Romeo and Juliet (Paperback - 2022)

Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy written by Shakespeare early in his career between 1591-1595 about two young star-crossed lovers whose deaths ultimately reconcile their feuding families. It was among Shakespeare's most popular plays during his lifetime and along with Hamlet, is one of his most frequently performed plays. The romance between Romeo and Juliet has become the foundation for many derivative romantic works and established the title characters as the best known of any young lovers in literature. Shakespeare borrowed from other famous tales written earlier in the sixteenth century but expanded upon the plot and characters to create his own version of the famous story.

The play is set in Verona, Italy, and begins with a scuffle between members the rival families Montague and Capulet. The two families are sworn enemies. The beginning scuffle is between servants of those two houses and shows that the ill will and animosity of the families runs through the families from the primary members of the family down to their servants.

William Shakespeare (baptised 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world’s pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England’s national poet and the “Bard of Avon” (or simply “The Bard”). His surviving works consist of 38 plays, 154 sonnets, two long narrative poems, and several other poems. His plays have been translated into every major living language, and are performed more often than those of any other playwright.

Shakespeare produced most of his known work between 1590 and 1613. His early plays were mainly comedies and histories, genres he raised to the peak of sophistication and artistry by the end of the sixteenth century. Next he wrote mainly tragedies until about 1608, including Hamlet, King Lear, and Macbeth, considered some of the finest examples in the English language. In his last phase, he wrote tragicomedies, also known as romances, and collaborated with other playwrights. Many of his plays were published in editions of varying quality and accuracy during his lifetime, and in 1623 two of his former theatrical colleagues published the First Folio, a collected edition of his dramatic works that included all but two of the plays now recognised as Shakespeare’s.