Do you know thatRomeo and Juliet is not the first Tragic Love Story?
By kyss_smyle
@kyss_smyle (166)
Philippines
August 9, 2009 11:06am CST
Everybody knows that the tragic ending of Romeo and Juliet has made it famous. The controversy of suicide in the end collected so many criticisms as to how this tragic drama could influence the young.
But do you know that Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet is not actually the first tragic love story? Before Romeo and Juliet became famous, there was Pyramus and Thisbe of the Greek mythology. They were lovers who were not permitted to marry by there parents. There were a lot of similarity as to how Romeo and Juliet died with how Pyramus and Thisbe died. I was just wondering, does Shakespeare deserve the kind of fame he get from Romeo and Juliet when his concept of this tragic love story is no longer original?
1 person likes this
3 responses
@Sandra1952 (6047)
• Spain
5 Jan 10
No story is truly original - there are only so many scenarios, and they are all as old as the hills. However, Shakespeare related the story in a way that bought the characters to life and touched the souls of his audiences. More than 400 years after the play was first written, it still affects new generations and is perceived as the archetypal love story. The Greeks didn't achieve that, even though they may have thought of it first. It's Shakespeare who has made Romeo and Juliet immortal.
@kyss_smyle (166)
• Philippines
26 Aug 10
I guess you are right. I have read the story and was amazed about the similarities it has with the plot of Romeo and Juliet. So I thought that we should also give credit to the Greeks for truly paving the way of Literature. Imagine, they made the greatest and most famous Epic, Iliad, the famous tragic drama, Oedipus Rex and now, even the plot of the famous romantic drama, Romeo and Juliet, is still patterned to Greek's work.
