Introduction: Love, Sex and Power

About the lecture

In this lecture, we begin our introduction to Romeo and Juliet, focusing in particular on: (i) its focus on love and sex, and its bawdiness; (ii) some of the key themes in the play: love, power, the patriarchy; (iii) the role of violence in the play, and the extent to which the kind of violence that we witness (gang violence, revenge killings, etc.) remains relevant today; (iv) its setting in a Verona, a city which had already formed the setting of an earlier play by Shakespeare: The Two Gentlemen of Verona (written between 1589-93); (v) the extent to which Romeo and Juliet is a ‘typical’ tragedy; and (vi) the position of Romeo and Juliet in Shakespeare’s career: a relatively early play, but written very close to two of his greatest works: A Midsummer Night’s Dream (written in 1595 or 1596) and The Merchant of Venice (written between 1596-99).

About the lecturer

John McRae is Special Professor of Language in Literature Studies and Teaching Associate in the School of English at Nottingham University, and holds Visiting Professorships in China, Malaysia, Spain and the USA. He is co-author of The Routledge History of Literature in English with Ron Carter, and also wrote The Language of Poetry, Literature with a Small 'l' and the first critical edition of Teleny by Oscar Wilde and others.