When the feud between the Montagues and Capulets spills into the streets of Verona, a great love must be kept secret—that of Romeo, son of Montague, and Juliet, daughter of the sworn enemy. But only a tragic twist of fate can promise peace. When Shakespeare staged Romeo and Juliet in 1594, it was already a centuries-old Italian tale that had been translated and adapted in verse and prose by a number of poets and storytellers. Out of the common threads of those now-forgotten works, Shakespeare created not only one of his most popular plays, but one that would become the archetypal love story of the English language.