Historical Context
When are we?
Truthfully? Doesn't really matter.
Perhaps the greatest of all the tragic love stories, Romeo and Juliet was written somewhere between 1591 and 1595. As with almost every detail about Shakespeare’s life, the exact year is impossible to nail down. This play can be linked to the writing of several of the more romantic and lyrical of his plays, including A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Love’s Labour's Lost.
The story of star-crossed lovers is almost as old as written stories. We can see elements of Romeo and Juliet as far back as 8 AD with the story of Pyramus and Thisbe in Ovid’s Metamorphosis, a story which would be hilariously parodied in the play-within-the-play in Midsummer (more about this on the next page).
More specifically, we can trace Shakespeare’s play back to a poem by Arthur Brooke titled The Tragicall Historye of Romeus and Juliet, which itself was a translation of a French story by Pierre Boaistuau, whose own version was a translation of the Italian story Giulleta e Romeo by Matteo Bandello...you get the idea.
To say Shakespeare stole his ideas is to misunderstand the process of writing in the 16th Century. Playwrights often copied plots or even full passages of dialogue from other sources, including other contemporary plays. What sets Shakespeare apart is his ability to take a story that has already been told and tell it better than anyone before or since.
Painting: Julius Kronberg, 1886
Will's Version
While the Bard's titular tragic teens have come to stand as the symbol of forbidden/tragic love, Shakespeare wasn't the first to tackle the idea-- by far.
Tristan & Isolde
Before Romeo and Juliet, there was Tristan and Isolde. These medieval lovers have appeared in different forms for centuries, although the original poem from which they were born has not survived.
While there are different versions of the tale, the gist is this: Tristan goes to Ireland to win the hand of Isolde for his uncle, the King of Cornwall. He manages to slay a dragon, so Isolde's pretty much a sure thing. On the way back to Cornwall, however, Tristan and Isolde accidentally (or on purpose) ingest a love potion that was meant for Isolde and her husband-to-be. Now Tristan and Isolde are bound together forever, despite the fact that she's kind of his aunt now. The King repeatedly tries to catch the lovers, but they are able to keep up appearances--for a time. When they are finally tried for adultery, Tristan is sent to be burned at the stake, but makes a miraculous escape by leaping from a chapel. He also rescues Isolde from being sent to a leper colony (okay, ew). Eventually, Isolde is returned to the King, and Tristan goes off and marries a different Isolde "for her name and beauty." We can't end the story there, so eventually Tristan is wounded with a poison weapon, and sends for the first Isolde, the only woman who can heal him. He waits anxiously: if Isolde comes for him, the returning ship will bear white sails, and if she forsakes him, the lady-less ship will sport black sails. The ship returns with Isolde, but Tristan's jealous wife (Isolde #2), lies and says the sails are black. Tristan dies just before Isolde #1 can get there, and she dies of grief when she sees Tristan has died.
Forbidden lovers, joined by death mere moments apart, and all because of a misunderstanding. Where have I heard that before?
While the Verona Valentines may have the better press, Tristan and Isolde haven't exactly been gathering dust. The story has been translated into a variety of languages, adapted by authors from Tennyson to Updike, and Wagner's Tristan und Isolde is considered one of the most influential pieces of music of the last few centuries. Plus, Ridley Scott made a Tristan and Isolde movie in 2006 starring James Franco. Not bad.
Pyramus and Thisbe
Tristan and Isolde probably weren't Shakespeare's only influences. Ovid's Metamorphoses includes the story of young Pyramus and Thisbe, two young lovers who have been forbidden to wed by their parents. They are only able to communicate through a small crack in the wall between their households. They make a resolution to run away together, and agree to meet at Ninus' tomb. Thisbe arrives first, and seeing a lion with a bloody mouth fresh from a kill, runs away-- leaving her veil behind. The lion rips the veil, marking it with blood. Pyramus arrives, sees the veil and the lion, and stabs himself. Thisbe returns, sees her dead lover, and kills herself.
Forbidden lovers, joined by death mere moments apart, and all because of a misunderstanding. Where have I heard that before?
Shakespeare fans will remember that Will directly references this myth in A Midsummer Night's Dream-- the play the mechanicals are presenting for Theseus's wedding is their version of the Pyramus and Thisbe story!
