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Romeo and Juliet

by William Shakespeare, Paul Moliken (Editor)

3.72 of 5 stars 3.72 · rating details · 912,688 ratings · 8,017 reviews

"Two households, both alike in dignity, In fair Verona, where we lay our scene,"

With these first lines, Shakespeare's timeless play of young love and untimely death begins; as in life, it is sometimes comic, sometimes tragic, always poignantly beautiful. While our emotions are moved by the imagery and rhythms of Shakespeare's verse, our minds are delighted by the sharpnes

...more

Paperback, 112 pages

Published September 28th 2004 by Prestwick House Inc. (first published 1595)

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Mar 22, 2010 Madeline rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: shakespeare, assigned-reading

Romeo and Juliet, abridged.

ROMEO: I’m Romeo, and I used to be emo and annoying but now I’m so totally in luuuuurve and it’s AWESOME.

MERCUTIO: Okay, three things: One, there’s only room in this play for one awesome character and it’s me, bitch. Two, you’re still emo and annoying. Three, didn’t you say that exact same stuff yesterday about Rosaline?

ROMEO: Who?

*meanwhile, Juliet prances around her room and draws hearts on things and scribbles “Mrs. Juliet Montague” in her diary over and over. Beca...more

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Aug 30, 2012 Nate rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I'm not sure what annoys me more - the play that elevated a story about two teenagers meeting at a ball and instantly "falling in love" then deciding to get married after knowing each other for one night into the most well-known love story of all time, or the middle schools that feed this to kids of the same age group as the main characters to support their angst-filled heads with the idea that yes, they really are in love with that guy/girl they met five minutes ago, and no one can stop them, e...more I'm not sure what annoys me more - the play that elevated a story about two teenagers meeting at a ball and instantly "falling in love" then deciding to get married after knowing each other for one night into the most well-known love story of all time, or the middle schools that feed this to kids of the same age group as the main characters to support their angst-filled heads with the idea that yes, they really are in love with that guy/girl they met five minutes ago, and no one can stop them, especially not their meddling parents!

Keep in mind that Juliet was THIRTEEN YEARS OLD. (Her father states she "hath not yet seen the change of fourteen years" in 1.2.9). Even in Shakespeare's England, most women were at least 21 before they married and had children. It's not clear how old Romeo is, but either he's also a stupid little kid who needs to be slapped, or he's a child molester, and neither one is a good thing.

When I was in middle school or high school, around the time we read this book, I remember a classmate saying in class that when her and her boyfriends' eyes met across the quad, they just knew they were meant to be together forever. How convenient that her soulmate happened to be an immensely popular and good-looking football player, and his soulmate happened to be a gorgeous cheerleader! That's not love at first sight, that's lust at first sight. If they were really lucky, maybe as time went on they would also happen to "click" very well, that lust would develop into love (it didn't), and they would end up together forever (they didn't). But if they saw each other at a school dance, decided they were "like, totally in love," and then the next day decided to run off and get married, we shouldn't encourage that as a romantic love story, we should slap the hell out of them both to wake them up to reality.

For what it's worth, my cynicism doesn't come from any bitterness towards life or love. I met my wife when we were 17, and we've now been together almost 10 years, married for a little over 2. Fortunately for me, she turned out to be awesome. If we had decided the day after meeting each other that we were hopelessly in love and needed to get married immediately, we would have been idiots, and I hope someone who I trusted and respected would have slapped me, hard. If we were 13 at the time, that would be even worse. Enlightened adults injecting this into our youth as a classic love story for the generations, providing further support for their angst-filled false ideas of love and marriage, is probably worst of all.(less)

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Jan 14, 2013 Kelly-Jane rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fucked-up-relationships, depressing-as-fuck, it-hurts-like-i-can-t-even-tell-you, burn-baby-burn, i-m-so-conflicted

I read this book in high school and was asked to give a plot summary. This is legit what I handed in.

R&J: So there's this guy. He's like... seventeen or something. Not really sure.

Me: Okay, with you so far.

R&J: And he's in love with this chick.

Me: Juliet, got it.

R&J: Nonono, Rosalind. He's in love with Rosalind.

Me: Oh. But the title, I thought...

