Lately there has been a discourse regarding the status of fanfiction and it ended up giving birth to awful takes among one of them people calling Romeo and Juliet a fanfiction of Brooke’s poem
I’m as guilty as anyone when it comes to misusing the term fanfiction (although in my defense, I always mean it as a joke, I swear!!!). But yeah, William Shakespeare did not write fanfiction. At all.
He adapted works into plays. Which, yeah, can function very similarly to fanfiction in that they are both transformative. But the most important distinction between the two lies in their purposes. Shakespeare was not writing a whole new plot with established characters in fun “what-if” type of scenarios. He was adapting the story and characters as-is into a new medium—either that, or just plain writing historical fiction.
To that end, he did not change Brooke’s poem very much. He kept most if not all the plot, just rearranged things (moving the plaza-wide fighting to the beginning, etc.). He changed Mercutio from a random suitor to Juliet—cold hands and all—to Romeo’s friend and made his death the trigger for Romeo finally dueling Tybalt.
He also changed the characters’ personalities, adding depth and rationale to their actions. He problematized Verona’s world and the adult characters way more than Brooke’s poem ever did. More importantly, though, he wrote Romeo and Juliet as being really and truly in love and got rid of Brooke’s Aesop about the dangers of lust and disobeying your parents. The thematic changes are so much that the poem actually reads like a bad fanfiction of Shakespeare’s work than Shakespeare’s play.
Of course, adapting Romeo and Juliet is pretty cut-and-dry in comparison to Shakespeare’s other plays. Most of Shakespeare’s other plays did involve more extensive reworkings. Shakespeare also used canon mythological figures like Theseus and Hippolyta alongside OCs in a new plot; that’s probably the closest he ever comes to actual fanfiction. But unless you are prepared to argue that the screenwriters for Marvel movies are fanfic writers…it’s best to leave Shakespeare out of it the discourse altogether.
Shakespeare’s Sources
Archetypes of tragic lovers in Greek mythology
Dante Alighieri – Divine Comedy (1308-1320)
Giovanni Boccaccio – Decameron (1353)
Mascuccio Salernitano – “Mariotto and Gianozza” (1476)
Luigi de Porto – “Giulietta e Romeo” (1524)
Mattero Bandello – “Giulietta e Romeo” (1554)
Pierre Boaistuau – Histories Tragiques (1559)
Arthur Brooke – The Tragical History of Romeus and Juliet (1562)
William Painter – “The Goodly History of the True and Constant Love of Romeo and Juliett” (1567)
William Shakespeare – Romeo and Juliet (1591-1595)
This is a slide from my senior project on Romeo and Juliet. I might put the entire presentation up here one day.
As with most of Shakespeare’s (non-historical) plays, it’s never explicitly stated when Romeo and Juliet is set. And the same lack of historical specificity is true of Shakespeare’s source text, Arthur Brooke’s The Tragical History of Romeus and Juliet (1562).
The legend of star-crossed lovers is very old, and crops up in different forms across the history of literature, so in some ways, it’s a bit arbitrary to make the fiction fit the facts. But if you did want to take that route, then it’s worth noting that the names of the noble houses Shakespeare gets from Brooke -- Capulet and Montague -- are probably based on two actual political factions from thirteenth-century Italy: Montecchi and Cappelletti. They’re nicknames for political factions not families, and there’s no historical record of any connection between these factions, but the effect is the same. This is kind of irrelevant to Shakespeare’s version, since it’s extra-textual, but if you wanted a specific setting, then there’s some logic to choosing the early thirteenth century.
Merging stage with film and audio drama, a pair of new versions evolve the tale via a theater in lockdown and a bilingual interpretation of the stage classic.
“In the radio medium, you’re literally inside someone’s ear. Any little whisper, any breath is audible in a way that on stage, you’d have to magnify it and amplify it. I wanted the audience to feel like they were right there, like in the space between Romeo and Juliet’s lips,” Ali said.
In turn, this intimate introduction gets even closer to the context of the 1562 Arthur Brooke poem that Shakespeare himself was working from. “Shakespeare is, like all Renaissance writers in many ways, an interpreter of source material. The first Brooke poem has Juliet sat at a dinner table in between Romeo and Mercutio, both of whom take her hand under the table,” Burns said. “The idea of that physical touch and their relationship being something that’s clandestine and hidden, you can trace through ‘disguised under the table’ to ‘disguised at the dance’ to ‘disguised behind the fish tank.’ It’s a very subtle touch that happens while another conversation is happening and she’s not able to reference it. We went back to the beginning.”
[She] fell on his corpse, she lay long panting on his face,
And then with all her force and strength, the dead corpse did embrace,
As though with sighs, with sobs, with force and busy pain,
She would him raise, and him restore from death to life again.
Arthur Brooke, The Tragical History of Romeus and Juliet
8. Romeus finds out, stumbles upon an apothecary, goes to Juliet, ACTIVELY SEARCHES FOR SIGNS OF LIFE, drinks the slowest-acting poison ever, Juliet wakes up, offs herself
So Romeus' unnamed servant (Balthazar in the Shakespeare) sees Juliet get buried and hastens to Romeus in Mantua and tells him of her death. Romeus responds with "woop, it's suicide time" but then is like, wait…
But earnest love that will not fail him till his end,
This fond and sudden fantasy into his head did send:
That if near unto her he offered up his breath,
That then a hundred thousand parts more glorious were his death.
