Who wrote Romeo and Juliet?

Who wrote Romeo & Juliet?

The short answer: a man named William Shakespeare (1564-1616) lauded as a literary genius and master linguist, known for having written 37 plays, including the story of the star-crossed lovers, Romeo and Juliet (1597).

The long(er) answer: a figure who, given that he led a largely posthumous life (having never been a wealthy man in his time, despite the richness and breadth of his writings). A man whose life was free of scandal though ambiguous in parts. A man who some have argued may or may not have even been a man at all—in six alleged instances that the Stratford man wrote his name, his barely legible signature read "Shaksper” (yes, the typo is correct).

While no documents exist to date that support the claim that Shakespeare's plays and poems were written by someone else, many scholars have entertained the idea that the name we attribute to the English wordsmith was merely a pseudonym. The man we know today as the “Bard of Avon” may or may not have been the author of works attributed to William Shakespeare, and questions of the authenticity of Shakespeare "the man"—and there have been many named in the search to find the "true" author of the plays, including Francis Bacon, the Earl of Essex, Christopher Marlowe, and even Queen Elizabeth I herself—continue to mystify scholars to this day. Moreover, just as the plays of Shakespeare were circulated in various versions through time (as they were meant to be read by the public and brought to life by actors who reconstructed the parts with every production), so too are there competing theories on who this “singular genius” was.

Moreover, while it may be hard for us to believe that a small town (Stratford) boy could emerge as the Western world’s most celebrated writer, our most basic questions about the bard still remain unanswered. From their very inception, Shakespeare's works were shrouded in mystery, and to this day, his plays have been subject to ongoing examination and evaluation by critics attempting to explain their perennial appeal. Indeed, Shakespeare has been criticized for not consistently holding to any particular philosophy, religion, or ideology—for example, the subplot of A Midsummer Night’s Dream includes a parody of the kind of tragic love that he idealizes in Romeo and Juliet. Yet, the strength of Shakespeare’s plays lies in the absorbing stories they tell, and in their wealth of complex characters whose lines are always lyric and eloquent, and whose lives are driven by passions neither wholly good nor wholly evil. It may even be that it is indeed the flawed, inconsistent natures of his characters—of which Romeo and Juliet are prime examples—that make them so memorable.

An elusive figure, William Shakespeare may very well be the greatest man England has ever produced—an author whose plays are distinguished not only by their unparalleled use of language and corresponding sensitivity to nuance, but a singular aptitude for coining neologisms and multi-layered puns. How incredible to think that over 400 years after the author’s death, his plays continue to grace stages around the world. His words have been quoted more than the works of any other author in the English language. Whoever Shakespeare truly is, one thing is for sure—they are sure to be known “forever and a day.” *


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* A saying attributed to Shakespeare, from the play As You Like It (Act IV, Scene I).

Rosalind: “Now tell me how long you would have her after you have possessed her.”
Orlando: “Forever and a day.”

William Shakespeare.

The original source for Shakespeare's play 'Romeo and Juliet' was 'The Tragicall Historye of Romeus and Iuliet', a poem by Arthur Brooke written in 1562, but the story itself was not new, with extant sources dating back to the 15th century.

William Shakespeare wrote Romeo and Juliet.