Prologue: Romeo and Juliet from a Mediterranean Perspective

This Prologue aims at outlining the Mediterranean dimension of the city of Verona and wishes to highlight the ways in which Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet has functioned as a landmark portrayal of a Mediterranean cultural space ever since its composition. The Prologue considers the ideological connotations which Verona had for the Elizabethans and the portrayal of the city in Shakespeare’s sources, analogues, and paralogues, but it also discusses the older Mediterranean models and mythemes underlying the Romeo and Juliet story.