Sources+for+Romeo+and+Juliet

= = Emma Kwiatkowski and Kelsey WIlkinson "The plot ought to be constructed in such a way that anyone, by merely hearing an account of the incidents and without seeing them, will be filled with horror and pity at what occurs." **-Aristotle** about tragedies

There are many arguments over when //Romeo and Juliet// took place, but with research and calculations including times of earthquakes and using scenes and observing word choices from //Romeo and Juliet//, we now know that it took place in 1582 and Juliet’s birthday was July 31, 1568 between 9am and noon.

There is a scene in //Romeo and Juliet// with Nurse and Wife Capulet. The interesting thing about this conversation is that no one knows when it took place. The hints in the play describing this don’t match up, but there was something many researchers forgot about that would make it all make sense, the **__Gregorian Calendar Reform__**. This took place in 1582, when the play was set, and this calendar was ten days ahead of the previously used calendar. 1582 was also the one of the two shortest years in history. It was 355 days long because of the reform and how it was ten days ahead. In addition, many authors and researchers were cluless or guessed on how many days the play covered, but the actual number of days is six.(July 25-30) Shakespeare used time tricks to try and fool the reader, which it did. It left them all in confusion. He used words or they forgot about the calendar reform and that confused people.

In another scene with Nurse, she offered to wager fourteen of her teeth that Juliet will turn fourteen on Lammas Eve, her birthday in the play, but then she remembers she has but four teeth. This is in reference to the calender reform because she is missing ten teeth referring to ten days missing in the year.

Actually, the first word in the play is “Gregorie” because of how significant the year is. As you can see, the Gregorian Calendar Reform is what Shakpeare based most of the settings on! [|More Time-Riddles]

[|More Facts on Romeo and Juliet History]
 * The story of //Romeo and Juliet// was already popular in Elizabethan times, even before it was made into a play by Shakespeare
 * In the Greek myth //Pyramis and Thisbe//, two secret lovers plan to meet at a certain place to run away together. However, when she arrives, so does a lion, and as she escapes she drops her cloak. When he comes to the scene and finds a lion chewing up his lover's cloak, he assumes she was eaten, and stabs himself. She returns later to find him dead and takes her life with the same sword that took his.
 * In the story of Esphesiaca, much like in //Romeo and Juliet,// a women uses a sleeping potion to avoid marriage to an undesirable man
 * When Shakespeare wrote //Romeo and Juliet//, he borrowed characters from existing sources, ancient myths, historical accounts, popular stories, poems, novels, etc. which was very common at the time
 * There were five novels which each adapted the story slightly and carried it from Italy all the way to England, they were:
 * 1) //Historia novellamente ritrovata di due nobili amanti// by Luigi da Porto
 * 2) Matteo Bandello's //Novelle//
 * 3) //Histoires tragiques, extraictes des ourres italiennes de Bandel & mises en nostre langue françoise. Les six premieres, par Pierre Boisteu//- A translation of Bandello by Boaistuau
 * 4) //The Tragical Historye of Romeus and Juliet written first in Italian by Bandell, and nowe in Englishe by Ar.Br.//- A translation of Boaistuau by Brooke
 * 5) //The goodly Hystory of the true, and constant Loue between Rhomeo and Ivlietta//- A translation of Boaistruau by Painter
 * There are several occurrences which appear in all the versions of this story, from da Porto's down to Shakespeare's. They are:
 * 1) Romeo's primary infatuation
 * 2) Romeo and Juliet's initial meeting and their instant adoration at the feast
 * 3) Their encounter at the Capulet House, where they plan their wedding
 * 4) Their marriage, with the help of a friar
 * 5) The street riot between Romeo's and Juliet's families
 * 6) Romeo and Juliet saying goodbye before Romeo is banished
 * 7) The Capulets' arrangement for Juliet's betrothal to another man
 * 8) Juliet asking the frair for assistance
 * 9) Juliet's fake death
 * 10) The scene in which both lovers take their lives
 * 11) The governor's distribution of justice
 * 12) The two families forgiving each other
 * While da Porto's version is somewhat rushed, the other author's chose to explain nearly every detail, lengthening the story significantly
 * Bandello's adaptation was much more detailed than the others, and soon replaced Luigi da Porto's story in Italy, and became popular in Europe
 * Shakespeare's style was very different than the other writers's

Works Cited