Why is romeo and Juliet sucessful as a play?

Question

I don't quite understand how it got to be so successful, it is very much a classic love story, but how did it become such an extrodinarily known play?

Answer 1

It's not simply a "love story" in the popular sense of the term. The tragedy, as the Prince puts it at the end, is along the lines of "...and I, for winking at their discords, have lost a brace of kinsman. ALL are punished..."

Think beyond just the couple. Delve into who was related to whom. Why is the Prince's name, "Aeschylus" (spelled differently)? Who was Aeschylus? What happens to nations or to cultures that "abide" by feuds, or "the letter of the law" or "prophesies"??

What makes it a tragedy---simply that a number of people were killed? Not necessarily. What is the lesson to be learned? "That heaven finds means to kill your joys with love...". Is there something to be learned about not holding a grudge?

These are universal and timeless ideas, that speak to us across the centuries, and different cultures. (Which is also why "West Side Story" is NOT classic...)(in my humble opinion)

Answer 2

It was already a widely known and popular story before it was dramatized by Shakespeare and by Lope de Vega. It's story of young love destroyed by feuding families is so appealing to all cultrures that it has been done all over the world. Shakespeare also wrote some of his most beautiful poetry in this play, catch phrases we will never forget, What's in a name, a rose by any other name would smell as sweet. or What light by yonder window breaks, it is the East and Juliet is the sun. or O, she doth teach the torches to burn brightly, and on and on. It's tragedy appeals to all people in all places at all times.