Setting

Physical setting

Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet is primarily set in the city of Verona, Italy. In Elizabethan England, Italians were considered very passionate people, partly due to the heat in Italy, so this setting underlines the violence of the young lovers’ emotions.

It is difficult to establish the time period in which the story takes place. We know that Shakespeare wrote the play in the early 1590s (during the Elizabethan era) and includes typical features of this era, such as violent street gangs and the plague. However, we also know that he based his play on older sources. The general consensus seems to be that the play takes place sometime in the 1300s, while reflecting the values and beliefs of Elizabethan England.

The physical setting is part of the narrative technique

If you are working with the entire play or a large extract, it is worth noticing that the setting and order of the individual scenes contribute to the narrative technique of the play. Shakespeare often switches - almost like an action film - between dramatic scenes taking place in the ope...