Juliet: The Life and Afterlives of Shakespeare's First Tragic Heroine [Hardcover]

The enduring cultural legacy of Shakespeare’s Juliet Capulet — a history "as vital and provocative as the character herself" (Literary Review).

Romeo and Julietmay be the greatest love story ever told, but who is Juliet? Demure ingénue? Or dangerous Mediterranean madwoman? From tearstained copies of the First Folio to Civil War-era fanfiction, Shakespeare’s star-crossed heroine has long captured our collective imagination. 

Julietis her story, traced across continents through four centuries of history, theatre, and film. As Oxford Shakespeare scholar Sophie Duncan reveals, Juliet’s legacy stretches beyond her literary lifespan into a cultural afterlife ranging from enslaved African girls in the British Caribbean to the real-life Juliets of sectarian violence in Bosnia and Belfast. She argues that our dangerous obsession with the beautiful dead teenager and Juliet’s meteoric rise as a defiant sexual icon have come to define the Western ideal of romance. 

Wry and inventive,Julietis a tribute to fiction’s most famous teenage girl who died young, but who lives forever. 

Sophie Duncanis research fellow and dean for welfare at Magdalen College, University of Oxford. She writes about Shakespeare and gender and has worked extensively in theatre and television as a historical advisor. She is the author of two books, includingShakespeare’s Women and the Fin de Siècle. She lives in Oxford, UK.

"Invigorating . . . Duncan is an engaging guide to Juliet's complex afterlives . . . This book is crammed with interesting nuggets . . . What makes Juliet so thrilling is the way Duncan weaves all these threads into a compelling history of a singular heroine."Samantha Ellis,Guardian (UK)"Roving, animated lcœ