R&J: Yeah, I'll get to that. Anyway, he's in love with Rosalind. But she's not interested. So he's, like, heartbroken and stuff. He snea...more

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Feb 26, 2010 Kelly rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: poets, and young, angsty people

Shelves: theatre, brit-lit, shakespeare, 1500-1700, mawwiageiswhatbringsustogethertoday, grand-opera

"Hey! I'm eatin' here!"

So you're at a nice outdoor cafe one day, eating your lunch, and all of a sudden some fool kids come running through the square with their swords out (apparently they've got some strong Second Amendment advocates in Verona) and insist on skewering each other right there in front of you in the square! And seriously all you want to do is just eat your (damn fine, not that anyone asked you) pasta and get back to work before your lord finds some excuse to fire you. But nooooo,...more

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May 30, 2011 Kira rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: People who get Shakespeare

Recommended to Kira by: My good friend Stephenie Meyer

Shelves: lolwut, lost-the-will-to-live, made-me-want-to-choke-myself, made-no-sense, not-amazing-but-not-shit, papa-dont-preach, sentimental-value, train-wreck-romance, tstl-heroine

The original whiny love story gets ~~screwed over~~ the Twilight treatment. Who knew?

Aside from the cover butchery, this is a good solid book, but not one of Shakespeare's best. I grew up with Macbeth (I've been in the damn thing three times and read it five) and it remains my everlasting favorite. Romeo and Juliet? Not so much.

Why?

Because it's one of the most gravely misunderstood stories in the history of ever. Over the years it's been warped more than Hercules was by the Disney guys. The point Sh...more

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Sep 09, 2012 Ian Graye rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: read-2012, reviews, reviews-5-stars

ROMEO AND JULIET: THE MUSICAL (A BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN PRODUCTIONS EXTRAVAGANZA)

WHAT THE CRITICS ARE SAYING:

"Bruce Springsteen mixes Shakespeare’s best known romance with electric guitars, pianos, keyboards and saxophones." (Rolling Stoned)

"Sex, drugs, rock ‘n’ roll, cars, bikes, gangs, bangs, brawls, literature, blood, sugar, death, magik, kitchen sinks, meatloaf, clowns. It’s got everythnig." (Grauniad)

"E-Street Bard." (Village Voyce)

"Star-crossed Lovers Killed by Loose Windscreen." (Notional Enqu...more

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Feb 14, 2010 Elizabeth rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: in-theater, tam-lin, in-by-of-england, 2010, reviewed, in-italy

If there is one thing we can learn from this play, it is that men should not be allowed to walk around with swords; they just get into fights. It’s too easy to draw them at the ~~smallest~~ (forgive me) slightest provocation. In fact, it seems to happen every time a handsome young man appears to provoke them. Hm. Is this whole play really about repressed homosexuality? Where is Oscar Wilde when you need him? Although it probably is not; it is a good justification for the Elizabethan equivalent of gu...more If there is one thing we can learn from this play, it is that men should not be allowed to walk around with swords; they just get into fights. It’s too easy to draw them at the ~~smallest~~ (forgive me) slightest provocation. In fact, it seems to happen every time a handsome young man appears to provoke them. Hm. Is this whole play really about repressed homosexuality? Where is Oscar Wilde when you need him? Although it probably is not; it is a good justification for the Elizabethan equivalent of gun control. All these loose swords around and pretty soon there's a body on the ground and someone is in trouble and now it’s going to end badly for everyone.

I’ve always been ambivalent about this play so I’m going to try extra hard not to sound like a bitter old hag as I write about it. It may be hard though, because no matter how wonderful the language is, somehow all I hear is the whining. There’s Juliet weeping on the floor. Then there’s Romeo weeping on the floor, but that’s only after he is first swooning over one girl and then swooning over another. In my head, he sounds like Mark Hamill in the first (the real first) Star Wars film; remember when he said to his uncle that he wanted to go into town, but instead he had to help out at the farm? That voice. It’s really hard to take someone seriously when he sounds like that.

