Dec 23, 2009

Romeo and Juliet | The Growth of Shakespeare's Tragic Technique in Romeo and Juliet

Essay discussing the technical and dramatic innovations employed by Shakespeare in Romeo and Juliet, one of his early tragedies.

Although Romeo and Juliet appears early in the sequence of Shakespeare's tragedies, it represents a considerable improvement over his very first attempts at tragedy, the historical Tragedy of Richard III and Titus Andronicus. These two works follow in the tradition of a crude, though powerful, form of revenge drama perfected by Marlowe and Kyd in the 1580's. Richard III and Titus Andronicus contain the typical conventions of this form: ruthless Machiavellian villains, bloody spectacle, and long speeches debating the nature of villainous ambition and...