Throughout the History of Art, several literary works have gained great prominence, coming to be considered true classics of world literature. The characteristics of a character or the involving plot of a story sometimes arouse a great public passion for the work. In certain situations, admirers of such a lively and impactful classic come to question whether those lines would be mere fiction.
“Romeo and Juliet”, by British writer William Shakespeare, tells a famous love story that involves a couple of young lovers forbidden to live their love experience through the rivalry of their families. The intensity of the dialogues and actions involving the attractive and tragic couple in love arouses a certain distrust of the limits of the real and the imagined. After all, did Romeo and Juliet live out of Shakespeare's head?
In fact, the first printed version of this work mentions that the plot of that story had already been staged in several plays. An Italian named Giralomo della Corte, who lived at the same time as Shakespeare, said that the city of Verona experienced this love affair in the year 1303. Was the Italian inspired by the work of the English writer or did Shakespeare opportunely explore a historical fact that reached his ears? Hard to say.
However, other works older than Shakespeare's own also raise other questions to this mystery. In the 2nd century, the Greek writer Xenophon Epehesio wrote the work “Anthia and Abrocomas”, which has several similarities with the history of Italian lovers. Another version says that the Italian writer Luigi da Porto was inspired by a work called “Novellino” and produced a novel set by lovers Romeo and Guilietta.
This same hypothesis applies to a work by the Italian writer Matteo Bandello, who produced a version of the story in 1554. Later, this story would have been translated into French and an English version turned it into the poem “Romeus and Juliet”. In 1567, a prose version of the poem would have generated the book “The palace of pleasure”, by Willian Paynter.
Among so many versions of what appears to be the same work, many historians have concluded that Shakespeare would have compiled a play of completely unknown origin. Among so many versions and possibilities, no one can say whether Romeo and Juliet recount stories from a remote time or whether they came to live in the Italian Peninsula. The only really proven element of this whole story is that the Montecchi and Capelletti families existed.
In writer Dante Alighieri's most famous work, “The Divine Comedy”, the two families are mentioned as an example of the political and commercial disputes developed in Italy. However, there are still people who disagree with this. For historian Olin Moore, the name of these two families would be another design for two important rival Italian political parties: the Ghibellines and Guelphs.
As much as this controversy never has a definitive answer, we can see how people feel compelled to want to prove something that presents itself as fiction. The tragic and unrestrained love of Romeo and Juliet seems to establish an archetype of an ideal love, often far removed from the affective experiences experienced daily. Maybe that's why so many believe (or at least hope) that a love without measures such as the Shakespearean couple could happen.
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By Rainer Sousa
Graduated in History
Brazil School Team
Would you like to reference this text in a school or academic work? Look:
SOUSA, Rainer Gonçalves. "Romeo and Juliet: Romance or History?"; Brazil School. Available in: https://brasilescola.uol.com.br/historia/romeu-julieta-romance-ou-historia.htm. Accessed on June 27, 2021.