tragedy about star-crossed lovers whose death results in the conclusion of their families‘civil feud
written around 1594 or 1595 by William Shakespeare, the most renowned playwright of Elizabethan theatre
published in 1597 around the same time as A Midsummer Night‘s Dream and Love‘s Labour‘s Lost
the plays all focus on the themes of love, courtship, and marriage
first performance in 1594
first performances in English playhouses after a long period of the plague that had enforced the closure of playhouses in general
reference to the plague in Romeo and Juliet: Friar Lawrence‘ message about Juliet‘s planned marriage with Paris can‘t reach Romeo who is in Mantua at that time
men played the roles of the female characters as women did not legally appear on stages until the 17th century
one of Shakespeare‘s most popular plays that has been adapted multiple times in theatre, film and musical
title characters‘ names are still used as stereotypes for lovers
the story was inspired by an Italian poem which was translated by Arthur Brooks into English verse
Shakespeare‘s play was enriched with more characters and more detailed information on the characters
reduced the timeframe from certain months to four days - indication of the short time within which Romeo and Juliet find each other and actually marry
Juliet‘s age is reduced from 16 to 13 in order to accent her youth
adding scenes: Mercutio‘s speech about Queen Mab, his meeting with the Nurse, Capulet moving the wedding with Paris from thursday to wednesday
assigned the characters specific forms of poetry (Romeo often uses sonnets in order to describe his feelings and actions)
special use of language
characters curse and vow oaths, speak very articulate (use of action verbs)
use of stylistic devices: oxymorons, puns, paradoxes, innuendos
