Romeo and Juliet - William Shakespeare - Bog

The tragedy "Romeo and Juliet" is one of the most famous plays written by the English author, William Shakespeare. It's one of the most famous love-themed tragedies ever. It was the first tragedy ever written by Shakespeare. He wrote it in 1593 after completing his two comedies, which are less known nowadays. The piece was written during the first phase of his career as a writer. It was inspired by a commonly known legend about two lovers from Verona, who ended their lives tragically because of love. Even Dante mentioned the tragedy of the families Montague and Capulet in his Divine Comedy, in part referring to the Purgatory. Additionally, there are records pointing to the fact that it was a historical event from 1303. Also, the love story was mentioned in work called "History of Verona," which was printed in the period around 1595. Several authors used the motif of a tragic couple of Verona in their works before Shakespeare; however, Shakespeare's version remained the most famous one.The tragedy tells the story about two young people that fall in love with each other, despite the animosity between their families that are consumed by hatred and rivalry. Their love seems impossible at first, but they get married secretly. In the course of various conflicts occurring between the two families, Romeo murders Juliet's cousin and thus has to leave the country. However, he remains in hiding, not to leave Juliet behind.Juliet's parents want to marry her to a prominent nobleman, but she would rather die than violate her love and marriage with Romeo. She receives help again from the priest who married them. He gives Juliet a potion that would put her to sleep but not kill her, so that her family would think she is dead, setting her free. The priest sends the message to Romeo, telling him that Juliet is alive.However, the message never reaches him. After hearing about Juliet's death, Romeo arrives at her tomb, where he takes his life by drinking poison because he sees no sense in living a life without Juliet. Upon that, Juliet wakes up and tries to drink the last drops of poison from Romeo's lips to die, but when she sees that it is not enough, she takes a dagger and commits suicide.Both families then realize that their irrational hatred took the lives of young people, but it failed to stop true love, which is the sole morality of the story.This tragedy is the source of several timeless sentences that remain quoted to this day. Among them is the most famous one: "O Romeo, o Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo?" It is as if Juliet almost curses her fate for falling in love with Romeo, yet it does not stop her from loving him. The balcony scenes in which Romeo declares his love to Juliet have remained a synonym to romantic declarations of love to this day, and all love stories are compared to this very one, known as the greatest love story ever.The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet was written in pentameter. The introduction was written in the form of the Shakespearean sonnet, comprised of 14 lines.