The Shakespeare Conference: SHK 13.0337  Wednesday, 6 February 2002

From:           John D. Cox <
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Date:           Tuesday, 5 Feb 2002 11:04:29 -0500
Subject:        Romeo and Juliet

On 23 January, Robert Peters asked:  "Are there Romeo and Juliet kind of
texts (boy and girl from enemy camps fall fatally in love with each
other) written before Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet?"

Shakespeare's "Pyramus and Thisbe" comes immediately to mind (in "A
Midsummer Night's Dream").  I don't know which came first, MND or R&J,
but R&J clearly derives from the Pyramus and Thisbe story, and at the
very least, P&T shows that Shakespeare was thinking about the same story
when he wrote a comedy and when he wrote a tragedy.

John Cox
Hope College

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