Romeus and Juliet
The most obvious source from which Shakespeare likely pulled is a narrative poem from Aurthur Brooke, written in 1562, titled The Tragicall History of Romeus and Juliet. The poem gave us the now-familiar names (including Capulet, Montague, Tybalt), our new locale (Verona, Italy), and several plot points (the feuding families, the secret marriage, the death of Tybalt, the second marriage after Romeo's banishment, the death-like potion, etc). Will added his own twist when adapting it for the stage: developing the character of Mercutio, adding characters like Benvolio and the Nurse, and shortening the timeline to just a few days.
Merry and Tragical
Will's version doesn't only tweak some of the details of previous stories to create his own work; he plays with tone too. While the work certainly ends with tragedy, the first two acts are undeniably a comedy. The bawdy jokes between the Nurse and Mercutio, the bumbling servant who can't read, a young man pining after a sworn virgin-- the beginning of the play has all the makings of a romantic comedy. It isn't until the beginning of the third act when the bodies start piling up that this play takes a hard left into devastation.
Shakespeare played with major tonal shifts in other works as well (The Winter's Tale being an excellent example). While we can't know for certain what Will's intentions were with these shifts, we can examine how these shifts might affect an audience. More about this on the next page.
Comedy or Tragedy?
The answer is yes.
Early modern drama (like Shakespeare's works) differs from contemporary theatre in myriad ways, but of interest to our examination of Romeo and Juliet is the fluidity with which an Elizabethan play bounces from tragedy to comedy and everywhere in between. All extremes are possible, and audiences seemed to have no trouble accepting these break-neck shifts in tone. Modern plays tend to respect a more consistent tone, perhaps deviating slightly for levity or for dramatic punch; but it is a rare thing to see a modern play go 180 degrees and back again.
Romeo and Juliet is a wonderful example of this theatrical device. The play can be seen as equal parts comedy and tragedy. Romeo and Juliet’s meeting, courtship, and hasty marriage, the bawdry of Mercutio, the bumbling of the Nurse all belong in a charming romantic-comedy. Once Mercutio and Tybalt are killed, however, the play turns, and Shakespeare gives us tragic language to rival that of Hamlet's.
What little we can glean of how this play was originally performed illustrates how completely the mood at the theatre could change. While the play itself ends with tears, the final Chorus lines would have been followed by a funeral procession: a standard spectacle in Elizabethan drama. Then, the proceedings would have been wrapped up with a merry jig (almost serving as a curtain call). It is possible, even likely, that Will Kempe, the famous clown in Shakespeare’s company at this time, would have played Balthasar, who accompanies Romeo to the tomb in the final scene, and that Kempe’s clowning went hand in hand with Romeo’s soliloquy about love and death and suicide.
Spoiler alert.
Shakespeare tells us right off the bat that our two lovers won't make it out of the play alive. "...a pair of star-crossed lovers take their life..." How heartbreaking is it then to see them living their lives happily-- playing with their friends, enjoying their family, falling in love-- knowing that they are on a collision course with doom? The audience has a sense of the ticking clock for our lovers, and the dramatic shift from joy to despair can heighten the empathetic response from the audience.
Starting with a light-hearted opening allows the audience to get to know and love the characters, but it's also a savvy move to keep your audience engaged through the end. If we start our play in a terrible, tragic place, and keep it there for two hours, where can our audience go emotionally? The last three acts of the show are fatiguing on their own, with calamity following calamity-- beginning with some dirty puns and swoon-y romance helps your audience from being emotionally deadened by the time we hit Act 5.
Also--that's life, right? It's wonderful one minute and tragic the next. Nothing is all good or all bad. Perhaps that's one reason we keep coming back to this story--it rings true for us on a basic human level.
Can you think of any more modern movies or plays that use dramatic tonal shifts? Was it successful? Why or why not?
"From forth the fatal loins of these two foes, / A pair of star-crossed lovers take their life..."
Star-Crossed Love
Star-crossed is not a good thing.
So much of our language has been influenced by Shakespeare, from now-familiar idioms (wild goose chase) to invented words (swagger). And even though Shakespeare's English has much more in common with contemporary English than we may initially think, it doesn't mean things don't sometimes get a bit lost over time. One of the biggest examples of this is the idea of "star-crossed" lovers.
We often use "star-crossed" to describe any type of forbidden romance. If two people are in love, but there is some form of obstacle (like class, race, etc.) you may hear them referred to as star-crossed. People know that the term "star-crossed lovers" refers to Romeo and Juliet, the ultimate forbidden romance, and so we tend to use the word to describe couples in any similar position. The term "star-crossed," however, isn't a term to describe "in love despite challenges." It's a word that carries more serious consequences than that.
