Ustinov's 1956 comic adaptation,
Romanoff and Juliet, set in a fictional mid-European country in the depths of the
Cold War.[91]
Several ballet versions of the play have developed, including this one starring Tamara Kasarvina and Serge Lifar.
Music
At least 24 operas have been based on Romeo and Juliet[92]. The earliest, Romeo und Julie (1776), a Singspiel by Georg Benda, omits much of the action of the play and most
its characters, and has a happy ending. It is occasionally revived. The best-known is Gounod's Roméo et Juliette (1867, libretto by
Jules Barbier and Michel Carré[93]), a critical triumph when first performed[94] and frequently revived today. Bellini's I Capuleti e i Montecchi is also
revived from time to time, but has sometimes been judged unfavorably because of its perceived liberties with Shakespeare;
however, Bellini and his librettist, Felice Romani, worked from Italian sources -
principally Romani's libretto for an opera by Nicola Vaccai - rather than directly
adapting Shakespeare's play.[95]
The play has also had a number of musical theatre adaptations, the most famous of
which is West Side Story with music by Leonard Bernstein and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim. It debuted
on Broadway in 1957 and in London's West End in 1958, and became a popular film in 1961. This version updated the setting to
mid-20th century New York City, and the warring families to ethnic gangs.[96] Other musical adaptations include Terrence Mann's 1999 rock musical William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, co-written with Jerome
Korman,[97] Gérard
Presgurvic's 2001 Roméo et Juliette, de la Haine à
l'Amour and Riccardo Cocciante's 2007 Giulietta & Romeo.[98]
Several ballet versions have also been composed; the best-known is Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet, first
performed in 1938.[99]
Roméo et Juliette by Berlioz is
a "symphonie dramatique", a large scale work in three parts for mixed voices, chorus and orchestra, premiered in 1839.[100] The Romeo
and Juliet Fantasy Overture (1869, revised 1870 and 1880), by Tchaikovsky is a long symphonic poem, containing the
famous melody known as the "love theme".[101]
Screen
-
Shakespeare's play has been filmed numerous times.[102] In putting Romeo and Juliet on screen, the director
must set the action in a social context that illuminates the characters, and mediates
between the Renaissance play and modern audiences.[103]
George Cukor, in 1970, commented on why his "stately" and "stodgy" 1936 film had not stood the test of time, saying that if he had the opportunity to make it
again he would "get the garlic and the mediterranean into it".[104] Yet that performance (featuring Norma Shearer and
Leslie Howard, with a combined age over 75, as the teenage lovers) had garnered no
fewer than four Oscar nominations.[104]
The films' openings highlight each director's care to establish authenticity: Cukor introduces his characters in a shot of a
scene played on a proscenium stage; Renato
Castellani's 1954 version opens with John Gielgud, famous as a stage Romeo, as the Prologue in Elizabethan doublet and hose; Zeffirelli sets his
scene with an overview of Verona, and
![Richard Burbage, probably one of the first actors to portray Romeo.[66]](http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Richard%20Burbage%20Portrait%20at%20Dulwich%20Picture%20gallery.jpg)
