But instead of helping you understand Shakespeare, a bad stage direction can actually obscure meaning (rather than clarify So it’s tempting to just acceptĪ stage directions without doing any interpretive work on your own. In theory, stage directions are helpful- they let us know at a glance which characters are coming and going and what they’re up to. To have a healthy amount of skepticism toward them, and sometimes the absolute best thing you can do is ignore them. In most Shakespeare editions are written by editors, not by Shakespeare himself, we can’t take Shakespearean stage directions for granted like we can in modern plays. It's their play! In my last post, I address how Shakespeare used (and didn’t use) stage directions when he was writing 400 years ago.

Why? Because we know they are written for us, the readers, by theĪuthor. The playwright knows exactly what they want to tell us, and where. The Romeo and Juliet full text is very long, so we have separated the play into it’s original Acts and Scenes.When we see stage directions in a contemporary play, we trust those stage directions. Some stage directions can be a little confusing, so have a read of our understanding Shakespeare’s stage directions article. Stage directions are instructions and direction to the actors, and not spoken lines. Our article on Shakespeare & early modern English, or our Shakespeare dictionary, will help you to understand the language as you read through the original textĪnother thing to bear in mind as you read the Romeo and Juliet script are Shakespeare’s stage directions, which are italicised. The language used in Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet full text is slightly different to today’s modern English, which is reflected in the text. This page contains links to the original Romeo and Juliet script by Shakespeare, split into Acts and Scenes. Each Shakespeare’s play name links to a range of resources about each play: Character summaries, plot outlines, example essays and famous quotes, soliloquies and monologues: All’s Well That Ends Well Antony and Cleopatra As You Like It The Comedy of Errors Coriolanus Cymbeline Hamlet Henry IV Part 1 Henry IV Part 2 Henry VIII Henry VI Part 1 Henry VI Part 2 Henry VI Part 3 Henry V Julius Caesar King John King Lear Loves Labour’s Lost Macbeth Measure for Measure The Merchant of Venice The Merry Wives of Windsor A Midsummer Night’s Dream Much Ado About Nothing Othello Pericles Richard II Richard III Romeo & Juliet The Taming of the Shrew The Tempest Timon of Athens Titus Andronicus Troilus & Cressida Twelfth Night The Two Gentlemen of Verona The Winter’s Tale

This list of Shakespeare plays brings together all 38 plays in alphabetical order.

Plays It is believed that Shakespeare wrote 38 plays in total between 15.

Balcony scene script