I’m falling into a nasty trap here. Shakespeare even comments on it in this play. We have a cultural belief that true love somehow emasculates a man. Being captivated by a woman makes him reluctant to wield his sword when it comes to a fight, and he is mocked by his posse for his failure. So I’m a bit annoyed with myself for the Mark Hamill voice. Why not Humphrey Bogart (Casablanca) or Cary Elwes (The Princess Bride)? No, somehow it doesn’t work. It’s still more like Ethan Hawke in Hamlet.

And that’s not really fair. The long speeches, beginning with the wonderful one about Queen Mab, all the way through, are familiar and wonderful. The imagery is fantastic. The little bit that it’s not a lark but a nightingale, lovely. Maybe it’s that the play is too familiar? It is something like Casablanca in a way. When you hear certain lines, it’s jarring, because they weren’t clichés when they were said here. It’s only the repetition that has made them so familiar, and so strange. Maybe it’s all the years of badly-acted balcony scenes that makes it ridiculous when reading it now? I’ve actually seen both the ballet and two different opera versions of this story and they don’t bother me this way. The central story is tragic: a love story that works out initially only to fall apart because of societal pressures (banishment is definitely a societal pressure) and familial disapproval. Who hasn’t been through that in their life at some point? Perhaps not at thirteen (seriously icky Shakespeare honey) but at some point, for everyone, it happens. The relationship you thought was going to be wonderful fell apart because of money or travel or religious or cultural differences, before you discovered that it wasn’t going to work because of his snoring or the way his slurped his tea or his tendency to slay your cousins in the street. No relationship is perfect, of course, but the ones that really hurt if they don’t work are the ones in which you didn’t have the chance to build a list of grievances.

So this play should get more from me than ambivalence. It does say something important, even in the whiny Luke Skywalker voice, and it’s my own fault if I fail to take note or to appreciate it. It’s beautiful in its sorrow and that should be respected. But I’m still going to giggle about the swords.
(less)

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Feb 04, 2013 Judith (Judith'sChoiceReads) rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: give-me-the-flamethrower, unpredictable, fail

I was thinking the other day and decided, "Hey! Why don't I write up a review for the world's possibly most effed up play ever. Why not?" So I'm going to. As you can probably tell this will not be eloquently written and in fact, I do not give a flying purple monkey about the romanticism behind the idiocy that went down that one week in Verona, (It all happened in on week!), because this play has bothered me since forever and it isn't about to change now! On with the review!

SPOILER ALERT!!

Over th...more

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Mar 02, 2007 Matt rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Honestly, who doesn't like a love story?

How someone can go and get two degrees in English and not read Romeo and Juliet, I have absolutely no idea. Why I would take it upon myself to read Shakespeare when I’m under no obligation, I’m afraid only fellow writers and lit geeks will understand.

It’s among the best-known stories in history, even for people who’ve never come within a mile of the Bard’s plays. Two lovers are kept apart by their feuding families. They must thus pursue their love in secret. But it’s not called The Tragedy of Ro...more

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Mar 15, 2012 Joel rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: classics

Subject: MR. MERCUTIO

FROM THE OFFICE MR REGINALDO OXFORDINGTON
VERONA DEVELOPMENT BANK (VDB).
FAIR VERONA

TRANSFER OF ($25,200.000.00) TWENTY FIVE MILLION, TWO HUNDREN THOUSAND SCUDI ROMANI.

I AM REGINALDO OXFORDINGTON, THE AUDITOR GENERAL OF VERONA DEVELOPMENT BANK HERE IN FAIR VERONA WHERE WE LAY OUR SCENE. DURING THE COURSE OF OUR AUDITING, I DISCOVERED A FLOATING FUND IN AN ACCOUNT OPENED IN THE BANK BY MR MERCUTIO AND AFTER GOING THROUGH SOME OLD FILES IN THE RECORDS I DISCOVERED THAT THE OWNER...more Subject: MR. MERCUTIO

FROM THE OFFICE MR REGINALDO OXFORDINGTON
VERONA DEVELOPMENT BANK (VDB).
FAIR VERONA

TRANSFER OF ($25,200.000.00) TWENTY FIVE MILLION, TWO HUNDREN THOUSAND SCUDI ROMANI.

