Romeo and Juliet

Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare (c. 1595)

The most famous love story ever written. Shakespeare's tragedy of "star-cross'd lovers" has defined romantic love in Western culture for over four centuries.

Historical Significance:
Shakespeare wrote Romeo and Juliet around 1594-1596, early in his career. It was first published in a quarto edition in 1597. The story was not entirely original — Shakespeare adapted it from Arthur Brooke's narrative poem "The Tragical History of Romeus and Juliet" (1562), which itself derived from Italian sources going back to Masuccio Salernitano (1476).

What Shakespeare added was genius: the balcony scene, the Nurse's comic warmth, Mercutio's brilliant wordplay ("A plague on both your houses!"), and above all, the poetry. "But soft, what light through yonder window breaks?" and "What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet" are among the most quoted lines in English.

The play was enormously popular in Shakespeare's lifetime and was performed by his company, the Lord Chamberlain's Men, at The Theatre and later the Globe. It was one of the first plays revived after the Restoration in 1660.

Cultural Impact:
Romeo and Juliet has been adapted into every art form: Prokofiev's ballet (1935), Bernstein's West Side Story (1957), Zeffirelli's film (1968), Baz Luhrmann's modern retelling (1996), and thousands more. "Romeo" has become a synonym for a romantic young man in multiple languages. The play is performed more often than any other Shakespeare work and is typically the first Shakespeare students encounter.

This public domain classic was originally written c. 1595. Free to read and share.