Shakespeare's Text At its premiere in the late 1590s, Romeo and Juliet was a smash hit. The script was published twice within five years of the play’s release, a feat unheard of in a population boasting only a 40% literacy rate.
Perhaps one of the reasons for Romeo and Juliet’s massive popularity is the script’s subversion from the norm: Romeo and Juliet is quite unlike any other play at the time. The genre of the play – a tragedy, played out as a love story – is unusual in itself. The story's structure is exceedingly unique, even in 2013. The first two acts read as a Shakespearean comedy, with only the prologue to warn the audience of the approaching doom. The third act marks a turning point between two very different halves of the same play. Gender is also subverted in the script: it is Romeo who plays the traditionally effeminate role, and Juliet the masculine role. Juliet is the strong, active partner in the relationship. It is Juliet who proposes the idea of marriage, and Juliet who makes plans to reunite the parted lovers in act IV. Romeo is more submissive partner, captive to his own emotions. His professed love for Rosaline flees as he lays eyes on Juliet. His resolve not to fight Tybalt, now an in-law, evaporates as Mercutio falls. Authority is also subverted in this play, both by the young lovers and the very people who are meant to uphold it. The young men in the play doff authority wherever they go: brawling in the streets, crashing parties, and dueling are all against the laws of this world. Our young woman, Juliet, is similarly disobedient. In meeting and marrying Romeo, she has snubbed the wishes of her parents and broken an agreement to Paris. It is not, however, the mischief of our young characters that is the most shocking – they are teenagers, after all – but rather the misbehavior of two authority figures. Friar Laurence and the Nurse act as the adult figures with the most influence on the young lovers. They fly in the face of their own authority, plotting to illegally marry two underage children, against their parents’ wishes. When Romeo and Juliet was released, the theatre-goers of London were exposed to something entirely new and different; not only were the play's genre and structure a new experience, but the content diverted from the expected as well. Romeo and Juliet's unexpected elements kept audiences and riveted until the last line. Shakespeare's Words Shakespeare is credited with adding over 1,700 words of his own creation to the English language. As there must have been a disconnect between Shakespeare's language and the language of the people who saw his play, we face a disconnect between modern English and Elizabethan English.
Click on the link below to access an extensive glossary of words used in Romeo and Juliet, as well as a scene-by-scene breakdown of the vocabulary. A cockatrice: a mythical creature with the head of a rooster and the legs of a dragon. The cockatrice could either kill or turn to stone a person simply by looking at them, not unlike the Greek character Medusa. Juliet refers to this creature in III.II. |
The first quarto, published in 1597. This publication was rife with inaccuracies: it was put together by two actors who used only their memories as source material.The second quarto, 1599. This is a much more complete and accurate representation of the play than the first quarto. This edition is the base for most modern publications.The third quarto, published in 1609.The first folio edition of Romeo and Juliet, published in 1623. |
Information Drawn From:
Halio, Jay L. Romeo and Juliet: A Guide to the Play. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 1998. Print.
Halio, Jay L. Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet: Texts, Contexts, and Interpretation . Newark: University of Delaware, 1995. Print.
Seward, James H. Tragic Vision in Romeo and Juliet. Washington: Consortium, 1973. Print.
Halio, Jay L. Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet: Texts, Contexts, and Interpretation . Newark: University of Delaware, 1995. Print.
Seward, James H. Tragic Vision in Romeo and Juliet. Washington: Consortium, 1973. Print.