I AM REGINALDO OXFORDINGTON, THE AUDITOR GENERAL OF VERONA DEVELOPMENT BANK HERE IN FAIR VERONA WHERE WE LAY OUR SCENE. DURING THE COURSE OF OUR AUDITING, I DISCOVERED A FLOATING FUND IN AN ACCOUNT OPENED IN THE BANK BY MR MERCUTIO AND AFTER GOING THROUGH SOME OLD FILES IN THE RECORDS I DISCOVERED THAT THE OWNER OF THE ACCOUNT WAS SLEWN SOME YEARS AGO BY THE ROGUE TYBALT IN A DUEL.

AND NOBODY HAS OPERATED ON THIS ACCOUNT AGAIN, THE OWNER OF THIS ACCOUNT IS MR MERCUTIO A RECKLESS JESTER, AND A COUSIN OF THE PRINCE, HE DIED, SINCE THEN AND NO OTHER PERSON KNOWS ABOUT THIS ACCOUNT OR ANY THING CONCERNING IT, THE ACCOUNT HAS NO OTHER BENEFICIARY AND MY INVESTIGATION PROVED TO ME AS WELL THAT MR MERCUTIO DIE ALONG WITH HIS TIRED FAMILY WHO WAS TOO SAD BECAUSE OF THE STORY OF WOE OF MRS JULIET AND MR ROMEO.

THE AMOUNT INVOLVED IS (SR 25.2 M) TWENTY-FIVE MILLION, TWO HUNDRED THOUSAND SCUDI ROMANI ONLY , I AM CONTACTING YOU AS A FOREIGNER BECAUSE THIS MONEY CAN NOT BE APPROVED TO A LOCAL PERSON HERE, BUT CAN ONLY BE APPROVED TO ANY FOREIGNER WITH VALID INTERNATIONAL PASSPORT AND FOREIGN ACCOUNT BECAUSE THE MONEY IS IN SCUDI ROMANI AND THE FORMER OWNER OF THE ACCOUNT MR MERCUTIO IS KNOWN TO BE A FRIEND OF MR ROMEO MONTEGUE A ROGUE & KILLER, AND THE MONEY CAN ONLY BE APPROVED INTO A FOREIGN ACCOUNT UNLESS ANCIENT GRUDGE BREAK TO NEW MUTINEY. I ASK YOU WOULD A FOREIGNER BY ANY OTHER NAME NO SMEEL AS SWEET?

I NEED YOUR STRONG ASSURANCE THAT YOU WILL NEVER, NEVER BITE YOUR THUMB AT ME SIR AS SOON AS THIS FUND HIT INTO YOUR ACCOUNT. WITH MY INFLUENCE AND THE POSITION OF THE BANK OFFICIAL WE CAN TRANSFER THIS MONEY TO ANY FOREIGNER'S RELIABLE ACCOUNT WHICH YOU CAN PROVIDE WITH ASSURANCE THAT THIS MONEY WILL BE INTACT PENDING OUR PHYSICAL ARRIVAL IN YOUR COUNTRY FOR SHARING.

ON THE CONCLUSION OF THIS TRANSACTION YOU WILL BE ENTITLED TO 30% OF THE TOTAL SUM AS GRATIFICATION, WHILE 10% WILL BE SET ASIDE TO TAKE CARE OF THEEXPENSES THAT MAY ARISE DURING THE TIME OF TRANSFER AND ALSO MESSENGER FEES TO ENSURE TIMELY DELIVERY WITH NO UNDUE CIRCUMSTANCE OF TRAGEDYE, WHILE 60% WILL BE FOR ME.

SO ON THE INDICATION OF YOUR WILLINGNESS I WANT YOU TO FORWARD TO ME YOUR :FULL NAME: AFFILIATION CAPULET OR MOTEGUE: IF ANY FULL CONTACT ADDRESS: CITYSTATE: COUNTRY: OCCUPATION: AND ALL THE NECESSARYINFORMATION WILL BE SENT TO YOU ON THE ACCEPTANCE TO CHAMPION THIS TRANSACTION WITH ME.

