Romeo and Juliet [Paperback]

As one of the world's greatest love stories Romeo and Juliet continues to excite new theatre-goers, readers and film-goers. Its depiction of tragic lovers strikes a chord in each generation of young people, and seems to speak in their own idiom. As such, it reflects, and allows us to analyse, changing attitudes to sex in a violent world. This collection of contemporary essays raises topical debates about the nature of love conventions, as well as offering new insights into Shakespeare's text.As one of the world's greatest love stories Romeo and Juliet continues to excite new theatre-goers, readers and film-goers. Its depiction of tragic lovers strikes a chord in each generation of young people, and seems to speak in their own idiom. As such, it reflects, and allows us to analyse, changing attitudes to sex in a violent world. This collection of contemporary essays raises topical debates about the nature of love conventions, as well as offering new insights into Shakespeare's text.

Acknowledgements.- General Editors' Preface.- Introduction: What is this Thing Called Love?; R.S. White.- 'Death-marked love': Desire and Presence in Romeo and Juliet; L. Davis.- The Name of the Rose in Romeo and Juliet; C. Belsey.- Romeo and Juliet: Love-Hatred in the Couple; J. Kristeva.- The Ideology of Romantic Love: The Case of Romeo and Juliet; D. C. Callaghan.- 'The Murdering Word'; K. Ryan.- Baz Luhrmann's William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet; B. Hodgdon.- The Servants; B. Brecht.- Romeo and Juliet: The Nurse's Story; B. Everett.- Eloquence and Liminality: Glossing Mercutio's Speech Acts; J. A. Porter.- Romeo and Juliet's Open Rs; J. Goldberg.- Further Reading.- Notes on Contributors.- Index.

R. S. WHITE is Professor of English at the University of Western Australia.This imaginative selection of new critical essays provides a range of contemporary approaches from psychoanalytical to cultural materialist and fl£Á