Romeo and Juliet

by Kenneth Roy, William Shakespeare

In a Society Dominated by Religion and Bound by ties of strict family loyalty, two teenagers are trapped by their secret love. As a dangerous vendetta spills onto the streets, the young lovers are forced to risk all to be together in Shakespeare's fast-paced tragedy of thwarted love.

Under the editorial supervision of Jonathan Bate and Eric Rasmussen, two of today's most accomplished Shakespearean scholars, this Modern Library series incorporates definitive texts and authoritative notes from William Shakespeare: Complete Works. Each play includes an Introduction as well as an overview of Shakespeare's theatrical career; commentary on past and current productions based on interviews with leading directors, actors, and designers; scene-by-scene analysis; key facts about the work; a chronology of Shakespeare's life and times; and black-and-white illustrations.

Ideal for students, theater professionals, and general readers, these modern and accessible editions from the Royal Shakespeare Company set a new standard in Shakespearean literature for the twenty-first century.

Genres: Classics, School, Romance, Plays, Read For School, Shakespeare, Fiction

297 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 1959

Reviews

[Aleixie · Rating 1 out of 5]

What can I say?

Stupidest story ever written.
I don't care that it's a classic written by the great Shakespere.
I don't care that it's a tragic love story.
There is no element that makes this a love story in the first place. Love is supposed to be sacred, where you live together. Dying for love, COMMITING SUICIDE, is not something that entitles love for me. It just shows how desperate they both are.

Also, the writing was hard to understand, but that's self explanatory. It was after all, written long ago when people actually talked like that.

I was dissapointed, but I knew I would be from the first time I read the summary of the plot.

[livia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Romeo and Juliet was pretty good. Yeah, yeah, "greatest love story of all time," and whatnot. But I had a couple of problems with this book.

1. The age difference.

Juliet was 13! And she was expected to get married! What? I hate that part so much, but, as they say, "ThAt WaS cUsToMaRy FoR tHaT tImE." Whatever.

2. The whole "love at first sight" thing.

They didn't fall in love. It was lust. The only reason they wanted to get married was so they could do the deed. That's the plot of the book.

3. It was all Romeo's fault!

Listen, Lord Capulet asked an illiterate servant to go invite people to his party. The servant asked Romeo to read the list for him. Romeo decided to take advantage of the knowledge and crash the Capulet's party, leading him to see Juliet, setting all of the events into motion.

4. Friar Laurence (and literally every character in the book) is stupid as hell.

Friar's plan was extra and dramatic and the couple's situation could have easily been solved. When Romeo got banished to Mantua, Juliet could have gone with him. But no, they had to be dramatic and illogical and get themselves into this mess.

In conclusion, Romeo is dramatic, and eboy and hormonal. Juliet is stupid, period. The only good character is Benvolio because we watched the movie version with Hailee Stienfeld and Benvolio was honestly cuter than Romeo and he (Benvolio) has my heart.

[abagel · Rating 4 out of 5]

While this is one of the most famous stories of all time, and I knew the story going in, I still enjoyed the story quite a bit. I like the occasional comedic scenes that helped balance out the tragic scenes, I felt that there were enough to convince you to keep reading, but not to offset the most important themes. I also loved how much subtle symbolism was incorporated throughout the play, from the first line of the prologue to the last line of the play itself.

[isabella vaglica · Rating 3 out of 5]

You do realize that this play was never supposed to be a great romantic endeavour…right?

By the rules of Ancient Greek theatre, tragedies (which this play is) are supposed to be a dramatic rendition of what exactly NOT to do, should you find yourselves in the position of the main characters.

William Shakespeare wrote Romeo and Juliet as a display of the consequences of good ol Teenage Stupidity, and what not to do if you’re in love with your family’s enemy child.

And there are many plot holes in this story, but they’re not actually plot holes at all, it’s just supposed to be like that to show how dumb people can be when blinded by ‘love’(but they weren’t actually in love, it was more of a lusting typa thing)

And their phat age gap? Intentional too.

[Kassy Miller · Rating 4 out of 5]

Definitely a good classic, but reading this old English, or whatever it is, tends to hurt my head, so can only really in small amounts!

[Cristina · Rating 2 out of 5]

I think this one is somewhere between 2.5 and 3 stars for me. I can't decide if I enjoyed it or was happy when they died..

[alishba · Rating 3 out of 5]

⭐️⭐️⭐️✨3.5/5
i always thought romeo and juliet was a story of love but actually reading it, it has so much more of a deeper meaning about war/hatred. the text was relatively hard to other book i have read, but nonetheless i enjoyed it. it was really heartfelt and the way shakspeare balanced everything out at the end just made sense.

[Raveena S. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Directly in the middle, 2.5 stars. Was this stupid? Absolutely. The writing style makes it confusing, but I couldn't really find myself hating it. I was just bored, but I never found myself wanting the throw the book against the wall for every dumb action that happened.

["How Do You Pronounce That?" · Rating 4 out of 5]

Despite the bad rap this play gets in schools all across the world, there is a playfulness about it. With ease, Shakespeare is able to poke fun at literally every social convention of the time. In all, it's a dramatic comedy that is as funny as it is over-the-top. 4/5

[Jenna · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was the first Shakespeare play I have ever read and I really enjoyed it. Though it was not relatable there we still many aspects of it that I found very funny and emotional.

[Stacey Browne · Rating 2 out of 5]

*sigh* this one didn’t do it for me. Sorry.

[Amara❀ · Rating 1 out of 5]

i will never understand Shakespearian English...

[Valen ☆ · Rating 2 out of 5]

Six deaths, 24 scenes and 23 days later it’s finally done

[Jamila Lokwa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sooo dramatic oh my goodness 😭

[Elizabeth Chang · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ah. The tragic story of Romeo and Juliet. After years and years of hearing what its about, I finally got to read the story for myself. And what a wonderfully tragic story is was. First thing that surprized me was the sexual stuff. Well, I didn't know it was referring to sexual stuff until the teacher pointed it out, but still. I also realised how unrealistic this play is. I mean, two people falling in love at first sight, getting married before the week is over, and dying because of each other is something that I don't see happening in real life. And I'm so glad it doesn't.

[Abigail Noack · Rating 4 out of 5]

Altogether really interesting. The play had such a unique diversity, in its scenes. Some scenes were thought provoking, yet others made me laugh. There was so much dramatic irony incorporated into Romeo and Juliet, and I thought it really added to the dinamic of the play, and made it more interesting on a whole.

[Cabiria Aquarius · Rating 3 out of 5]

Shakespeare is amazing but I just don't like the fact that the star-crossed lovers die. If they don't then I would be happier. Shakespeare is known for Romeo and Juliet. It's a good story but for the hate of the two families. That caused in the end the death of both families only child.

[Erin · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ugh. Just... ugh.

[Cassandra · Rating 1 out of 5]

I'm sorry but this was just terrible

[Cat]

As per usual, I'm simply finding new editions of reread texts for ones I'm studying in class. So nah, I'm not just now reading R&J. Old news for record keeping purposes