YOURS TRULY
REGINALDO OXFORDINGTON(less)

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Dec 28, 2012 Catriona rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The people who dislike this play are the ones who view common sense over being rational, and prefer to view the world in a structured way. One of the main arguments that come across is the 'meeting, falling in love, and dying all in a weekend when Juliet is but 13'. We all must die in the end, so wouldn't you want to in the name of love than of an awful disease?
Perhaps the two lovers weren't truly in love, but their last living moments were spent believing so, so what does it matter? How can on...more

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Jun 14, 2007 Sarah rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: classics, plays

The first time I read Romeo and Juliet (my freshman year of high school), I hated it. I had always heard it built up as a great love story, a great romance- and I didn't see it at all. To me, it seemed a pretty pointless story about a couple of idiotic teenagers in lust. The ridiculous essays I was forced to compose about it certainly didn't help.

My senior year of high school, however, my drama teacher selected it as our spring play. I was stage manager, and I was horrified when he told me. I pl...more

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Apr 02, 2013 notgettingenough rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: drama, pre20th-century

Romeo and Juliet say bye-bye to Amazon.

http://alittleteaalittlechat.wordpres...

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Nov 01, 2012 Jonathan rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommended to Jonathan by: Year 7 Teacher/carriculum

Shelves: classic-literature, plays, personal-favourites

So, I'm going to be short and brief - or maybe I'll be brief and short - with my review of this. I haven't read this in a while but a thought came to me about what I must add for anyone who hasn't looked at this absolute classic. I read it for school and I performed in part of it for school. Many of the lines still stick with me and I guess it fostered a love of Shakespeare and an understanding all of...five years ago?

Many people claim that this is one of the classic love stories. (view spoiler)...more

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Aug 27, 2011 Simona Bartolotta rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: classici, teatro

Ahimé, perché Amore, di aspetto così gentile è poi, alla prova, così aspro e tiranno?

Giulietta e Romeo, Romeo e Giulietta. Chi non li conosce? Chi non conosce la loro struggente storia d'amore e di morte?
Tutti li conoscono, ma quasi tutti con superficialità.

Oh Romeo, Romeo, perché sei tu Romeo?

E la storiella finisce là. Si amano, le famiglie non approvano, si uccidono pur di stare insieme.
Eh no, signori!
Ci sono dietro vicende di famiglie che si odiano, profondamente e appassionatamente, di un...more

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Apr 05, 2011 Malak Alrashed rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Since I was a young girl my mother used to tell me about Qays and Layla, Romeo and Juliet and all these kinds of tragic love stories that show how people can be completely out of their minds when it comes to love. They would hurt themselves, or even kill themselves for reasons that might seem entirely nonsense, but it's love! The mystery that changes everything and everyone.

Romeo and Juliet is doubtlessly the most famous love story of all times and I'm aware of this, but there are still things I...more

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Feb 14, 2011 Cinnamon rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: classics, historical-fiction, own, 2011, read-for-school, reviewed, 3-fairly-intriguing

This review may also be found on A Thousand Little Pages.

Two words: Epic. Fail.

Seriously, I was expecting so much. This is Romeo and Juliet we're talking about here. It's only the best known romance in the history of English lit, right?

OK, I digress. The next generation might just consider Twilight to be the best known romance of all time. Shame on them. Such poor, misguided souls...

I thought R&J's ages caused all their interactions to take on an almost laughable quality. Two teenagers falli...more

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Oct 15, 2012 Jessica-Robyn rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: classics-adult, assigned-reading, shakespeare, plays, death-n-dying, historical-fiction

Rating: 3.5 Stars

I rarely use the term "silly bitch" but I shall use it now and apply it to pretty much everyone in this play. The things Romeo and Juliet do with the support of the misguided adults around them is both incredibly fascinating and ridiculous.

Don't get me wrong, I think Romeo and Juliet is a truly great play. It's entertaining and has the perfect balance for a stage performance. I unfortunately had to read this for school, which means I also had to analyse it and the crap that my...more Rating: 3.5 Stars

I rarely use the term "silly bitch" but I shall use it now and apply it to pretty much everyone in this play. The things Romeo and Juliet do with the support of the misguided adults around them is both incredibly fascinating and ridiculous.