The dictionary definition (and the meaning Shakespeare was using) is "not favored by the stars;" you could also think "thwarted by bad luck." The lovers are crossing the stars--acting directly against fate/the will of the gods/etc., and this is going to backfire very, very poorly. You can't anger the gods and hope to get away with it.
Romeo and Juliet are star-crossed because fate consistently presses bad luck on them to keep them apart: the feuding families, the fatal meeting of Mercutio and Tybalt, the moved-up wedding day with Paris, the quarantine that prevents Friar Laurence's letter, Juliet's waking one moment too late... No matter that these lovers do, they are thwarted by a higher power.
These two are not fated to be together--and indeed, the fates have done everything in their power to keep them apart. They continue to fight for their love, however, even when it becomes clear that a happy ending isn't in the cards. "I defy you stars!" Romeo cries after hearing of Juliet's "death." For true love, these two are willing to risk everything-- but fate ultimately wins.
Told You So
Don't say we didn't prophesy this.
The idea of crossing the stars can be seen in the ominous build to the lovers' tragic end. There are signs, dreams, and prophecies warning us (the audience) and the characters that captial-f Fate is not happy.
Shakespeare tells us at the VERY BEGINNING that this is going to end poorly. As the play progresses, we can't help but feel dread as we see all the warning signs screaming at the lovers to call it quits.
Characters experience premonitions of danger. Romeo has a dream before the Capulet party that this night will lead to "untimely death." When Romeo leaves Juliet for Mantua, she has a vision and sees Romeo as pale as "one dead at the bottom of a tomb." Romeo has a dream in Mantua that Juliet finds him dead. Characters frequently utter lines in the vein of "I've got a bad feeling about this."
But, what if...?
While the plot moves towards its inevitable conclusion, we also see many moments where characters have opportunities to turn around or make a different choice, yet they forge ahead. It's a play of "ifs"- if the servants hadn't picked a fight at the beginning, if Romeo hadn't gone to the party, if he hadn't gotten in between Mercutio and Tybalt, if Tybalt hadn't come back, if Lord Capulet didn't force the second marriage, if the Nurse hadn't told Juliet to marry Paris, if, if, if... so many decisions, large and small, could have lead to any other outcome.
Yet all hope is not lost until the moment that Romeo drinks the poison--the final, undoable act that seals the lovers' fate. The stars that have been working against these two from the opening moments of the play finally win in Romeo's last act.
Coincidence or fate?
Bad decisions are compounded by coincidences and accidents throughout the work. Peter, the Capulet servant with the guest list for the party, happens to run into Romeo and Benvolio. Friar John encounters a quarantine in Mantua and cannot pass the letter to Romeo. Balthasar happens to see Juliet in Capulet's monument and tells Romeo before another letter can be sent. Friar Laurence arrives just moments too late to stop Romeo from drinking the poison. Juliet happens to wake up a few moments too late. Are these the normal coincidences and circumstances of life? Or are these near-misses and almost-had's further proof that the love was doomed from the start?
Do Not Romanticize Suicide
Suicide is not romantic--and Shakespeare isn't saying that it is.
Body count in this story: 6
Alongside the deaths of Mercutio, Tybalt, Paris, and Lady Montague (offstage), the tragic conclusion of these lovers is a dramatic double-suicide. Romeo and Juliet are held up as perhaps the greatest lovers in history, and in many ways, they are.
The danger of talking about the story in strictly romantic terms, however, is that we can (unintentionally or not) romanticize the ending.
With superficial viewing, the ending of the play can seem to present the idea that their love is so pure and so strong, they literally can't live without each other. This is not a super-cool way to view a double suicide. This interpretation gives a sense of glamour to a truly horrifying act.
We are NOT meant to see this self violence as the ultimate act of love; it's a devastating act of despair from which there is no solution.
Both Romeo and Juliet threaten suicide at previous points in the play, and both are told by the people they love that it should not be considered an option. They are cautioned against it--begged not to do it--multiple times. That these two teenagers ultimately take their own lives is designed to be the ultimate catastrophe in a series of terrible events; not a final act of devotion.
Think about it this way--so many things go wrong and prevent Romeo & Juliet from being together. But even the problems that are bad--really bad--could potentially be solved and they could still potentially be untied.
