Romeo and Juliet

Use these links to supplement and complement students’ reading of the work and to increase their overall enjoyment of literature. Challenge them to discern parallel themes, engage through visual and aural stimuli, and delve deeper into the thematic possibilities presented by the title.

Recommended Texts for Pairing

“I loved you first: but afterwards your love”

• a 14-line sonnet by Christina Rossetti (1830-1894)
• a love poem; a traditional, classic example of iambic pentameter

“A Short Story of Falling”

• a contemporary example of iambic pentameter by Alice Oswald
• compare and contrast with Shakespeare’s use of iambic pentameter (See Paired Text Extension for Activity 1)

Beneatha’s monologue

• from A Raisin the Sun, a 1959 play by Lorraine Hansberry
• connects to themes of identity and gender relationships
• compare and contrast with Juliet’s monologues (See Paired Text Extension for Activity 2)

“Six Reasons Shakespeare Remains Relevant 400 Years After His Death”

• A USC professor offers insights on Shakespeare’s timelessness and reach.

The Lines We Cross by Randa Abdel-Fattah

• YA novel in which Mina, a teen refugee girl from Afghanistan, and Michael, son of staunch members of an anti-immigrant group, try to withstand the outside forces trying to prevent their romance
• connects to the themes of feuds and rivalries, secrets, love’s complexities, young versus old

Other Student Resources

West Side Story scene

• 5-minute YouTube clip of the “balcony scene” parallel in the 1961 film West Side Story in which Tony visits Maria on her fire escape
• They exchange dialogue about the differences in their backgrounds in conflict, potential feuds and rivalries, and the danger therein; they also sing “Tonight, Tonight.”

Romeo+Juliet scene

• 2-minute YouTube clip from Baz Luhrmann’s 1996 film Romeo+Juliet in which Romeo and Juliet first see each other at the Capulet feast
• Their “love at first sight” invites love’s complexities.

“Romeo & Juliet Love Theme”

• 2-minute cutting from Pyotr Ilich Tchaikovsky’s classical orchestral composition Romeo and Juliet (instrumental; still image of Tchaikovsky)

Teacher Resources

“A Modern Perspective: Romeo and Juliet” by Gail Kern Paster

• essay by American scholar of Shakespeare and former Director of the Folger Shakespeare Library
• considers a view of Romeo and Juliet in light of new theories on late-Middle Ages cultural change and shifts in gender relationships and individual identity

“The Violence of Romeo and Juliet” by Andrew Dickson

• British Library article from 2016
• discusses a variety of productions of the play in which the violence of feuds and rivalries in the play compares to modern-day conflicts between groups