Where did Shakespeare get his inspiration? (Megan Howard)
Romeo and Juliet is a
tragic love story written in beautiful verse and prose with memorable
characters. However, the origin is not Shakespeares’ imagination.
In 1562, an English poet,
by the name Arthur Brooke, published a poem titled, The Tragicall Historie of Romeus and Juliet. In his poem, Brooke
tells the story of the strar-crossed lovers, much as Shakespeare, for it was
this poem which inspired Shakespeare to develop and write Romeo and Juliet. A
significant difference between the two forms of storytelling is the style of
language being used. Brooke has a much drier storytelling than Shakespeare. It
is in comparison of these two literary documents which one can truly appreciate
Shakespeares’ wit and sense of humor.
And again, Arthur Brooke
did not originate this story. In his address to the reader before his poem,
Brooke gives credit to a Matteo Bandello, an Italian writer, work Novelle. It is here which the story is
first written down. Bandello wrote novellas in his spare time, as throughout
his life he held the positions of a monk, solider, diplomat, and bishop. He in
fact led the way in changing the structure of the 16th century
narrative literature. He lived a large portion of his life in Milan, before an
attack on the city led to Bandello to flee to France. It is here which his
reputation spread.
A brief description of a
novella such as Bandello’s works. Novellas were short, well-structured
narratives which often were realistic and satiric in tone. They were based on
local events that were humorous, political, or amorous in nature. Bandello
developed the novella into a psychologically subtle and highly structured short
tale.
This is important as I
hypothesize when Shakespeare is claimed to be a great Italian, it is because of
his terrific sense of maintaining the spirit and nature of old Italian tales
which he used for inspiration.
Citation:
The Editors of
Encyclopaedia Britannica, Matteo Bandello Italian Monk and Writer, Britannica
Encyclopaedia. 2018. Web. Feb. 2018.
Brooke’s Romeus and
Juliet. British Library. Web. Feb. 2018.
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