SOURCE: Kaiser, Gerhard W. “Romeo and Juliet.” In The Substance of Greek and Shakespearean Tragedy under Special Consideration of Shakespeare's “King Lear,” “Macbeth,” “Othello” and “Romeo and Juliet,” pp. 179-208. Salzburg, Austria: Institut für Englische Sprache und Literatur, Universität Salzburg, 1977.

In the following excerpt, Kaiser presents an overview of the plot, central characters, and themes of Romeo and Juliet, viewing the drama as not only a tragedy of misfortune and explosive passion, but also one of reconciliation.

After having discussed three of Shakespeare's most famous tragedies, we propose now to have a look at one of his earlier dramas, the lyric tragedy Romeo and Juliet. This is a play which brought the young dramatist his first great success, and although Shakespeare had not yet quite found the mature and balanced mastery of his later plays, critics generally agree that Romeo and Juliet deserves being praised as...