Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy written early
in the career of playwright William Shakespeare about two
young "star-cross'd lovers"[1] whose deaths ultimately unite their feuding families. It was among
Shakespeare's most popular archetypal stories of young, teenage lovers.
Romeo and Juliet belongs to a tradition of tragic romances stretching back to antiquity. Its plot is based on an Italian tale,
translated into verse as The Tragical History of Romeus and
Juliet by Arthur Brooke in 1562 and
retold in prose in Palace of Pleasure by William Painter in 1582.
Shakespeare borrowed heavily from both but, to expand the plot, developed
supporting characters, particularly Mercutio and Paris. Believed written between 1591 and
1595, the play was first published in a quarto version in 1597. This text was of poor quality, and later editions
corrected it, bringing it more in line with Shakespeare's original.
Shakespeare's
use of dramatic structure, especially
effects such as switching between comedy and tragedy to heighten tension, his
expansion of minor characters, and his use of sub-plots 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 over the course of the play.
Romeo and Juliet has been adapted numerous times for
stage, film, musical and opera. During the Restoration, it was
revived and heavily revised by William
Davenant. David Garrick's 18th-century version also modified several scenes, removing material then
considered indecent, and Georg Benda's operatic adaptation omitted much of the action and added a happy ending.
Performances in the 19th century, including Charlotte
Cushman's, restored the original text, and focused on greater realism. John
Gielgud's 1935 version kept very close to Shakespeare's text,
and used Elizabethan costumes and staging to enhance the drama. In the 20th
century the play has been adapted in versions as diverse as MGM's
comparatively faithful 1936 film, the 1950s
stage musical West Side Story, and 1996's MTV-inspired Romeo + Juliet.