Romeo and Juliet

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Rosenthal, Daniel (2007). BFI Screen Guides: 100 Shakespeare Films. London: British Film Institute. ISBN 978-1-84457-170-3. Time is also connected to the theme of light and dark. In Shakespeare's day, plays were most often performed at noon or in the afternoon in broad daylight. [d] 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 the illusion of its passage. [66] [67] Criticism and interpretation Critical history Portrait of the earliest recorded critic of the play, Samuel Pepys, by John Hayls. Oil on canvas, 1666. Holland, Peter (2001). "Shakespeare in the Twentieth-Century Theatre". In Wells, Stanley; Grazia, Margreta de (eds.). The Cambridge Companion to Shakespeare. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp.199–215. ISBN 0-521-65881-0. Lanier, Douglas (2007). "Shakespeare: myth and biographical fiction". In Shaughnessy, Robert (ed.). The Cambridge Companion to Shakespeare and Popular Culture. Cambridge University Press. pp. 93–113. ISBN 978-0-521-60580-9. Roberts, Arthur J. (1902). "The Sources of Romeo and Juliet". Modern Language Notes. Johns Hopkins University Press. 17 (2): 41–44. doi: 10.2307/2917639. ISSN 0149-6611. JSTOR 2917639.

The earliest known version of the Romeo and Juliet tale akin to Shakespeare's play is the story of Mariotto and Ganozza by Masuccio Salernitano, in the 33rd novel of his Il Novellino published in 1476. [10] Salernitano sets the story in Siena and insists its events took place in his own lifetime. His version of the story includes the secret marriage, the colluding friar, the fray where a prominent citizen is killed, Mariotto's exile, Ganozza's forced marriage, the potion plot, and the crucial message that goes astray. In this version, Mariotto is caught and beheaded and Ganozza dies of grief. [11] [12] Frontispiece of Giulietta e Romeo by Luigi da Porto, 1530 meanwhile, Juliet prances around her room and draws hearts on things and scribbles “Mrs. Juliet Montague” in her diary over and over. Because she is THIRTEEN. How old is Romeo supposed to be? Let’s not talk about that, k?* The woman with whom Romeo is infatuated at the beginning of the play. Rosaline never appears onstage, but it is said by other characters that she is very beautiful and has sworn to live a life of chastity. The Chorus It is unknown when exactly Shakespeare wrote Romeo and Juliet. Juliet's Nurse refers to an earthquake she says occurred 11 years ago. [26] This may refer to the Dover Straits earthquake of 1580, which would date that particular line to 1591. Other earthquakes—both in England and in Verona—have been proposed in support of the different dates. [27] But the play's stylistic similarities with A Midsummer Night's Dream and other plays conventionally dated around 1594–95, place its composition sometime between 1591 and 1595. [28] [b] One conjecture is that Shakespeare may have begun a draft in 1591, which he completed in 1595. [29] Stephen Orgel describes Franco Zeffirelli's 1968 Romeo and Juliet as being "full of beautiful young people, and the camera and the lush technicolour make the most of their sexual energy and good looks". [186] Zeffirelli's teenage leads, Leonard Whiting and Olivia Hussey, had virtually no previous acting experience but performed capably and with great maturity. [203] [204] Zeffirelli has been particularly praised, [m] for his presentation of the duel scene as bravado getting out-of-control. [206] The film courted controversy by including a nude wedding-night scene [207] while Olivia Hussey was only fifteen. [208]Taylor, Gary (2002). "Shakespeare plays on Renaissance Stages". In Wells, Stanley; Stanton, Sarah (eds.). The Cambridge Companion to Shakespeare on Stage. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 1–20. ISBN 978-0-521-79711-5. Enter FRIAR LAURENCE, with a basket FRIAR LAURENCE The grey-eyed morn smiles on the frowning night,

The Prince of Verona. A kinsman of Mercutio and Paris. As the seat of political power in Verona, he is concerned about maintaining the public peace at all costs. Friar John

Introduction to the play

Sir William Davenant of the Duke's Company staged a 1662 adaptation in which Henry Harris played Romeo, Thomas Betterton Mercutio, and Betterton's wife Mary Saunderson Juliet: she was probably the first woman to play the role professionally. [112] Another version closely followed Davenant's adaptation and was also regularly performed by the Duke's Company. This was a tragicomedy by James Howard, in which the two lovers survive. [113] Juliet’s nurse, the woman who breast-fed Juliet when she was a baby and has cared for Juliet her entire life. A vulgar, long-winded, and sentimental character, the Nurse provides comic relief with her frequently inappropriate remarks and speeches. But, until a disagreement near the play’s end, the Nurse is Juliet’s faithful confidante and loyal intermediary in Juliet’s affair with Romeo. She provides a contrast with Juliet, given that her view of love is earthy and sexual, whereas Juliet is idealistic and intense. The Nurse believes in love and wants Juliet to have a nice-looking husband, but the idea that Juliet would want to sacrifice herself for love is incomprehensible to her. Re-enter others of the Watch, with FRIAR LAURENCE Third Watchman Here is a friar, that trembles, sighs and weeps: Bonnard, Georges A. (1951). "Romeo and Juliet: A Possible Significance?". Review of English Studies. II (5): 319–27. doi: 10.1093/res/II.5.319. A kinsman to the Prince, and Romeo’s close friend. One of the most extraordinary characters in all of Shakespeare’s plays, Mercutio overflows with imagination, wit, and, at times, a strange, biting satire and brooding fervor. Mercutio loves wordplay, especially sexual double entendres. He can be quite hotheaded, and hates people who are affected, pretentious, or obsessed with the latest fashions. He finds Romeo’s romanticized ideas about love tiresome and tries to convince Romeo to view love as a simple matter of sexual appetite.