But, as these historians have argued, such conceptions of desire reflect cultural changes in human consciousness-in ways of imagining and articulating the nature of desire. At the core of the play’s evident accessibility is the importance and privilege modern Western culture grants to desire, regarding it as deeply expressive of individual identity and central to the personal fulfillment of women no less than men. Recent work by social historians on the history of private life in western European culture, however, offers a complicating perspective on the timelessness of Romeo and Juliet. No wonder it is often the first Shakespeare play taught in schools-on the grounds of its obvious relevance to the emotional and social concerns of young people. Its immediacy stands in welcome contrast to the distance, even estrangement, evoked by other Shakespeare plays. Simple in its story line, clear in its affirmation of the power of love over hate, Romeo and Juliet seems to provide both a timeless theme and universal appeal. What could be easier to understand and what could be more moving than the story of two adolescents finding in their sudden love for each other a reason to defy their families’ mutual hatred by marrying secretly? The tragic outcome of their blameless love (their “misadventured piteous overthrows”) seems equally easy to understand: it results first from Tybalt’s hotheaded refusal to obey the Prince’s command and second from accidents of timing beyond any human ability to foresee or control.

It would seem, then, the most direct of Shakespeare’s plays in its emotional impact. Does Romeo and Juliet need an introduction? Of all Shakespeare’s plays, it has been the most continuously popular since its first performance in the mid-1590s.

Romeo and juliet comedy play script