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Romeo and Juliet however is not my favorite of his plays and in my opinion not the greatest love story ever told, although the play was written and executed majestically. If you read the story and the writings you will find many parallels to Romeo and Juliet. Another thing that is questionable in this play is originality. This is one of the plays that every cultured individual should read for its literary value. After having been in love with Rosalie and after having suffered a heart break Romeo immediately falls in love with Juliet after he sees her, sounds like rebound to me. As if Juliet was the second plate, the one he settled for rather than his first choice. I have always enjoyed most of Shakespeare's plays. Shakespeare did write about the Cleopatra and Mark Antony story and a some of his plays do have the same elements of tragic and deceit as this story.
Unfortunately, Romeo and Juliet story does not speak to me in the same manner, hence I gave it 4 stars, although as far as literature goes it deserves all 5. I am not stating that Shakespeare "stole" nor "copied" Cleopatra and Mark Antony story, however I am suggesting that this was an inspiration to Shakespeare's play. Shakespeare will always be the epitome of literary works, plays in this case of all time. Yes, at the time in which was written Shakespeare was one of the few people integrating such stories together. Couple of the reasons I do not find Romeo and Juliet to be the greatest love story is due to Juliet being sort of a "rebound" to Romeo's affairs. One do not need to love all the elements of the story to appreciate what a great piece of artistic work it is.
Of course originality has to really be defined here. But does anyone remembers Plutarch (40-120 CE) writings regarding the story about Cleopatra and Mark Antony. After all my favorite love story (now with two high grossing pop culture movies) is a very modern and very famous story, poorly written for young adults, however the story and the intensity of the love portray speaks to me fondly even thou as far as literature is concern it is a piece of garbage.
The customer reviews for this edition of Romeo and Juliet indicated that it was dual language, i.e., the original Shakespeare on one side of the pages and a modern "translation" on the other. This edition was original text only -- fine for what it is, but not what we wanted.
Bought this book for my son, who is in 9th grade. It is required reading which they have not yet started. It's a classic, what more can one say.
There's a reason most college students have read this at least once for class. This story is timeless, speaks to any and all generations, and touching in a way no other book can match. It's so worth reading.
That is true in some aspects. He continues to be depressed at the masquerade, until he sees Juliet for the first time. This past quarter, my entire freshmen class was required to read this classic play. Romeo is convinced by one of his friends, Mercutio, to sneak into a masquerade party held by the Capulets.
The next day, Friar Lawrence secretly marries the two. The city of Verona has one, very long lasting feud between the Montague family, and the Capulet family. This is where the play really takes off. In most movies this scene takes place with Juliet on a balcony, but the play never mentions anything of a balcony. Romeo is still depressed about breaking up with a girl named Rosaline (who we never hear from once). This is where the problem comes in.
"Romeo and Juliet" is about two, "star-cross'd lovers," named Romeo and Juliet, living in the city of Verona. Arguably the greatest book he ever wrote was "Romeo and Juliet". Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet" is a very well written play. He is known across the world. Romeo and Juliet have a romantic talk with each other.
With Romeo being a Montague, and Juliet being a Capulet, their love is forbidden. The plot is not the most interesting of all time, but I enjoyed it very much. The same goes for Juliet. William Shakespeare is one of the great playwrights of all time. One event after the other occurs that twists the plot. All these events lead up to one of the most well known ending of any play in history. Although the Elizabethan style of writing is difficult to understand, it fits the play fantastically.
Some people might think that the plot is not that special and could have been thought up by anyone. The bottom line of this book is that Shakespeare was able to write a very interesting tragedy, which is what he was trying to do from the beginning. For most of us, it was the first time we had ever read it. Shakespeare is able to create a plot where everything that occurs, happens for a reason, ending in a very sad, tragic ending. It is love at first sight. After the masquerade, Romeo goes to see Juliet. Now that we look back on "Romeo and Juliet" and then see all the other love stories written in the past three hundred years, we take this play for granted.
I enjoyed this book very much, and I think any reader will like it also.
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