Romeo and Juliet (The Annotated Shakespeare) [Paperback]

William Shakespeare (Author), Burton Raffel (Editor), Harold Bloom (Contributor)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0300104537 | ISBN-13: 978-0300104530 | Publication Date: July 11, 2004

Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet is perhaps the most read and beloved of all stage works. Now the most extensively annotated version of the play to date makes it completely accessible to readers in the twenty-first century. The new edition is a rich resource for students, teachers, and the general reader.
Eminent linguist and translator Burton Raffel offers generous help with vocabulary and usage of Elizabethan English, pronunciation, prosody, and alternative readings of phrases and lines. His on-page annotations provide readers with the tools they need to comprehend the play and begin to explore its many possible interpretations. This version of Romeo and Juliet is unparalleled for its thoroughness and adherence to sound linguistic principles.
In his introduction, Raffel provides historical and social contexts that increase the reader’s understanding of the play. And in a concluding essay, Harold Bloom argues that Romeo and Juliet is unmatched in the world’s literature “as a vision of an uncompromising love that perishes of its own idealism and intensity.”

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Burton Raffel is surely one of the profession's top linguists and scholars, and the application here of his vast knowledge of linguistics to Romeo and Juliet provides any reader (whether specialist or not) with the best glimpse available of the great range of Shakespeare's stunning use of the English language."—Tita French Baumlin, Southwest Missouri State University

“Raffel’s glossings are almost without exception accurate and scholarly and some of them will be downright revelatory. The attention he pays to sound and rhythm in his notes will remind students they should be reading Shakespeare aloud and that there is pleasure in doing so.”—Dale Richardson, The University of the South

From the Inside Flap

"Burton Raffel is surely one of the profession’s top linguists and scholars, and the application here of his vast knowledge of linguistics to Romeo and Juliet provides any reader (whether specialist or not) with the best glimpse available of the great range of Shakespeare’s stunning use of the English language."--Tita French Baumlin, Southwest Missouri State University

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Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Yale University Press (July 11, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0300104537
• ISBN-13: 978-0300104530
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.1 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #86,204 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #87 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Literature & Fiction > Drama > Playwrights, A-Z > ( S )

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars worth it, February 20, 2011

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reader - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Romeo and Juliet (The Annotated Shakespeare) (Paperback)

This edition of romeo and juliet is worth getting and the annotations are very helpful. I am one of those readers that likes everything annotated so if you aren't don't get this one. The notes were excellent, helpful, and so was the introduction. I wholeheartedly recommend it.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good, but footnotes are too much., May 19, 2008

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Sean C. Odonnell - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Romeo and Juliet (The Annotated Shakespeare) (Paperback)

This version uses footnotes too much. Every little unclear word is attached to a footnote. It's very distracting when reading and takes you away from this book. A lot of the words don't need to be footnoted, I guess the editor thought that the people who would read this would be idiots.

1 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A pair of star-cross'd lovers take their life, July 9, 2010

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E. A Solinas "ea_solinas" (MD USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Romeo and Juliet (The Annotated Shakespeare) (Paperback)

Two teenagers from rival families fall in love, marry secretly, and take their own lives rather than live without each other. Despite the teenage melodrama, "Romeo and Juliet" remains one of Shakespeare's most enduring and popular plays, even if it wasn't his best -- lots of death, teen lovers and enchanting dialogue.

In the city of Verona, the Montagues and Capulets are locked in a deadly feud. Then a Montague teen named Romeo, infatuated with a Capulet girl named Rosaline, sneaks into a party to see her.... but instead encounters another Capulet girl named Juliet, and the two immediately fall in love. Since their families hate each other, their love must be expressed in secret.

Hoping to unite the two families, the kindly priest Friar Lawrence assists the two in marrying in secret. But then Juliet's cousin Tybalt challenges Romeo to a duel, leading to the death of two men -- and Romeo's exile from Verona. Even worse, the Capulets have decided to marry Juliet to Count Paris -- leading to a desperate plan that goes horribly awry.

"Romeo and Juliet" is a play that is hard to pin down -- some see it as the poetry-laden embodiment of romantic love, while others view it as Shakespeare's witty jabs at fickle teenage infatuation and how melodramatic the kids are (Juliet is only thirteen!). But whatever you think it is, it's undeniable that it's a beautifully written, often-wrenching story.

Despite the simplicity of the story, Shakespeare spins it in a silken web of lush poetry ("O swear not by the moon, the inconstant moon/That monthly changes in her circled orb") and the famous speeches where Romeo and Juliet speak at night on a balcony. The mostly romantic play takes a dark turn towards the end, when only a few minutes might have changed the fates of "Juliet and her Romeo."

And Shakespeare seems rather fond of his characters here, depicting Romeo as a passionate young boy and Juliet as rather sweetly insecure young girl; there's also a fairly good cast of young men whose spirits are more elevated than their brains, and the kindly friar who rather naively hopes to use the kids to create peace.

But Shakespeare was also clearly aware that passionate teenage love is not necessarily the truest love ("Young men's love then lies/Not truly in their hearts, but in their eyes"), and leaves you wondering what might have happened if Romeo and Juliet had lived.

The annotated edition is a very good one, especially for people who are just starting out on Shakespeare -- a couple of well-written, respectful introductions and extensive annotation that is useful but not intrusive. Whenever there's a word that is unclear in meaning or different from how it was once perceived, there's a little tip at the bottom of the page.

Whether a gentle mockery of young love or a passionate, idealized romance, "Romeo and Juliet" is a timeless and lovely little play. Not the best of the Bard, but still quite good.