Ρωμαίος και Ιουλιέτα
Ουίλλιαμ Σαίξπηρ, 1597
★ 4.36 from 56 ratings on Goodreads
Two teenagers from feuding houses fall in love, and every promise they make costs them a little more. Read Shakespeare as a poet of speed and rashness. The play moves fast and hot, with love and longing pushing the characters toward rash choices and grief.
Feels like longing and grief. About love and freedom.
Who it’s for
You may like it if you enjoy dramatic verse, quick turns, and love stories that carry real cost. Be aware that early printed versions differ sharply, so line wording can change from one edition to another.
Why read it
Read it for Shakespeare's speed and rashness, and for a love story where every promise tightens the pressure.
Pages from the book
The first time you see someone across a room and everything else goes quiet.
Ποια είν’ αυτή που ’πέρασε, κ’ επλούτιζε το χέριτου νέου οπού την κρατεί, εκεί;ΥΠΗΡΕΤΗΣΔεν την γνωρίζω.ΡΩΜΑΙΟΣΩ! εις την λάμψιν της κοντά θαμπόνουν αι λαμπάδες!Μου φαίνεται ’ς το μάγουλον της Νύκτας κρεμασμένη,ωσάν διαμάντι λαμπερόν στ’ αυτί ενός Αράπη!Τόσον πλουσία ευμορφιά δι’ άνθρωπον δεν είναι,τόσον ωραίον θησαυρόν η γη δεν τον αξίζει!Πώς ξεχωρίζεται αυτή απ’ ταις συντρόφισσαίς της,’σαν περιστέρα κάτασπρη ’ς τα μαυροπούλια μέσα! When someone you love is suddenly two people at once.
Καρδιά φιδιού που μ’ έκρυπταν τα άνθη της μορφής σου!Τέτοια χιλιόκαλλη σπηλειά να κρύπτη τέτοιον δράκον!Ω δαίμον’ αγγελόμορφε, ω τύραννε ωραίε,ω κόρακα, που με πτερά περιστεριού πετούσες·αρνί με λύκου λύσσιασμα, ουσία σιχαμένημε παρουσίαν θεϊκήν εις όλα εναντίοςαπ’ ό,τι μου εφαίνεσο κι’ απ’ ό,τι εθαρρούσα!Ω κολασμένε άγιε, κι’ αχρείε τιμημένε!Ω φύσις, απ’ την κόλασιν τι ήθελες να πάρηςενός διαβόλου την ψυχήν, να την μεταφυτεύσηςεις τέτοιον γλυκοαίματον χαριτωμένον κήπον;Πώς έτσι να χρυσοδεθή τέτοιον αισχρόν βιβλίον;Πώς η ψευτιά να κατοική τόσον λαμπρόν παλάτι; What would you accept instead of a marriage you didn't choose?
Παρά ποτέ να ’πανδρευθώ τον Πάρην, πρόσταξέ μεαπό αυτήν να κρημνισθώ την κορυφήν του πύργου·ή στων κλεφτών να πλανηθώ τα μονοπάτια ’πέ μου·ή πρόσταξέ με να χωθώ όπου φωληάζουν φίδια·μαζή μ’ αρκούδαις δέσε με ‘ς την ίδιαν αλυσίδα,ή κλείσε με μεσάνυκτα ’ς ένα κιβούρι μέσα,γεμάτον κόκκαλα νεκρών που τρίζουν και κτυπιούνται,γεμάτον σκέλεθρα χλωμά κι’ ολόγυμνα κρανία·ή πρόσταξέ με να χωθώ εις ανοιγμένον μνήμα,και τύλιξέ με στου νεκρού το σάβανον· ειπέ μουπράγμα, που τρόμος μ’ έπιανε και να τ’ ακούσω μόνον,κι’ αμέσως χωρίς δισταγμόν ή φόβον θα το κάμω,να μείνω ακηλίδωτη γυναίκα του ανδρός μου. Ουίλλιαμ Σαίξπηρ.Shakespeare never supervised a printed text of the play; the 1597 first quarto was pieced together from actors' memories, so versions differ sharply from the 1623 folio.
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Μάκβεθ
Ουίλλιαμ Σαίξπηρ, 1623
A brave man hears a promise that he will be king, and discovers how quickly the wish becomes the plan. Betrayal, and the restlessness comes from within. The speech that will never leave your head.
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Questions readers ask
- Is Ρωμαίος και Ιουλιέτα for me?
- You may like it if you enjoy dramatic verse, quick turns, and love stories that carry real cost. Be aware that early printed versions differ sharply, so line wording can change from one edition to another.
- What is Ρωμαίος και Ιουλιέτα like?
- The play moves fast and hot, with love and longing pushing the characters toward rash choices and grief. Feels like longing and grief. About love and freedom.
- What should I read after Ρωμαίος και Ιουλιέτα?
- If you liked Ρωμαίος και Ιουλιέτα, try Romeo and Juliet (William Shakespeare), Sonnets from the Portuguese (Elizabeth Barrett Browning) and Sense and Sensibility (Jane Austen).
A taste of the feed
The wish to make someone so bright the sun becomes an insult.
Hood my unmann’d blood, bating in my cheeks, With thy black mantle; till strange love, grown bold, Think true love acted simple modesty. Come, night; come, Romeo; come, thou day in night; For thou wilt lie upon the wings of night Whiter than new snow on a raven’s back. Come, gentle night, come, loving, black-brow’d night, Give me my Romeo; and, when he shall die, Take him and cut him out in little stars, And he will make the face of heaven so fine That all the world will be in love with night And pay no worship to the garish sun.
Romeo and Juliet · William Shakespeare
What it costs to hand someone the ashes of your grief.
I lift my heavy heart up solemnly, As once Electra her sepulchral urn, And, looking in thine eyes, I overturn The ashes at thy feet. Behold and see What a great heap of grief lay hid in me, And how the red wild sparkles dimly burn Through the ashen greyness. If thy foot in scorn Could tread them out to darkness utterly, It might be well perhaps. But if instead Thou wait beside me for the wind to blow The grey dust up—those laurels on thine head, O my Beloved, will not shield thee so, That none of all the fires shall scorch and shred The hair beneath. Stand further off then! Go.
Sonnets from the Portuguese · Elizabeth Barrett Browning
Marianne decides that a calm heart deserves no credit for staying calm.
Such behaviour as this, so exactly the reverse of her own, appeared no more meritorious to Marianne, than her own had seemed faulty to her. The business of self-command she settled very easily:—with strong affections it was impossible, with calm ones it could have no merit. That her sister’s affections were calm, she dared not deny, though she blushed to acknowledge it; and of the strength of her own, she gave a very striking proof, by still loving and respecting that sister, in spite of this mortifying conviction.
Sense and Sensibility · Jane Austen
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