My own idea

For my second entry, I came up with an idea of my own. So Emmy Petersson hereby presents: Why I think "Romeo and Juliet" has become such a popular work and why it is still popular. Enjoy!


"Romeo and Juliet" is, as I said in my first blog post, a masterpiece written 400 years ago. I think that one of the reasons why it became so popular in first place is the author. William Shakespeare was a very busy man while he lived. He acted  together with a playing company called "Lord Chamberlain's Men" (later; The King's Men) and this company held exclusive rights to preform every play written by Shakespeare. This company also had access to a theatre with the very resourceful name "The Theatre". Although, this theatre got dismantled and moved to Southwark in London (for you who aren't so familiar with the London geography, this is the south bank of the Thames), this was also the time when the theatre got the name "The Globe". Most of the geniuses that have been born to this world have gotten their acknowledges after their deaths (for example Van Gogh). But not William Shakespeare, he had the actors, the playhouse, the audience and of course the plays while he was alive. So since he was famous, his legacy to the world had to keep maintained and therefore people kept preforming the plays written by William Shakespeare.

Second, I believe "Romeo and Juliet" has kept its popularity because it never gets old fashioned and this is also why it's still popular today. Sure, it was written 400 years ago, so it's not actually up to date but even so it's not old fashioned. Do you guys understand what I mean? No? Ok, let me explain.
People have always fallen in love, right? And people are hopefully planning to keep falling in love. I believe that as long as there is love, people need love stories. People need love stories that ends with a "and they lived happily ever after" and people need love stories that ends in misery.
"Romeo and Juliet" is the perfect miserable love story and it has everything a tragedy needs!
* Love at first sight
* An aspiring fiancé who happens to be rich
* Something, in addition to the fiancé, that stands in the way for the lovers
* An ending which you hope will be happy, but it's not.
So, love and forbidden love is something human beings always have enjoyed reading about and it's a topic that never gets old fashioned.
Take "Hamlet" for example (another play by Shakespeare, for those who don't know). That play is all about retaliation and how common is that in 2011? Sure, "Hamlet" is famous as well and everyone should know the phrase "To be or not to be..." Though, I still believe that "Romeo and Juliet" is far more well-known and more of a "role model" for past, present and future authors just because of the forbidden love, which is always a popular and relevant theme.

So, this became a pretty long and confusing entry, didn't it? If you have any questions or comments, feel free to let me know :)

/ Emmy