Arts Music Gcses Books : Romeo and Juliet (Cambridge School Shakespeare)

Romeo and Juliet (Cambridge School Shakespeare)

£2.74


This is undoubtedly the greatest love story ever written, spawning a host of imitators on stage and screen, including Leonard Bernstein s smash musical West Side Story, Franco Zeffirelli s Romeo and Juliet filmed in 1968, and Baz Luhrmann s postmodern film version Romeo + Juliet. The tragic feud between Two households, both alike in dignity/In fair Verona, the Montagues and Capulets, which ultimately kills the two young star-crossed lovers and their death-marked love creates issues which have fascinated subsequent generations. The play deals with issues of intergenerational and familial conflict, as well as the power of language and the compelling relationship between sex and death, all of which makes it an incredibly modern play. It is also an early example of Shakespeare fusing poetry with dramatic action, as he moves from Romeo s lyrical account of Juliet--she doth teach the torches to burn bright! to the bustle and action of a 16th-century household (the play contains more scenes of ordinary working people than any of Shakespeare s other works). It also represents an experimental attempt to fuse comedy with tragedy. Up to the third act, the play proceeds along the lines of a classic romantic comedy. The turning point comes with the death of one of Shakespeare s finest early dramatic creations--Romeo s sexually ambivalent friend Mercutio, whose plague o both your houses begins the play s descent into tragedy, For never was a story of more woe/Than this of Juliet and her Romeo. --Jerry Brotton

Well, it s Shakespeare, what can I say? - This play is great. Not at all overrated. Beautiful, passionate, affecting, etc.

Sex sells, so does violence - We human beings haven t changed much since we discovered the written word. There s a reason they call it the oldest profession, sex sells, and we all know it. And there s just something too fascinating about blood that keeps us from turning away, why else would we slow down to stare at the car wreck?Watch Hollywood today, and tell me that sex and violence don t sell. And don t tell me that Romeo and Juliet is about romance, young teens rarely understand what romantic love is and all too frequently mistake lust for love. Shakespeare needed dough, and Romeo and Juliet provided it for him. Some of his other pieces are also primarily fluff, but they were fluff in a more cerebral fashion. Romeo and Juliet simply panders to the lowest common denominator.It s in this vein that Shakespeare wrote this spurious piece. There s nothing here that tells us anything about the human condition other than what we already know and acknowledge as some of our worst traits: that we can be impulsive, gullible, stubborn, hateful, and murderous.As far as I m concerned, the only good thing about Romeo and Juliet is that it spawned the plot for West Side Story, which, although laden with cheese, does highlight some of the more noble facets of the human character (along the less noble) and features some wonderful music. Romeo and Juliet will, however, simply annoy anyone with half a brain.=P

Young love, and the hatred of 2 families!! - I have always loved the story of Romeo and Juliet. This book brings hope and sorrow, laughter and tears. It is a must to read and I highly recommend it to all.




Romeo and Juliet (Cambridge School Shakespeare)