I'm a huge Shakespeare fan. Is it true that Romeo & Juliet was just plagiarized by Shakespeare?

Question

Quite shocking, I should say!

Answer 1

Well there are many theories about many authors in those days, and not onlyauthors but also scientist and other kind of profesionals. If you were like a famous or notable worker on your field or even if you werent you had acces to the work of many other people who wanted to be like you or at least to learn from you so many of theese "profesionals" often stealed their aprentices works and sold them as if those were theirs.
But dont be surprised, it still happens lol.
But there is no way, at least one that i know, to tell that shakespare did such thing.

Answer 2

Here are the comments of a writer on the site "writershangout.com"

"When it comes to traditional writing, Shakespeare is regarded as a god. But do you think that his work is original? I was always a fan of his writing being influenced by others, but never really plagiarized.

Then I read this poem by Ovid which was written over 1,000 years before Shakespeare, and it has a VERY uncanny similarity between one of Shakespeare's best, Romeo and Juliet.

http://www.online-mythology.com/pyramus_thisbe/

In short, it's exactly like Romeo and Juliet. Two people are separated by their families, try to meet, and commit suicide for the sake of the other. Sound familiar?

Answer 3

It's not that Shakespeare plagiarized, more that he borrowed source materials. There were other stories similar to Romeo and Juliet floating around for hundreds of years before Shakespeare wrote this classic love story. But we remember Shakespeare's because of his eloquence with language and the way he can capture fundamental truths about the human spirit in his characters. Most of Shakespeare's plays can actually be based on folk stories, other plays, and legends that were already part of the collected knowledge.

Answer 4

It was actually a play. Performed in a theather. People were around to see it being written. Actors had to learn their lines, etc. It's pretty difficult to plagiarize a play. A play has to be acted out. SOmeone would've said something about it. Romeo and Juliet was not plagiarized by Shakespeare.

Answer 5

I believe the similar story of Pyramis and Thisbe came first - however I dont believe he plagerized - just borrowed a plot. West Side Story borrowed from Romeo and Juliet and the play The Fantastics borrowed from Pyramis and Thisbe and so has every other book, song, play, movie and TV Show where boy meets girl, girl's parents hate boy and so on ... I will bet you can name 100 books plays songs etc with that plot. How about Janis Ian's beautiful song from the 60's Society's Child? All versions of the same theme. Not shocking at all. It is a very standard plot. Pax - C.

Answer 6

The truth is most plays back then were retellings of oral stories that had been around for generations. Yes, a version of Romeo and Juliet existed in Italian oral tradition long before Shakespeare gave them names and speech. Most of his plays were like that with the exception of The Tempest and that borrows other literary elements from other traditions.

However, he only borrowed plot sequences and devices, oral stories from ancient times. The words were his, the characters were his. Do not fret. Shakespeare is still one of the grandest writers of our language. In fact, he revived many stories that would have been forgotten.

Nathan

Answer 7

I don't believe it was. Shakespeare was a very elevated soul, his real name was Sir Francis Bacon and I don't believe he would plagiarize, he just wrote from the soul, like all his other plays... I am a huge fan too.

Answer 8

It is adapted from Tristan and Isolde. But Shakespeare's strength was not in his story-lines. Actually, most of his plays were based in historical events. His true strength was in the development of character. This was crucial because sets in his time did not portray the setting and the responsibility of conveying this was directly from the dialogue.

Answer 9

I believe that the story has been around since the beginning of time....it will always be redone and redone.....ever seen West Side Story...same story but it is not a plagerism of Shakespeare....

Answer 10

Yes