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

 

There are 144 pages in this book. This is a comic book. This book was published 2013 by Candlewick Press, U. S. .

Folklorist, linguist, and professional storyteller, Lise Lunge Larsen draws upon her rich background in legends and myths to make these tales come alive. A children's book author, she has received many starred reviews and awards for her books. Gareth Hinds has created illustrated versions of such classics as BEOWULF, KING LEAR, MERCHANT OF VENICE and most recently, THE ODYSSEY, forthcoming from Candlewick in fall 2010. As a recent interview with him (SLJ Teen 1/20/2010) said, "He stays faithful to the original text but uses art to illuminate the story and make it more accessible to the reader. " A graduate of the Parsons School of Design, he lives in New York City with his wife, former children's bookseller, Alison Morris.