Romeo and Juliet [Autumn 2016]
Arthur Brooke:The tragicallhistorye of Romeus and Iuliet… (1562):
The Argument
LOue hath inflamed twayne by sodayn sight.
And both do graunt the thing that both desyre.
They wed in shrift by counsell of a frier.
Yong Romeusclymes fayre Iuliets bower by night.
Three monthes he doth enioy his cheefe delight.
By Tybalts rage, prouokedvntoyre,
He payeth death to Tybalt for his hyre.
A banisht man he scapes by secret flight.
New mariage is offred to his wyfe.
She drinkes a drinke that seemes to[...]her breath.
They bury her, that sleping yet hath lyfe.
Her husband hearte the tydinges of her death.
He drinkes his bane. And she with Romeusknyfe,
When she awakes, her selfe (alas) she sleath.
William Painter, The second tome of the Palace of pleasureconteyning store of goodly histories…(1567)
Rhomeo and Julietta
¶ The goodly Historie of the true and constant Loue be|twene RHOMEO and IVLIETTA, the one of whom died of poison, and the other of sorow andheuinesse: wher|in be comprised many aduentures of loue, and other deui|ses touching the same.
Brooke – The Feud
… There were two auncientstockes,
which Fortune high dyd place
Aboue the rest, indewd with welth,
and nobler of their race.
Loued of the common sort,
loued of the Prince alike:
And like vnhappy were they both,
when Fortune list to strike.
Whose prayse with equall blast,
fame in her trumpet blew:
The one was clipedCapelet,
and thotherMontagew.
A wonted vse it is,
that men of likely sorte
(I wot not by what furyeforsd)
enuyeeche others porte.
So these, whose egall state
bred enuye pale of hew,
And then of grudging enuyesroote,
blacke hate and rancorgrewe.
As of a little sparke,
oft ryseth mighty fyre,
So of a kyndledsparke of grudge,
in flames flashe out theyryre….
Painter – The Feud
When theSenior Escalawas Lord ofVerona;there were two families in the Citie, of farre greater fame than the rest, aswell for riches asNobilitie: the one called theMontesches,and the other theCapellets:but like as most commonly there is discord amongs them
which be of semblabledegrée in honor, euen sothere hapned a certaineenmitiebetwene them: and for so much as the beginning therof was vnlawful, and ofilfoundation, so likewise in processe of time it kindled to such flame, as by diuers and sundry deuises practised on both sides, many lost their liues.