The hero and heroine of William Shakespeare's play Romeo and Juliet are the archetypes of star-crossed lovers in Western literature. Their noble families are bitter enemies, which leads the young pair to their tragic fates.
Romeo and Juliet was first performed in about 159495 and published in 1597. Shakespeare's principal source for the plot was a long narrative poem by the Englishman Arthur Broke, or Brooke, titled The Tragicall Historye of Romeus and Juliet (1562). Broke's poem was itself based on a French translation of a tale by Matteo Bandello, a 16th-century Italian writer.
Shakespeare set the scene of the play in Verona, Italy. Juliet, a Capulet, and Romeo, a Montague, fall in love at a masked ball. Later, they declare their love when Romeo visits her at her balcony in her family's home. Because the two noble families are enemies, the couple is married secretly by Friar Laurence. After Tybalt, a Capulet, kills Romeo's friend Mercutio in a quarrel, Romeo kills Tybalt and is banished to Mantua. Juliet's father then demands that she marry Count Paris. When Juliet goes to Friar Laurence for advice, he gives her a potion that makes a person appear to be dead. He suggests that she take it and that Romeo rescue her; she agrees. Not knowing about the friar's scheme, Romeo hears of Juliet's apparent death and returns to Verona. After killing Count Paris, he finds Juliet in a burial vault. He gives her a last kiss and kills himself with poison. Juliet awakens, sees the dead Romeo, and kills herself. Their families learn what has happened and end their feud.
"Romeo and Juliet." Compton's by Britannica, v 6.0. 2009. eLibrary. Web. 17 Dec. 2016.
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"plagiarism, n." OED Online. Oxford University Press, December 2016. Web. 17 December 2016.