How many remakes of the story Romeo and Juliet?

Answer 1

The Romeo and Juliet story went through many incarnations before it reached Shakespeare even. The story of Pyramus and Thisbe, which dates to Roman times and appears as a play-within-a-play in A Midsummer Night's Dream is a similar story of a young couple in love separated by the actions of their parents and who both die due to a misunderstanding. This story has given rise to uncountable derivatives not even thinking about those related to Shakespeare's play.

Since Shakespeare, people think that any story about lovers separated by external factors (different families, different tribes, different gangs, different social status) whether or not it ends tragically can be called a derivative of Romeo and Juliet, and will be if the names of the main characters are used. However, obviously Gnomeo and Juliet has less in common with Romeo and Juliet than does Pyramus and Thisbe. Considering that all romance stories feature something or another which delays or prevents the happy consummation of the relationship, a vast number of stories can fit this very loose definition of a "remake"

If we define our definition of "remake" to include only those stories where one of the lovers commits suicide believing the other to be dead, whereupon the other lover commits suicide, we would have a substantially smaller list of "remakes".