#39 in Drama & theatre
Romeo and Juliet
- 160
- Pages
- about 3 h
- Reading time
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Our view
The tragedy of two young lovers from feuding families is brief, and its pair have become the model for young love in literature. Readers who first met it as a school assignment may remember it through that lens; approached freely, its mounting tension gets a fairer hearing. It is a play from the 1590s, so the language takes effort and it gains a great deal from being heard or seen on stage.
Worth knowing Shakespeare took the plot from Arthur Brooke’s long poem The Tragical History of Romeus and Juliet (1562), itself drawn from Italian tales, and compressed its months of action into about four days. The play was first printed in 1597 in a short, unreliable quarto; most editions follow the fuller text of 1599. Juliet is not yet fourteen. Zeffirelli’s 1968 film and Luhrmann’s 1996 Romeo + Juliet are the best-known screen versions.
The view of the BookRank editors, written from readers’ ratings and comments. It does not affect the score or the book’s place in a ranking.
About the book
The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet, often shortened to Romeo and Juliet, is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare about the romance between two young Italians from feuding families. It was among Shakespeare's most popular plays during his lifetime and, along with Hamlet, is one of his most frequently performed. The title characters are regarded as archetypal young lovers.
Where the score comes from
The sources average 7.0 across 2,720 ratings. With that many, the reader vote carries 95% of the weight and the score stays at 7.1 — the Drama & theatre average of 7.6 barely moves it.
| Source | Average | Ratings | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|
| Open Library | 7.3 | 210 | 8% |
| Hardcover | 7.0 | 2.5K | 92% |
Frequently asked
How long is Romeo and Juliet?
It has 160 pages — longer than 61% of the ranked books in Drama & theatre.
In this book
Themes this book shares with others — each leads to the best books on it.
If you liked this
Same shelf — Drama & theatre — with scores between 7.5 and 7.8, closest to this book.
