Year 10 Literature: Romeo and JulietSummary Note Taking on ContextRead the following information carefully. Your task is to abridge (shorten) it into two short paragraphs one about Shakespeares source for the play and one about its history. You can write and cross out on this sheet but write out your own paragraphs on the blog if this is possible, if not then on in your exercise book.

Source (1)The legend of Romeo and Juliet had been popular for more than a hundred years by the time Shakespeare wrote his play. The seed for the story had appeared as far back as 1467 in the Italian book, Il Novellino, by Masuccio Salernitano. This told of secret lovers, a killing, banishment, a helpful friar, and a marriage rival.In 1530, Luigi da Porta retold the story. He named Verona as the setting, and gave the characters Italian names. Da Porta also added the lovers' suicide.Other versions appeared in France and Italy, but an important step was taken in 1562 when Arthur Brook (or Broke) made it into a long narrative poem, in English, called The Tragicall Historye of Romeus and Juliet. This is the poem from which Shakespeare worked. (http://nauvoo.byu.edu/TheArts/Theater/studypackets/lesson15/sources.htm)The Source (2)Shakespeare's primary source for "Romeo and Juliet" is a popular poem, "The Tragicall Historye of Romeus and Juliet", by Arthur Brooke (1562). Among other sources, Brooke's poem is based on Luigi da Porta's tale of Romeo and Giulietta. Although the tale exists in previous adaptations - it probably originated as a folk tale - da Porta was the first to insist that the lovers were historical figures, a conviction that persists today. Brooke's version was a cautionary tale, which alerted young people to the consequences of familial disobedience. Shakespeare subverts this moral of the original and turns his young lovers into the victims of parental control. In Shakespeare's version, it is the adults who must accept responsibility for the fate of their young!

History of the Play (1)"Romeo and Juliet" was first performed at Shakespeare's Globe Theatre in London around 1594. It has been recorded that it was performed many times, making it one of the big successes of the decade. It was first printed in Quarto form (pocket-sized) in 1597 as An Excellent conceited Tragedie of Romeo and Juliet. Because this printing was based on someone's memory of either being in the audience or in a small role in the production, it was unreliable and therefore been dubbed a "bad quarto." In 1599, the Second Quarto, entitled The Most Excellent and Lamentable Tragedie of Romeo and Juliet, was printed, and it is this version that is used by scholars today. It is even thought to be the version that was taken from Shakespeare's own handwritten manuscript.The play, and the legend of love that the play has become, have been astonishingly popular from the Restoration period on. Its stage history (outmatched only by Hamlet's) reveals a nearly unbroken chain of performances for more than three and a half centuries. It has inspired music, opera, ballet, literature, musical comedy, and film.

(http://www.seasidemusictheater.org/guides/romeo.htm)