“Love is a smoke made with the fume of sighs.” ― William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet

 Classic romance stories of boy and girl meet; boy and girl fall in love, marry, and live happily ever after very rarely happen in real life. Where is the turmoil, the heartache, the deceit, and the messy breakup?

         What happened to the unrequited love affairs and the stories of forbidden love and the treacherous feeling that you will never be truly happy?

       Whatever the storyline may be, we all know that with each great classic comes the ‘emotionally satisfying and optimistic ending’. Or, is this really always the case?

        Some classic novels have been known to pull at the reader’s heartstrings making sure that the story is full of lust, love, and fairy tale endings but what about the others? Some classic narratives explore the darker side of romance; the poisonous side effects that result from giving your heart to another.

      Shakespeare creates a world of violence and generational conflict in which two young people fall in love and die because of that love. The story is rather extraordinary in that the normal problems faced by young lovers are here so very large. It is not simply that the families of Romeo and Juliet disapprove of the lover’s affection for each other; rather, the Montagues and the Capulets are on opposite sides in a blood feud and are trying to kill each other on the streets of Verona. Every time a member of one of the two families dies in the fight, his relatives demand the blood of his killer. Because of the feud, if Romeo is discovered with Juliet by her family, he will be killed. Once Romeo is banished, the only way that Juliet can avoid being married to someone else is to take a potion that apparently kills her, so that she is buried with the bodies of her slain relatives. In this violent, death-filled world, the movement of the story from love at first sight to the union of the lovers in death seems almost inevitable.

     Romeo sneaks into Juliet’s room that night, and at last they consummate their marriage and their love. Morning comes, and the lovers bid farewell, unsure when they will see each other again. Juliet learns that her father, affected by the recent events, now intends for her to marry Paris in just three days. Unsure of how to proceed—unable to reveal to her parents that she is married to Romeo, but unwilling to marry Paris now that she is Romeo’s wife—Juliet asks her nurse for advice. She counsels Juliet to proceed as if Romeo were dead and to marry Paris, who is a better match anyway. Disgusted with the Nurse’s disloyalty, Juliet disregards her advice and hurries to Friar Lawrence. He concocts a plan to reunite Juliet with Romeo in Mantua. The night before her wedding to Paris, Juliet must drink a potion that will make her appear to be dead. After she is laid to rest in the family’s crypt, the Friar and Romeo will secretly retrieve her, and she will be free to live with Romeo, away from their parents’ feuding.

     Juliet returns home to discover the wedding has been moved ahead one day, and she is to be married tomorrow. That night, Juliet drinks the potion, and the Nurse discovers her, apparently dead, the next morning. The Capulets grieve, and Juliet is entombed according to plan. But Friar Lawrence’s message explaining the plan to Romeo never reaches Mantua. Its bearer, Friar John, gets confined to a quarantined house. Romeo hears only that Juliet is dead.

      Romeo learns only of Juliet’s death and decides to kill himself rather than live without her. He buys a vial of poison from a reluctant Apothecary, then speeds back to Verona to take his own life at Juliet’s tomb. Outside the Capulet crypt, Romeo comes upon Paris, who is scattering flowers on Juliet’s grave. They fight, and Romeo kills Paris. He enters the tomb, sees Juliet’s inanimate body, drinks the poison, and dies by her side. Just then, Friar Lawrence enters and realizes that Romeo has killed Paris and himself. At the same time, Juliet awakes. Friar Lawrence hears the coming of the watch. When Juliet refuses to leave with him, he flees alone. Juliet sees her beloved Romeo and realizes he has killed himself with poison. She kisses his poisoned lips, and when that does not kill her, buries his dagger in her chest, falling dead upon his body.

     The watch arrives, followed closely by the Prince, the Capulets, and Montague. Montague declares that Lady Montague has died of grief over Romeo’s exile. Seeing their children’s bodies, Capulet and Montague agree to end their long-standing feud and to raise gold statues of their children side-by-side in a newly peaceful Verona.

** रोमियो आणि ज्युलियेट ही विल्यम शेक्सपियरने लिहिलेली एक जगप्रसिद्ध शोकांतिका आहे. या नाटकाची मराठीत अनेक भाषांतरे आणि रूपांतरे झाली. त्यांतली काही ही, आणि त्यांचे लेखक असे:

·         संगीत तारा विलास (१९०४) (दत्तात्रेय अ. केसकर)

·         प्रतापराव आणि मंजुळा (१८८२) (एकनाथ वि. मुसळे)

·         प्रेमाचा कळस किंवा रोमिओ ज्युलिएट (१९०८) (खंडेराव भि. बेलसरे)

·         मोहन तारा (१९०८) (के.रा.छापखाने)

·         रोमिओ अँड ज्युलिएट (के.ज.पुरोहित)

·         रोमिओ ज्युलिएट (१९०८) (खंडेराव भि. बेलसरे)

·         रोमिओ और ज्युलियेट-हिंदी (१९६३) (सादरकर्ते उत्पल दत्त)

·         रोमिओ और ज्युलियेट -हिंदी (सादरकर्ते लिटिल थिएटर ग्रुप)

·         रोमिओ ज्युलिएट (रमेश मोरे)

·         शशिकला आणि रत्‍नपाल (नारायण कानिटकर)

·         संगीत शालिनी (१९०१) (के.वि.करमरकर)

 

** रोमिओ ज्युलिएट - हिंदी चित्रपट

१. निर्माता संजय -  लीला भन्साळी

२. निर्माती - हेमा मालिनी

३. निर्माते - दरबार ड्रीम्स

४. निर्माते , संगीत दिग्दर्शक - खय्याम

 

** पुस्तके :

१.रोमिओ आणि ज्यूलिएट (मराठी गद्य कादंबरी - मंगेश पाडगावकर)

२. कथारूप शेक्सपियर (मराठी कथासंग्रह - प्रभाकर देशपांडे-साखरेकर)

४. शेक्सपियरच्या नाट्यकथा (रमेश मुधोळकर)

५.शेक्सपीअरची शोकनाट्ये (परशुराम देशपांडे)

६.शेक्सपीअरच्या प्रेमव्यथा (विजय पाठारे)

७. रोमिओ ज्युलिएट (नृत्यनाट्य- बिरजू महाराज)