Romeo and Juliet: the greatest love story? Our postmodern age revels in the passion and romance of the young lovers, but perhaps we overlook crucial subtleties in the text. This study guide seeks to exercise your reading, writing, and thinking, and to illumine your understanding—helping you explore and determine where the actual tragedy lies.
About Romeo and Juliet:
“Romeo and Juliet is perhaps the most famous love story ever written. Its cultural influence is so profound that Shakespeare’s “star-cross’d” lovers have become synonymous with the very meaning of romantic love. But what exactly does the world’s greatest playwright have to say about the world’s greatest lovers? Does he sympathize with their plight? Does he consider them blameless, or are they at least partly responsible for the tragedy that awaits them? Is the love story about fatalistic forces beyond the control of the protagonists, or is it a cautionary tale warning of unbridled passion? In this critical edition of the play, edited by Joseph Pearce, author of The Quest for Shakespeare and Through Shakespeare’s Eyes, these questions are not only asked but are answered by some of today’s leading Shakespeare experts.” (from the publisher)