The Oxford Companion to English Literature | Romeo and Juliet
Romeo and Juliet,
Shakespeare
's first romantic tragedy, based on Arthur Brooke's poem The Tragicall Historye of Romeus and Juliet (
1562
), a translation from the French of Boaistuau of one of
Bandello
's Novelle. Shakespeare's play was probably written about
1595
and first printed in a ‘bad’ quarto in
1597
; a good quarto published in
1599
and reprinted in
1609
served as the copy for the play's text in the
first folio
of
1623
.
The Montagues and Capulets, the two chief families of Verona, are bitter enemies; Escalus, the prince, threatens anyone who disturbs the peace with death. Romeo, son of old Lord Montague, is in love with Lord Capulet's niece Rosaline. But at a feast given by Capulet, which Romeo attends disguised by a mask, he sees and falls in love with Juliet, Capulet's daughter, and she with him. After the feast he overhears, under her window, Juliet's confession of her love for him, and wins...
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