A collection of critical essays that examine various aspects of the Shakespeare drama "Romeo and Juliet," discussing issues of sexuality and gender, the author's practice of composition and revision, and the significance of the character Mercutio.
Originally published in 1993. Presenting excerpts and articles on the themes and characters from the most famous story of young lovers, this collection brings together scholarship relating to the language, performance, and impact of the play. Ordered in three parts, the chapters cover analysis, reviews and interpretation from a wide ranging array of sources, from the play’s contemporary commenters to literary critics of the early 1990’s. The volume ends with an article by the editor on the action in the text which concludes the final section of 8 pieces looking at the story as being a product of Elizabethan Culture. It considers the attitude to the friar, to morality and suicide, the stars and fate, and gender differences. Comparisons are made to Shakespeare’s source as well as to productions performed long after the Bard’s death.
Despite the outpour of interpretations, from critics of all schools, on Shakespeare's dramatic works and other poetic works, A Lover's Complaint has been almost totally ignored by criticism. This collection of essays is designed to bring to the poem the attention it deserves for its beauty, its aesthetic, psychological and conceptual complexity, and its representation of its cultural moment. A series of readings of A Lover's Complaint, particularly engaging with issues of psychoanalysis and gender, the volume cumulatively builds a detailed picture of the poem, its reception, and its critical neglect. The essays in the volume, by leading Shakespeareans, open up this important text before scholars, and together generate the long-overdue critical conversation about the many intriguing facets of the poem.
Uniquely, this guide analyses the play's critical and performance history and recent criticism, as well as including five essays offering radically new paths for contemporary interpretation. The subject matter of these essays is rich and diverse, ranging across the play's philosophical identification of sexual love with self-realization, the hermeneutic implications of an editor's textual choices, the minor characters of the play in relation to Renaissance performance traditions, Romeo and Juliet in opera and ballet, and the play's Italian sources and afterlives. The guide also contains a chapter on the key resources available, including scholarly editions and easily available DVDs, and discusses the ways in which they can be used in the classroom to aid understanding and provoke further debate. Edited by leading scholar Julia Reinhard Lupton, this is an essential guide for both students and scholars of Shakespeare.
Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, is a tragedy about two teenagers who fall in love. Both are dead by the play’s end. The play is set in Verona, Italy during the Renaissance. The plot is driven by the feud between two families, the Capulets and the Montagues. The play begins by introducing the rivalry through a brawl that is taking place amongst the servants of the two families. Romeo, son of Lord Montague, overhears that Lord Capulet is going to be hosting a ball. Romeo decides that he will attend, uninvited. He goes to the ball with his friends Mercutio and Benvolio. Romeo meets the lovely Juliet Capulet and they fall in love. Later on Romeo visits Juliet and stands under her balcony – they exchange vows of love. Romeo asks Friar Laurence to marry them – the Friar agrees in the hope that it will end the families’ feud. This annotated edition includes a biography and critical essay.