Romeo and Juliet: February Book Club

Hey there princess!

Today officially marks the first day of February's Book Club: Romeo and Juliet. I am so excited to go on this journey with you into one of my favorite works of literature. Tonight, I thought we could focus on the history of this play so that going forward we would have a better understanding of the context of what we are reading.

Romeo and Juliet was written by William Shakespeare in around 1591, at the beginning of the bard's writing career. It is considered one of his most popular plays (along with Hamlet), and is based on Arthur Brooks' The Tragical History of Romeus and Juliet (1562).

In truth, the story of two star-crossed lovers was not new to Shakespeare's audience, and his story was inspired by a great number of other literary works. What Romeo and Juliet brought to the stage was not necessarily new ideas, but new presentation and the idea of commonality across generations and geography.

In fact, Elizabethan England had a lot in common with fourteenth-century Italy. Both regions have a history of violence to couple their thriving artistic and creative community. England and Italy also suffered the tragedy of the Bubonic plague, which not only caused the death of massive amounts of citizens, but also further divided the population based on political and religious differences. Tragedy, it seems, is always part of life, which accounts for the longevity of Romeo and Juliet, over 400 years after its' publication.

I am so excited to read through this work with you this month. To join the book club, please visit my Etsy shop (click here). There are still a few subscriptions left, so order today and it will be in the mail this weekend. Let me know your thoughts in the comments section below.