Only Romeo's suicide is the ultimate, unsolvable hurdle in their quest to be together. And that suicide, of course, leads directly to Juliet's--another unfixable tragedy.
What's in a name?
In addition to the prologue and premonitions that characters experience, the story gives us other clues as to how the story will unfold and reach it's tragic conclusion. One of the ways we can predict events and "read" characters is through their names.
- ROMEO- You may have noticed that Romeo's name shares a beginning with words like "romance" and "romantic." Shakespeare was cluing us in from the beginning that this teen was all about the L-O-V-E. Shakespeare often used the sound of words to help convey emotion and intention (which is super helpful for the actor, by the way). Often times, large, round vowel sounds help indicate intense emotion. (Think about it--when you try to talk while crying you only really say the vowels, right?) So it makes sense that Romeo is brimming with round vowels--he's driven by emotion throughout the entire play.
- JULIET--Conversely, consonant sounds often indicate intellectual or straightforward thought. Juliet has a nice, crisp consonant quality, which jives nicely with her character. She's the one trying to logic her way out of the situation, thinking before she acts. If Romeo is the heart, then she's the head.
- MERCUTIO- In Roman mythology, Mercury was God of many things, including eloquence, luck, and trickery. We use the word mercurial to describe someone or something that displays traits attributed to Mercury, or someone with "rapid or unpredictable changeableness of mood." It's no wonder Romeo's witty and wild friend shares part of the name.
- BENVOLIO- This Italian name comes from both the root "bene" meaning well or good, and "volere" meaning to want or to wish; the name is generally accepted to mean "goodwill." The Bard lets us know right away that Ben's probably a good guy who is just doing his best to help.
- TYBALT- This name likely developed from an Old German name meaning "brave people." Tibalt/Tybalt is also the name of a character in the Reynard the Fox trickster legends. THAT Tibalt is the "Prince of Cats" in his story; this is where Mercutio gets his nickname for Tybalt. Also, it's possible that Shakespeare was also referencing the historical swordsman Girald Thibault (pronounced THIGH-bald). Thibault's fighting style was very similar to the way Mercutio describes Tybalt's flashy and sophisticated swordplay.
Painting: Romeo and Juliet, Francis Sydney
Quotes Quiz
Test your understanding of the characters and their motivations by identifying who said what.
- "'Banished?...to speak that word is father, mother, Tybalt, Romeo, Juliet, all slain, all dead."
- "Therefore love moderately, long love doth so. Too swift arrives as tardy as too slow."
- "What, drawn and talk of peace? I hate the word, as I hate hell, all Montagues, and thee."
- "And I, for winking at your discords, have lost a brace of kinsmen."
- "No coz, I rather weep...at thy good heart's oppression."
- "Is not this better than groaning for love? Now art thou sociable. Now art thou Romeo."
- "My bounty is as boundless as the sea, my love as deep. The more I give to thee, the more I have, for both are infinite."
- "God mark thee to his grace! Thou wast the prettiest babe that e'er I nursed. An I might live to see thee married once, I have my wish."
- "My child is yet a stranger in the world. She hath not seen the change of fourteen years. Let two more summers with in her pride. ere we may think her ripe to be a bride."
- "Did I love ere now? Forswear it, sight, for I ne're saw true beauty till this night."
Painting: James Northcote, 1790
Poetry in Motion
How cute--they finish each other's couplets.
This play features some of Shakespeare’s most beautiful poetic language. It can be said that the characters of Romeo and Juliet are the epitome of love: all that lovers were and all that lovers will ever be.
As Peter Akroyd points out in his book, Shakespeare: A Biography, “it is important to notice the sheer artistry with which Shakespeare entwined them. They echo each other’s speech as if they saw their souls shining in each other’s faces…” (p. 236).
