Romeo And Juliet (Signet Classic Shakespeare) - Softcover

Shakespeare, William

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0451526864 ISBN 13: 9780451526861

Publisher: Signet Classics, 2000

Synopsis

The Signet Classics edition of William Shakespeare's timeless story of star-crossed lovers.

One of the Bard's most popular plays, Romeo and Juliet is both the quintessential account of young love and the cautionary tale of the tragedy that can occur when the foces of passion and pride are at odds,

This revised Signet Classics edition includes unique features such as:

- An overview of Shakespeare's life, world, and theater
- A special introduction to the play by the editor, J. A. Bryant, Jr.
- The source from which Shakespeare derived Romeo and Juliet, Arthur Brooke's The Tragicall Historye of Romeus and Juliet
- Dramatic criticism from Samuel Johnson, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Michael Goldman, and others
- A comprehensive stage and screen history of notable actors, directors, and productions
- Text, notes, and commentaries printed in the clearest, most readable text
- And more...

About this title

Review:

This is undoubtedly the greatest love story ever written, spawning a host of imitators on stage and screen, including Leonard Bernstein's smash musical West Side Story, Franco Zeffirelli's Romeo and Juliet filmed in 1968, and Baz Luhrmann's postmodern film version Romeo + Juliet. The tragic feud between "Two households, both alike in dignity/In fair Verona", the Montagues and Capulets, which ultimately kills the two young "star-crossed lovers" and their "death-marked love" creates issues which have fascinated subsequent generations. The play deals with issues of intergenerational and familial conflict, as well as the power of language and the compelling relationship between sex and death, all of which makes it an incredibly modern play. It is also an early example of Shakespeare fusing poetry with dramatic action, as he moves from Romeo's lyrical account of Juliet--"she doth teach the torches to burn bright!" to the bustle and action of a 16th-century household (the play contains more scenes of ordinary working people than any of Shakespeare's other works). It also represents an experimental attempt to fuse comedy with tragedy. Up to the third act, the play proceeds along the lines of a classic romantic comedy. The turning point comes with the death of one of Shakespeare's finest early dramatic creations--Romeo's sexually ambivalent friend Mercutio, whose "plague o' both your houses" begins the play's descent into tragedy, "For never was a story of more woe/Than this of Juliet and her Romeo". --Jerry Brotton

Review:

"We can more easily decide between Shakespear and any other author, than between him and himself. Shall we quote any more passages to shew his genius or the beauty of Romeo and Juliet? At that rate, we might quote the whole."

About this edition

• Publisher: Signet Classics
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 0451526864
• ISBN 13: 9780451526861
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• Number of pages: 304