Public-domain ebook
Language: en78,483 downloads on Project Gutenberg
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In: Romance·Plays/Films/Dramas·Classics of Literature
Public-domain ebook sourced from Project Gutenberg #1513.
The work is a dramatic tragedy set in Verona, where two noble families, the Capulets and the Montagues, are locked in an ancient feud that erupts into street brawls, royal edicts, and a series of fatal misunderstandings. The play opens with a Chorus that frames the story as the “fatal loins” of these warring houses producing a pair of “star‑cross’d lovers,” while the first scene plunges the audience into a noisy, sword‑clashing public square. Servants, citizens, and hot‑headed youths such as Sampson, Gregory, and Tybalt argue, threaten, and fight, establishing a world of violent honor and petty rivalry that will soon envelop the central characters. The opening dialogue already hints at the themes of vendetta, youthful impetuosity, and the clash of generations that drive the narrative forward.
Shakespeare’s language is unmistakably Elizabethan, with its rhythmic iambic flow, inventive metaphors, and occasional colloquial banter. The verse mixes lofty poetry, “Love is a smoke made with the fume of sighs”, with earthy street talk, creating a vivid contrast that captures both the grandeur and the grit of the setting. Readers who enjoy richly layered dialogue, intricate character dynamics, and the intense emotional stakes of a family feud will find this play compelling, especially those drawn to the interplay of love and conflict in a world where honor and passion collide.
The opening · free to read
Enter Chorus.
CHORUS. Two households, both alike in dignity, In fair Verona, where we lay our scene, From ancient grudge break to new mutiny, Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean. From forth the fatal loins of these two foes A pair of star-cross’d lovers take their life; Whose misadventur’d piteous overthrows Doth with their death bury their parents’ strife. The fearful passage of their death-mark’d love, And the continuance of their parents’ rage, Which, but their children’s end, nought could remove, Is now the two hours’ traffic of our stage; The which, if you with patient ears attend, What here shall miss, our toil shall strive to mend.
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