Romeo and Juliet is set in Verona, Italy, where there is an ongoing feud between the Montague and Capulet families. The play opens with servants from both houses engaged in a street brawl that eventually draws in the family patriarchs and the city officials, including Prince Escalus. The Prince ends the conflict by issuing a decree that prohibits any further fighting at the risk of great punishment.Meanwhile, Romeo, a young man from the Montague house, laments his unrequited love for a woman named Rosaline, who has vowed to remain chaste for the rest of her life. Romeo and his friend Benvolio happen to stumble across a Capulet servant, Peter, who is trying to read a list of invitees to a masked party at the Capulet house that evening. Romeo helps Peter read the list and decides to attend the party because Rosaline will be there. He plans to wear a mask so that he will nobody will recognize him as a Montague.

シェイクスピアが描いた本作の本質は、代々続く憎しみの連鎖という過酷な社会的制約と、若者の純粋すぎる情熱が衝突した時に生じる「刹那の輝き」にあります。ロザラインへの未練から一転、宿命の恋に身を投じるロミオの姿は、理屈を超えた愛の暴力性と圧倒的な生命力を、比類なき詩的言語で鮮烈に描き出しています。 注釈付きの本書は、難解な古典の壁を取り払い、言葉の裏に隠された象徴や歴史的背景を丁寧に紐解きます。死を予感しながらも自らの意志で光を求めた恋人たちの軌跡は、時代を超えて読む者の魂を激しく揺さぶり、真に生きることの意味を情熱的に問いかけてくるはずです。