Don't get me wrong, I think Romeo and Juliet is a truly great play. It's entertaining and has the perfect balance for a stage performance. I unfortunately had to read this for school, which means I also had to analyse it and the crap that my course layered on top of it was baffling at times. However, I really like the letter A. This means I had to keep the majority of my ranting opinions out of my assignments. So I've decided to put all that analyse to good work and put everything I held back into this review.

I think Shakespeare got his characters pretty dead on. Although I never ever agreed with the actions of Romeo and Juliet I could identify that there are indeed teenagers who think death is the ultimate solution to every problem, who think they've "fallen in love" at first sight, who commit their hearts foolishly, will do anything to have some sexy time, and don't understand the concept of "foresight". I also think there are plenty of adults who would aid in their delusions because of delusions of their own. Raging hormones and misguidedness are not inventions of a modern era.

Needless to say, I didn't read this play as any sort of romance like some of my classmates did, I read it as a tragedy. Destiny is a big theme throughout the play and it's incredibly sad that a violence between families then birthed love which only ended in death. (I will get to the death bit in a second). Love does not concur all. This isn't a fairy tale, it isn't romantic, it is sad and maddening because it was not just death, but pointless death. I also don't doubt for a moment that Shakespeare knew how foolishly his characters were acting and over time I think we've almost altered his intent with our romanticism of love+death= jadhfadhfnak.

Now onto the pointlessness of the death to which was very pointless indeed. Poor Paris. Poor unfortunate Paris! The one guy who was just happy to be getting with the girl he liked and had no idea what he was stepping into. Then BAM! dead. And of course there was Romeo and Juliet. Whatever, I feel bad for Paris.

When I neared the end of the play I started thinking, what would have my reaction been to the ending had I not known so much about the play going into it? I'm really rather curious what experiencing that would have been like. Part of the interest of this play is all the obvious foreshadowing throughout each act, but if I was part of an unknowing audience I would have seen the foreshadowing and yet still hoped for a happy ending. I think it would have been more powerful a conclusion had it not been unavoidably spoiled for me through its cultural significance.

On a completely different note, I don't think I've mentioned it, but this is my first Shakespeare play. I was happy to see that I picked up the pacing and new words pretty well and knew what was going on without having to consult the definitions guide every couple lines. I'm going to be challenging myself to read all of his plays because in a city with a huge three month long yearly Shakespeare festival (Bard on the Beach, 24 years running) those bragging rights could very well come in handy.

After this I am seriously looking forward to reading more Shakespeare and seeing what else he has to offer. Does anyone have any favourites I should pick up next? I have a long list and lots of free time after completing this English course. (less)

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Oct 25, 2007 Colva rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: romantics of every description

I was told I could learn everything I needed to know about life from "Romeo and Juliet". The play doesn't stand out in my mind in terms of plot or motivation, however the whole thing is worth paying a great deal of attention to because of a handful of speeches. Most notably, Mercutio's "queen mab" speech,

O, then, I see Queen Mab hath been with you.
She is the fairies' midwife, and she comes
In shape no bigger than an agate-stone
On the fore-finger of an alderman,
Drawn with a team of little atomies...more

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Jan 03, 2013 Carol rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

In middle school, we read the play and saw the movie of "Romeo and Juliet."

I'm not sure what frustrates me more - the play about two young teenagers meeting at a ball and instantly "falling in love" then deciding to get married after knowing each other for one night that turns into one of the most well-known love stories of all time, or the schools that feed this to kids of the same age group as the main characters to support their heads with the idea that yes, they really are in love with that...more

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Aug 02, 2012 Ashlee rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Okay, I'm just going to put it out there. I don't really like Shakespeare. In fact, I would go as far as to say that I don't like his writing a single bit. His language was, you know...pretty and most people look at Shakespeare's work and go "Oh my gosh! Look at all these complex words and language from a different time! I'm going to pretend I like it so people think I'm deep and smart!" That's not me.

This was a horrible story. It was boring, for one. The plot absolutely infuriates me (to the p

...more

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Jun 19, 2012 Sara rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I know Shakespeare is meant to be pretty much the best author ever, but BOY Romeo and Juliet go on a bit.

