Literature review.
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The earliest known critic of the play was diarist Samuel Pepys, who wrote in 1662:
“It is a play of itself the worst that I ever heard in my life.”
Poet John Dryden wrote 10 years later in praise of the play and its comic character
Mercuito: “Shakespeare show’d the best of his skill in his Mercuito and he said
himself that he was forced to kill him Act 3, to prevent being killed by him.
Publisher Nicholas Rowe was the first critic to ponder the theme of the play, which
he saw as the just punishment of the two feuding families.
In mid-century, writer Charles Gildon and philosopher Lord Kames argued that the
play was a failure in that it did not follow the classical rules of drama: the tragedy
must occur because of some character flaw, not an accident of fate.
Conclusion. Generally, “Romeo and Juliet” has become a masterpiece of
William Shakespeare, showing its uniqueness in terms of its structure, own style
and, especially characters. The hero and heroines possess that characteristic which
A.C.Bradley recognized in Shakespeare’s great tragic heroes, “a fatal tendency to
identify the whole being with one interest, object, passion or habit of mind”, a
tragic quality of characters “which also his greatness”, so that his virtues “help to
destroy him”. Those qualities which distinguish Romeo and Juliet from all the
other Montagues and Capulets-their transcendent love, their altruistic courage, the
tenderness of their affections, their impulse to be intensely and defiantly
themselves enable them to live more generously for a few hours than other
accomplish in a lifetime. Their brief association is both their doom and their
triumph.
References:
1.Brian Phillips, Brian Gatten, Julie Blattberg. “Sparknotes”. The USA 2002.
2.John Wilders. “Introduction to Romeo and Juliet”. Copyright 1978 by the
Broadcasting Corporation.
3.Seward, James H. “Tragic vision in Romeo and Juliet” . Washington press, 1973.
4.William Shakespeare. “Romeo and Juliet”. Spark Publishing, 2003.
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