Sever themselves and madly sweep the sky,"

gives to the passenger a sense of the enduringness of the pageant upon
which those seeing eyes looked more than three centuries ago.

_Romeo and Juliet._

_Written._ 1591-96.

_Published_, in a mutilated form, 1597.

_Source of the Plot._ The story existed in many forms, mostly
Italian. Shakespeare took it from Arthur Broke's metrical version
(_Romeus and Juliet_), and possibly consulted the prose version in
William Painter's _Palace of Pleasure_. The tale had been
dramatised and performed before Arthur Broke published his poem in
1562. The play (if it existed a generation later) may have helped
Shakespeare. It is now lost.

_The Fable._ The houses of Montague and Capulet are at feud in
Verona.

Romeo, of the house of Montague, falls in love with Juliet, of the
house of Capulet. She returns his love. A friar marries them.

In a street brawl, which Romeo does his best to stop, Mercutio,
Romeo's friend, is killed by Tybalt, Juliet's cousin. Carried away
by passion, Romeo kills Tybalt. He is banished from Verona.

The Capulets plan to marry Juliet to the Count Paris.

Juliet, in great distress, consults the Friar who married her to
Romeo. He gives her a potion to create an apparent death in her, to
the end that she may be buried in the family vault, taken thence
and restored to life by himself, and then conveyed to Romeo. He
writes to Romeo, telling him of the plan; but the letter
miscarries. Juliet takes the potion, and is laid in the tomb as
dead.

The Count Paris comes by night to the tomb, to mourn her there.
Romeo, who has heard only that his love is dead, also comes to the
tomb. The two lovers fight, and Romeo kills Paris. He then takes
poison and dies at Juliet's side.

The Friar enters to restore Juliet to life. Juliet awakens to find
her lover dead. The Friar, being alarmed, leaves the tomb. Juliet
stabs herself with Romeo's dagger and dies.

The feud of the Montagues and Capulets is brought to an end. The
leaders of the two houses are reconciled over the bodies of the
lovers.

This play is one of the early plays, written, perhaps, before
Shakespeare was thirty years old. It was much revised during the next
few years; but a good deal of the early work remains. Much of the early