Indeed, when the couple first meet, Shakespeare achieves something that had never appeared on the English stage before; through their dialogue, Romeo and Juliet produce a formal Shakespearean sonnet. Fourteen lines with the following rhyme scheme: ABAB / CDCD / EFEF / GG
ROMEO:
(1) If I profane with my unworthiest hand (A)
(2) This holy shrine, the gentle fine is this: (B)
(3) My lips, two blushing pilgrims ready stand (A)
(4) To smooth that rough touch with a tender kiss. (B)
JULIET
(5) Good pilgrim you do wrong your hand too much, (C)
(6) Which mannerly devotion shows in this; (D)
(7) For saints have hands that pilgrims’ hands do touch, (C)
(8) And palm to palm is holy palmers kiss. (D)
ROMEO
(9) Have not saints lips, and holy palmers too? (E)
JULIET
(10) Aye, pilgrim, lips that they must use in prayer. (F)
ROMEO
(11) Oh then, dear saint, let lips do what hands to, (E)
(12) They pray: grant thou lest faith turn to despair. (F)
JULIET
(13) Saints do not move, though grant for prayers’ sake. (G)
ROMEO (14) Then move not while my prayer’s effect I take (G)
In one beautiful bit of dialogue, Shakespeare takes the conventions of love poetry and dramatises them for his audience. Through this language, we see how perfectly matched these two ill-fated lovers are, as they literally come together to make a perfect sonnet in their first meeting.
Background photo from Ohio Shakespeare Festival, by Scott Custer.
"Hold, daughter Juliet. I do spy a kind of hope..."
Who is to blame?
In a story like this, it is easy to point fingers and play the blame game. Why didn't the Friar stay with Juliet in the tomb? Why didn't the Nurse help Juliet run away to Mantua? Why did Tybalt have to pick a fight with Mercutio? Why didn't Juliet just tell her parents the truth?
It's feels like the sinking of the Titanic--so many small mistakes escalate into a giant tragedy, and to make sense of it, we try to pin-point the wrong-doings. And that's especially easy when we, as the audience, know where the story is going.
But if we take a moment to look at the characters from their own perspectives, we can see that, for the most part, everyone is simply doing their best, even if their best isn't quite good enough.
We asked the Ohio Shakespeare actors who played each character to give us some personal perspective in the videos below.
Friar Laurence (Terry Burgler)
The Nurse (Lara Mielcarek)
Lord Cauplet (Scott Shriner)
Mercutio (Ryan Zarecki)
Intentions Matter
In our opinion, the fight between Tybalt and Mercutio is never meant to turn deadly.
It escalates by accident and before anyone can realize how bad it's gotten, it's over.
The Zeffirelli film does a nice job of capturing this:
How does the staging of this fight make a difference to the plot? If you were producing the show, what story would you try to tell in this moment?
List of Characters
- Romeo- a young gentleman of Verona, and the only son of Lord and Lady Montague.
- Juliet- a young lady of Verona, and the only daughter of Lord and Lady Capulet.
- Mercutio- a young gentleman of Verona and cousin to the Prince. He is Romeo's friend, and does not belong to the Capulet or Montague households.
- Benvolio- Romeo's cousin and friend. Also a Montague.
- Nurse- Juliet's caretaker and confidante since childhood.
- Friar Laurence- A Franciscan friar and friend/mentor to Romeo. He marries the lovers in secret and helps devise the plan to reunite them after Romeo's banishment.
- Paris- a young nobleman, and relative to the Prince. He is a suitor to Juliet.
- Prince Escalus- The ruler of Verona, and kinsman to both Paris and Mercutio. He decrees that fighting between the households is punishable by death.
- Balthasar- Romeo's servant, who brings him the (erroneous) news of Juliet's death.
- Peter- a servant of the Capulet house.
- Sampson & Gregory- two Capulet servants who begin a brawl in the streets.
- Abraham- a Montague servant who begins a brawl in the street.
- Lord & Lady Montague- Romeo's parents and head of the Montague household.
- Lord & Lady Capulet- Juliet's parents and head of the Capulet household.
- Friar John- Friend to Friar Lawrence who was tasked with delivering an important letter to Romeo, but ultimately fails to do so.
Photo by Scott Custer for Ohio Shakespeare Festival
Fun Facts
A quick list of interesting facts, fun pictures, and links.
- The word "plague" appears 5 times in the script. It is thought that Shakespeare may have written Romeo & Juliet during a 1592 plague that closed the playhouses for three years. During that time, he also wrote and published Venus and Adonis and The Rape of Lucrece to keep himself employed. It makes sense that plagues were on his brain--not only does the word appear several times throughout, but it is actually a plague that kills our titular characters. Friar John cannot deliver the crucial letter to Romeo because of a plague that quarantined an entire city on the route.
- Star-crossed lovers is not a romantic thing.Nowadays, the phrase has morphed into a romantic idea that essentially means "people who love each other despite all odds". Unfortunately, it actually means people who the stars (or gods, or fate) will never allow to be together. By being in love, this couple has "crossed"--or made angry--the stars.