After knowing each other for 10 minutes, they decide to get married. Bear in mind Juliet is about 13 and Romeo is about 15. For most of the book they just tell each other how much they love each other, or are telling other people how much they love each other.
Then Romeo kills Juliet's cousin. Does she care? No, of course not. She's just happy that the boy she met three days ago is still alive...more

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Jun 15, 2012 Demonic Circus Princess rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: ansty-angsty-angst, destruction-destruction-destruction, depressing, doesn-t-entirely-make-sense, disgrace-to-feminists-everywhere, have-some-dignity-girl, hoity-toity, hormonal-heroine-central, never-finished, slow-at-first, stupid-decisions, stupid-love-interest, suckish-ending, the-dreaded-love-triangle-strikes, the-human-mind-makes-no-sense-to-me, ugh-i-hate-history, wanted-to-slap-the-heroine, why-god

Enter at your own risk. This is a bitchfit waiting to happen.

You know, I'm quite certain that if Shakespeare was the "genius" everyone claimed him to be, that Romeo & Juliet has been poorly interpreted. They were two young teenagers that fell "in love" in three days, and resulted in a shitload of deaths for a stupid reason. If Shakespeare was so brilliant, I don't think he'd call that true love or romantic. I think his point was that the families' feud was stupid, and in turn it caused their...more

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Oct 27, 2012 Nenia Campbell rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: ye-olde-booke-shelffe, x-1500s, drama-llamas, why-is-this-a-classic, i-burn-i-pine-i-perish, pedobear-seal-of-approval, reviewed, defenestrated, kill-it-before-it-lays-sequels

Ah, yet another work of literature permanently ruined for me by high school. And they wonder why literacy rates suck so much...

There is an assumption that if you are a woman, and possess functioning ovaries, you must love this play.

I hate. This. Play. And I'm not just saying that because the teacher paired me with a guy who liked to bully me for that infamous balcony scene. It is stupid. It is a stupid, stupid play.

(My favorites, if you are curious, are 1. Titus Andronicus, 2. The Taming of the...more

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May 25, 2008 Sally Linford rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: all

Recommended to Sally by: Stepheine Meyer!

Let's talk for a minute about why I would give 5 stars to this awful story. I just need to step back 25 years. I first read this when I was in junior high (just the age of our star-crossed lovers), and I absolutely loathed it. Unfortunately, I didn't just simmer quietly about it--I loathed this LOUDLY, openly in my English class. Everyone got to hear about just how stupid these people were.

Being their age, I would never have behaved so badly--meet, marry, suicide in a weekend? Puh-leez.

I have ca...more

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Dec 03, 2012 Sruthi Vedantham rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: No one

Romeo and Juliet was laughably substandard. They say that this is an epic romance, one of the best of all time. This is not true. Romeo and Juliet is a story about two teenagers dealing with infactuation. Not love.
That being said, I think it is a bit pathetic that they take their lives for each other, considering they've only known each other for three days at the point that they did so. The plot was intruiging but it was not anything special. My conclusion: Romeo and Juliet was not an epic rom...more

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Mar 03, 2012 sarcastic-marilyn keatinge rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: clash-of-classes, forbidden-love, non-paranormal-weirdly, read-it-and-hated-its-bloody-guts, snarkiness-is-a-virtue, lol-tragedy

Well, here's a story I honestly hate. The whole thing is just about two families who dispise one another for no apparent reason and two utterly idiotic, stupid hormone-driven kids. Romeo couldn't have fallen in love with Juliet! He fell in love with her face and ,probably, bossoms-if she had any, since she was fourteen, for shite's sake! Really,I can only applaud Shakespeare for the manner of saying this sodden fairy-bloody-tale. Well' if he wanted to show how stupid people are sometimes he did...more

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Jan 16, 2013 Kaitlinnrosee rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The fact of the matter is, I couldn't take this play seriously because the relationships were so shallow and weak.

I think characters really make a story; the way they view the world and connect with others is what makes it real and interesting to me.

Romeo and Juliet did none of that. Romeo is in "love" with a girl. He goes to a party to see her and woe and behold, he sees Juliet. They speak maybe 10 sentences to each other and then kiss twice. Obviously they're in love. Obviously they want to g...more

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Feb 26, 2012 Catherine Mustread rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: plays, british, 1500s, 1600s, classics

Doesn't everyone know the basic plot of Romeo and Juliet? Though I was fairly familiar with the story, I had forgotten how young Juliet was (14) and the love-sick-ness of the characters seems way overdone, but then again, this is Shakespeare, and a classic of classics.

