Romeo and Juliet

One of the most favored dramas by William Shakespeare is the tragic Romeo and Juliet. Many people love this drama because it shows the beauty and pain of love. Shakespeare wrote Romeo and Juliet between 1594 and 1596. The idea for this play came from a poem by Arthur Brooke called "The Tragical History of Romeus and Juliet". In the prologue, Shakespeare states that Romeo and Juliet are "star-crossed lovers".

To understand what this means, one would first need to understand that in Shakespeare's time, most people believed in astrology. They believed that their lives were partly determined by the hour, day, month, and year of their birth. Basically, "the star" that they were born under. Even though Shakespeare said that they were "star-crossed lovers", doomed to disaster by fate; they still make the decisions that lead to their ultimate disaster. Thus making it not fate at all.

The main characters in the play of course are Romeo, son of Montague and Juliet, daughter of Capulet. The parents of the two families dislike each other. This is what keeps Romeo and Juliet apart. The hate between the families is as strong as the love between Romeo and Juliet. For they are caught up in an almost unreal but passionate love. They are in love with love, if you will. In past years many have tried to translate the plot of Romeo and Juliet into a modern era. The most famous of these is Leonard Bernstein's West Side Story and Luhrmann's Romeo and Juliet, starring Claire Danes and Leonardo DiCaprio.