Here's a thought...why don't I die...when I’m near my love??? That's better than just offing myself now, isn't it? Brilliant, Romeus, brilliant!
Meanwhile the first words out of Shakespeare!Romeo's mouth after the iconic "Then I defy you, stars" line are instructions to Balthazar to get him ink, paper, and horses because he will be leaving this stupid town tonight. Act 5 Romeo is going to whoop this Romeus’ ass, I can tell.
And then fro street to street he wand'reth up and down,
To see if he in any place may find, in all the town,
A slave meet for his sore, an oil fit for his wound;
And seeking long--alack, too soon!--the thing he sought, he found.
So Romeus in his profound grief takes a walk (as you do) and sees the apothecary, taking advantage of his poverty to get the poison. Shakespeare!Romeo showed much more initiative; he actually remembered seeing the apothecary from earlier.
Romeus then goes to Verona (or ˜Verone...beautiful) and instructs his servant (Peter!!! Shakespeare switched the names).
"Help, Peter, help," quod he, "help to remove the stone,
And straight when I am gone fro thee, my Juliet to bemoan,
See that thou get thee hence, and on the pain of death
I charge thee that thou come not near while I abide beneath,
Ne seek thou not to let thy master's enterprise,
Which he hath fully purposéd to do, in any wise."
Romeus is much less desperate here. Shakespeare!Romeo not only threatened Balthazar with dismemberment, but went into detail. I’m amazed the servant even stayed close to the tomb.
His fearful hands he laid upon her stomach cold,
And them on divers parts beside the woeful wight did hold.
But when he could not find the signs of life he sought,
Out of his curséd box he drew the poison that he bought;
Whereof he greedily devoured the greater part,
And then he cried, with deadly sigh fetched from his mourning heart:
"O Juliet, of whom the world unworthy was,
From which, for world's unworthiness thy worthy ghost did pass,
What death more pleasant could my heart wish to abide
Than that which here it suff'reth now, so near thy friendly side?"
Romeus actually seeks for signs that she is alive. Louder for the people at the back, fam!!!
But seriously, this is much lamer, and not just the fact that the poison is in a literal box instead of a cup (don’t you mess up the sexual imagery, yo #letRomeodrinkfromJuliet'scup2k). Romeus actually takes the poison first and has breath to speak his speech!!!! Perché Brooke, perché?
And whilst his busy eyne he threw about to every part,
He saw, hard by the corse of sleeping Juliet,
Bold Tybalt's carase dead, which was not all consuméd yet;
And even he has time to notice Tybalt and talk to him!!!!! He should demand the apothecary his money back, this is the slowest acting poison ever.
So Romeus dies (fare thee well, cock), and the Friar comes and he along with Peter enter the tomb and find Romeus dead and made "piteous plaint." Very well. Again, as in the Shakespeare, Romeus had been there "half hour."
An hour too late fair Juliet awakéd out of sleep;
And much amazed to see in tomb so great a light,
She wist not if she saw a dream, or sprite that walked by night.
Interesting mention of an "hour too late." In this poem it is not mentioned exactly how long the potion lasts, while Shakespeare explicitly says it's 48 hours. Also: Is it an hour from when the Friar and servant discovered her or just an hour, period?
But lo, as soon as she had cast her ruthful eye
On Romeus' face, that pale and wan fast by her side did lie,
Straightway she did unstop the conduits of her tears,
And out they gush;—with cruel hand she tare their golden hairs
But when she neither could her swelling sorrow 'suage
Ne yet her tender heart abide her sickness' furious rage,
Fall'n on his corpse she lay, long panting on his face,
And then with all her force and strength the dead corpse did embrace.
As though with sighs, with sobs, with force, and busy pain
She would him raise, and him restore from death to life again:
A thousand times she kissed his mouth, as cold as stone,
This is...a nice description, actually. On the other hand, Shakespeare!Juliet's boss move of discovering the cup and trying to drink it is not yet surpassed. Had some poison remained, she would have been dead.
Also, um, the Friar and the servant Peter is still there in the poem. It doesn't actually say they left. So they must still be there. Awkward.
And when our Juliet would continue still her moan,
The friar and servant fled, and left her there alone;
For they a sudden noise fast by the place did hear,
And lest they might be taken there, greatly they stood in fear.
Oh so now they leave???? When Juliet is going postal and making speeches about death????
And then past deadly fear, for life ne had she care,
With hasty hand she did draw out the dagger that he ware.
"O welcome Death," quoth she, "end of unhappiness,
that also art beginning of assuréd happiness,
Fear not to dart me now, thy stripe no longer stay,
Prolong no longer now my life, I hate this long delay;"
And then she goes on to declaim for 12 more lines. -.-When Shakespeare!Juliet said she was brief, my girl wasn’t joking!!!!
And from her corpse the sprite doth fly;--what should I say?--she dies.
Quick, someone lay down hot clothes on her breast!!!!
