Romeo and Juliet

The first 200 words of this essay...

'Romeo and Juliet' was written by William Shakespeare in 1596. Like many of Shakespeare's plays, it was not an original idea. His inspiration came from a well-known poem of the times called, 'The Tragical History of Romeus and Juliet' which was written in 1562 by Arthur Brooke. In the poem, the events took place over four years, whilst Shakespeare shortened the events within the poem so they took place within three to four days. This gave the play greater impact as there is no time for Romeo and Juliet to consider the consequences of what they are doing and make the eventual death of the main characters at the end all the more shocking, as a few days before they didn't even know each other. The character of Mercutio did not exist in the poem; some believe Shakespeare added him to give the play more 'fun' as he is quite a wacky character and to make it different from the poem. It is more likely however, that as believed by critics of those times that part was written for a popular actor who's inclusion in the play would fill more theatre seats as he was believed to be a very