- The 1936 film had a much older cast portraying these teenage lovers and their friends. Leslie Howard, playing Romeo, was 43. Norma Shearer, who portrayed 14-year-old Juliet, was 34. And John Barrymore played Mercutio at 54 years old.
- The entire tragedy of Romeo & Juliet only takes place over only 5 days. (Though some people say only 3. Write out your own time table and decide for yourself! Use evidence in the text to support your timeline.)
- Shakespeare in Love is the romanticized and fictional story of how young Will Shakespeare wrote Romeo & Juliet...and a little bit about how he thought up Twelfth Night.
- There are countless modern movies and stories inspired by Romeo & Juliet. Here are just a few:
Photo: Claire Danes and Leonardo DiCaprio in the 1996 movie.
Discussion Starters
Use these as prompts for classroom discussion, essay questions, or simply as inspiration for your critical mind.
- Multiple characters have distinct premonitions about future events. Identify these moments. Do the premonitions all come true? Do the premonitions ever alter the choice a character makes? Why would Shakespeare include so many glimpses into the future--is it for the sake of the characters or the audience?
- Discuss the importance of the prologue. Shakespeare reveals the entire plot, including the play's tragic ending, in the very first speech. Why would he want the audience to know everything in advance?
- Make the argument that Romeo and Juliet are fated to be kept apart and support it with events from the play. Now make the argument that fate does not play a role in their story and everyone's individual choices lead to a logical conclusion. Again, support this with events from the play.
- We never learn why the Capulets and Montagues are feuding. Why doesn't Shakespeare share this seemingly important detail with us?
- Pick a character from the story and defend their actions and choices. For example, why did Friar Lawrence give Juliet the potion instead of simply telling her parents truth? Defend your character as if you were their lawyer.
- Discuss the never-seen character of Rosaline. Why does Shakespeare include her?
- At what point in the story do things begin to go wrong? At what point is the problem no longer solvable?
Glossary of Terms
- Fain--to wish for
- Petrarch--famous Italian poet who invented the sonnet, but who used a different rhyme scheme than Shakespeare famously used.
- Rankness--foulness
- Case--mask
- Fettle--strengthen, prepare, make ready.
- Visage--face
- A wanton's bird--a pet bird, often tied to the owner's hand with a thread so that it could not fly away.
- Sepulcher--tomb
- Pilot--sailor, navigator
- Aqua vitae-- Latin for “water of life,” strong liquor, whiskey
- Charnel-- a vault for the dead, sepulcher
- Presage--forewarn, portend.
- Countervail--outweigh, offset.
- Hilding--worthless person, wretch
- Ropery--knavery, saucy tricks
Many of these vocabulary terms came straight from the Utah Shakespeare Festival study guide. Click below to see more great vocab:
Resources and Suggested Reading
- https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/parsing-is-such-sweet-sorrow/
- https://goodticklebrain.com/shakespeare-index#/romeo-juliet/
- Ackroyd, Peter. Shakespeare : The Biography / Peter Ackroyd Chatto & Windus London 2005
- Folger Shakespeare edition Romeo & Juliet, introduction and analysis
- UNDERSTANDING Romeo and Juliet A STUDENT CASEBOOK TO ISSUES, SOURCES, AND HISTORICAL DOCUMENTS, Alan Hager, The Greenwood Press, "Literature in Context" Series
- Romeo & Juliet, introduction by Harold Bloom, 2000, Chealsea House Publisher's
- https://www.sparknotes.com/shakespeare/romeojuliet/
- Full book quiz via Sparknotes: https://www.sparknotes.com/shakespeare/romeojuliet/quiz/
- http://shakespeare-online.com/quotes/shakespeareonfate.html
- http://www.shakespeare-online.com/plays/romeoandjuliet/romeoqueenmab.html
- https://www.bard.org/study-guides/romeo-and-juliet-study-guide
- https://diana-green.com/blog/2020/3/15/out-damned-spot?ss_source=sscampaigns&ss_campaign_id=5e6e8c55d6e11c37c09d50b4&ss_email_id=5e6e8dd2d4ef17105a347ddc&ss_campaign_name=%22Out+Damned+Spot%22&ss_campaign_sent_date=2020-03-15T20%3A20%3A00Z&fbclid=IwAR2NktHv-xfGR9SJBq8MpDclCn86j6pEMXclafKezDEjGyBwreKHtd4G5VU
Credits:
As credited throughout the story.