#64 A Rose By Any Other Name: The Origins of Romeo and Juliet

CONTENT WARNING: This episode will mention various instances of suicide and attempted suicide and death through literary history.

To be or not to be...as much of a Shakespeare nerd as Jackie is! Join us for a textual transmissionary tale of just where Romeo and Juliet could come from. And no, it's NOT Verona, Italy!

Redhanded the Podcast

Montecchio Maggiore castles!

Questions/Comments/Concerns/Recommendations? Email us at [email protected]!

Other episodes we recommend:

• Dark Romance

Adaptations/stories Jackie mentions:

• Ovid "Pyramus and Thisbe" (Metamorphoses, 8 CE)
• Geoffrey Chaucer Legend of Good Women (1386)
• Masuccio Saleritano "Mariotto and Ganozza" (Il Novellino/Cinquante Novelle, 1476)
• Luigi Da Porto Historia novellamente ritrovata di due nobili amanti (1530/1531 pub. p.h.) - In Italian
• Matteo Bandello’s Giuletta e Romeo (1554)
• William Shakespeare "A Midsummer Night's Dream" (1591-1596 appr.)
• Shakespeare "Romeo and Juliet (1591-1596 appr.)
• Romeo and Juliet Before Shakespeare - Four Early Stories of Star-crossed Love (ed. Centre for Reformation and Renaissance Studies, 2000)

Other books we mention:

• I'm Glad My Mom Died by Jeanette McMurdy
• The Woman in the Library by Sulari Gentill

Other sources:

• “Metamorphoses” (Britannica.com)
• “Shakespeare and Chaucer: Influence and Authority on the Renaissance Stage” (Teramura, 2016)
• “Shakespeare’s Quartos: Romeo and Juliet” (British Library)
• “Ovid’s Pyramus and Thisbe.” (Duke, 1971)
• “Chaucer’s Pyramus and Thisbe.” (Spisak, 1984)
• “Midsummer Night’s Dream.” (Shakespeare’s Globe)
• “Pyramus and Thisbe Context” (Schmoop.com)
• “Pyramus and Thisbe,” (Britannica, 2023)
• The Original Romeo and Juliet (Pelkofsk, 2015)
• "The Basics" (The British Library, n.d.)
• "The Legend of Good Women" (The British Library)
• "Black Death" (History.com, 2023)
• "The True Story of Romeo and Juliet" (Veronissima.com, n.d.)
• "Romeo and Juliet before Shakespeare" (Levenson, 1984)
• "Luigi da Porto" (Thehistoryofromeoandjuliet.weebly.com, n.d.)
• "Sources: The Genealogy of Romeo and Juliet" (The Bill Shakespeare Project, 2010)
• "Pre- and Post-Shakespeare Romeo and Juliet" (Artsedge, Kennedy Center, n.d.)