From Atlas Obscura:
Juliet's Balcony
Image of Juliet's Balcony located in Verona, Italy | Statue of Juliet

Image of Juliet's Balcony located in Verona, Italy | Statue of Juliet

Even though Juliet Capulet is a fictional character created by Shakespeare, millions worship her as a love goddess. Every year tourists from around the globe, flock to Verona just to see the balco...more

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Mar 28, 2011 Dana rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: for-school

Let me just say, I had to read this for school. This changes my opinion a lot. (I mean, why do we have to take READING CHECKS on it?! And learn terms like "soliloquy" and "aside"?? That just totally ruined it.)

Well, the whole story was cute and sweet and yada yada yada. But, it's SO ANNOYING how there's "miscommunication" throughout the entire book. Yeah yeah, I Know that that's one of the problems, but it REALLY bugs me. I just wanted to go "OMG, WHY COULDN'T YOU HAVE BEEN MORE PATIENT!? WHY IS...more

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About William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare (baptised 26 April 1564) was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon" (or simply "The Bard"). His surviving works consist of 38 plays, 154 sonnets, two long narrative poems, and several other poems. His plays have been tr...more William Shakespeare (baptised 26 April 1564) was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon" (or simply "The Bard"). His surviving works consist of 38 plays, 154 sonnets, two long narrative poems, and several other poems. His plays have been translated into every major living language, and are performed more often than those of any other playwright.

Shakespeare was born and raised in Stratford-upon-Avon. Scholars believe that he died on his fifty-second birthday, coinciding with St George’s Day. It is an interesting idea that English writer is so closely identified with the Patron Saint of England!

At the age of 18 he married Anne Hathaway, who bore him three children: Susanna, and twins Hamnet and Judith. Between 1585 and 1592 he began a successful career in London as an actor, writer, and part owner of the playing company the Lord Chamberlain's Men, later known as the King's Men. He appears to have retired to Stratford around 1613, where he died three years later. Few records of Shakespeare's private life survive, and there has been considerable speculation about such matters as his sexuality, religious beliefs, and whether the works attributed to him were written by others.

Shakespeare produced most of his known work between 1590 and 1613. His early plays were mainly comedies and histories, genres he raised to the peak of sophistication and artistry by the end of the sixteenth century. Next he wrote mainly tragedies until about 1608, including Hamlet, King Lear, and Macbeth, considered some of the finest examples in the English language. In his last phase, he wrote tragicomedies, also known as romances, and collaborated with other playwrights. Many of his plays were published in editions of varying quality and accuracy during his lifetime, and in 1623, two of his former theatrical colleagues published the First Folio, a collected edition of his dramatic works that included all but two of the plays now recognised as Shakespeare's.

Shakespeare was a respected poet and playwright in his own day, but his reputation did not rise to its present heights until the nineteenth century. The Romantics, in particular, acclaimed Shakespeare's genius, and the Victorians hero-worshipped Shakespeare with a reverence that George Bernard Shaw called "bardolatry". In the twentieth century, his work was repeatedly adopted and rediscovered by new movements in scholarship and performance. His plays remain highly popular today and are consistently performed and reinterpreted in diverse cultural and political contexts throughout the world.

According to historians, Shakespeare write 37 plays and 154 sonnets throughout the span of his life. Shakespeare's writing average was 1.5 plays a year since he first started writing in 1589. There have been plays and sonnets contributed to Shakespeare that were not authentically written by the great master of language and literature.
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Trivia About Romeo and Juliet

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Quotes from Romeo and Juliet

“When he shall die,
Take him and cut him out in little stars,
And he will make the face of heaven so fine
That all the world will be in love with night
And pay no worship to the garish sun.” — 1,674 people liked it

“My bounty is as boundless as the sea,
My love as deep; the more I give to thee,
The more I have, for both are infinite.” — 1,579 people liked it

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Romeo and Juliet

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