History of Romeo & Juliet

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The History of Romeo and Juliet

Joshua Watson

Mr. Williams

English I

1 June 2011

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Title Page
Table of Contents
Thesis Page
Research Paper 1
Research Paper 2
Research Paper 3
Works Cited
Bibliography

Joshua Watson Watson 3

Mr. Williams

English I

1 June 2011

The History of Romeo and Juliet

Romeo and Juliet is a love story written early in the career of playwright William Shakespeare about two young lovers whose deaths bring together their feuding families. It was among Shakespeare's most familiar stories that most people have at least heard of.

Some facts about Romeo and Juliet are that the play is not just called Romeo and Juliet it is called The Most Excellent and Lamentable Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet .The author of the Romeo and Juliet is Williams Shakespeare. The type of work Romeo and Juliet would be is a play, and the genre of the play is a tragic drama. The language the play is in is English, the time and place is in London in the mid 1590s.The date of the first publication of Romeo and Juliet was in 1597 but wasn’t authorized as a complete edition till 1599 and the publisher is Thomas Creede. The climax of the play is the death of Romeo and Juliet in the Capulet tomb during act five, scene three. The protagonists are Romeo and Juliet and the antagonists are the feuding Montagues and Capulet’s, Tybalt, The Prince and citizens of Verona, and fate. The time setting is the renaissance and the setting of the play is Verona and Mantua which are cities in northern Italy. The falling action of the play occurs during act five scene 3 the same as the climax, when

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the prince and the parents discover the bodies of Romeo and Juliet, and decide to put away their childish feud in the interest of peace and harmony. The tones of the play are passionate, romantic, intense, rhapsodic, and prone to extremes of emotion including ecstasy rage and misery. The themes of Romeo and Juliet are the forcefulness of love, love as a cause of violence, the individual Versus society the inevitability of fate. The motifs of the play are light and dark imagery and the opposite point of view. Symbols of Romeo and Juliet are poison, thumb biting and Queen Mab

There have been many versions of romeo and juliet throughout the years they’ve been made in to more and more plays and more that eighteen movies. Juliet is one of the oldest story that people can remember and I think that people should appreciate it more.

Romeo and Juliet is a bunch of stories of tragic romances from the renaissance age, which people have rewritten over the years and made more entertaining. Shakespeare borrowed the idea from two writers Arthur Brooke who wrote the tragic history of romeus and Juliet in 1582 and William painter who wrote palace of pleasure in 1582.shakespeare began writing Romeo and Juliet anywhere between the years 1591 and 1595 and the first copy was published on 1597 but the play was terrible and later on Shakespeare improved it.

Shakespeare put a lot of dramatic structure into his play like switching between comedy and tragedy to increase tension. He used side plots to make the story better, and his expansion of minor character, has shown he has much skill with drama. The play assigns various sets of rules for certain to be followed types of poem to be followed by different types of characters and as the play progresses the form may change

Romeo and Juliet have been shown many times on stage film, musical and opera. When the restoration on Romeo and Juliet was being done, William Davenant had to heavily revise it to make it better. David Garrick’s version had modified a few scenes and remove bad material that wasn’t decent. During the 19^th century Charlotte Cushman’s version restored the original text and adds more realism.

In 1935 John Gielgud remade the play and he used Shakespeare’s words but used Elizabethan costumes and staging to heighten the drama. In the 20^th century, MGM made a similar film to Romeo and Juliet in 1936. In the 1950s,a musical called west side story was created and was also similar to Romeo and Juliet. In 1996 MTV made a movie about Romeo and Juliet also.

In conclusion Romeo and Juliet is a wonderful story about two young youths falling in love. Even thought they weren’t able to see each other but still stayed and in love and then dying with each other. I think that people should explore ore in the world of Shakespeare to learn valuable lesson that would help us in present day life.

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Work cited

Borade, Gaynor. "Story of Romeo and Juliet." Buzzle Web Portal: Intelligent Life on the Web. Web. 24 May 2011. <http://www.buzzle.com/articles/story-of-romeo-and-juliet.html>.

"The History of Romeo and Juliet." TheatreHistory.com. Web. 25 May 2011. <http://www.theatrehistory.com/british/history_of_romeo_and_juliet.html>.

"The History of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet: From Its First Production to Luhrmann's

Stylish Movie." Shakespeare Online. Web. 24 May 2011.

<http://www.shakespeare-online.com/playanalysis/romeoplayhistory.html>.

"The History of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet: From Its First Production to Luhrmann's Stylish Movie." Shakespeare Online. Web. 24 May 2011.

<http://www.shakespeare-online.com/playanalysis/romeoplayhistory.html>.

"Romeo and Juliet Historical Background." ENotes - Literature Study Guides, Lesson Plans, and More. Web. 25 May 2011.

<http://www.enotes.com/romeo-and-juliet/historical-background>.

"Romeo and Juliet." Shmoop: Homework Help, Teacher Resources, Test Prep. Web. 31 May 2011. <http://www.shmoop.com/romeo-and-juliet/>.

"Romeo and Juliet the Play by William Shakespeare." WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE. Web. 25 May 2011. <http://www.william-shakespeare.info/shakespeare-play-romeo-and-juliet.htm>.

"Romeo and Juliet." TheatreHistory.com. Web. 25 May 2011. <http://www.theatrehistory.com/british/romeoandjuliet001.html>.

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Bibliography