Author: William Shakespeare
Publisher:
Published: 2020-07-27
Total Pages: 194
ISBN-13:
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Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare's most famous tragedy and one of the world's most enduring love stories, derives its plot from several sixteenth century sources. Shakespeare's primary inspiration for the play was Arthur Brooke's Tragical History of Romeus and Juliet (1562), a long and dense poem. Brooke's poem, in turn, was based on a French prose version written by Pierre Boiastuau (1559), which was derived from an Italian version written by Bandello in 1554. Bandello's poem, meanwhile, was an interpretation of Luigi da Porto's 1525 version of a story by Masuccio Salernitano (1476).The plot of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet remains mostly true to Brooke's poem, though Shakespeare exercised artistic license in several instances. For example, as he often does, Shakespeare telescopes the events from Brooke's poem (which took place over 90 days) into a few days in the play. Additionally, Shakespeare's Juliet is thirteen, while Brooke wrote her as sixteen. The time compression and the younger Juliet enhance the youthful nature of the central relationship, emphasizing its passion and newness.One of the most powerful aspects of Romeo and Juliet is Shakespeare's use of language. The characters curse, vow oaths, banish each other, and, in general, demonstrate great verbal dexterity through an overuse of action verbs. In addition, the play is saturated with oxymorons, puns, paradoxes, and double entendres. Shakespeare even calls the use of names into question, most famously in Juliet's balcony soliloquy. Shakespeare also executed a rather strong shift in the language spoken by both Romeo and Juliet after they fall in love. Whereas Romeo is hopelessly normal in his courtship before meeting Juliet, after he falls in love, his language becomes infinitely richer and stronger.
