<DIV><EM>Romeo and Juliet</EM> is one of Shakespeare's most popular tragedies and has provoked a rich diversity of interpretations. Definitively passionate, it is much more than the archetypal love story: the play tests the limits of tragedy and comedy, challenges gender roles and explores the nature of language.<BR><BR>In this Reader's Guide, Gillian Woods:<BR><BR>• surveys key critical responses to Romeo and Juliet, from the sixteenth century to the twenty-first century<BR>• plots a clear route through the vast array of debates, identifying chronological and thematic connections and explaining contexts<BR>• investigates major issues and approaches such as deconstruction, psychoanalytical criticism, feminism and queer theory<BR>• discusses film adaptations, including Baz Luhrmann's 1996 box-office hit <EM>William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet</EM>.<BR><BR>Authoritative and accessible, this invaluable Guide provides students, teachers and researchers with a panorama of the play's critical history in all its dynamic variety.<BR></DIV>