WHO IS BEHIND THE TRADGEDY, ROMEO AND JULIET? WAS IT WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE OR SOMEONE ELSE?

Romeo And Juliet
Almost the entire world has heard of William Shakespeare
and his masterpiece Romeo And Juliet. But how many
people have heard of Arthur Brooke? In 1562, Brooke
published a long narrative poem titled The Tragical History
Of Romeus And Juliet, which would go on to be the key
inspiration behind Shakespeare’s later play.
Perhaps the main difference between the two is the
timeframe. The events in Brooke’s poem take nine months
to unfold, while Shakespeare’s work takes place over just
four days. For example, in Brooke’s poem, the two lovers
were married for months before Romeus killed Juliet’s
cousin Tybalt. Additionally, Shakespeare created the first
and second scenes from scratch. That allowed him to
introduce almost all the major characters in the first act,
unlike Brooke, who only introduced Paris after Tybalt’s
death.
Even Brooke wasn’t the originator of the Romeo and Juliet
story, having based his own work on a poem by Pierre
Boaistuau, who was in turn inspired by an Italian novella by
Matteo Bandello. And Bandello himself based his novella on
an earlier novel by Luigi da Porto. Still, critics agree that
Shakespeare’s version is the best, even if it’s not
particularly original.