How Old Romeo
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While answering a different question, I wanted to find out Romeo's age in the Shakespeare play Romeo and Juliet. It's well known that Juliet is 13, and generally assumed that Romeo is older (hence the occasional modern-day accusation that he's a paedophile), but what's the actual evidence for the latter? I've looked up about this online and found various places saying essentially that we don't know Romeo's age, but I'd be interested to see all the textual (or extratextual) evidence regarding this.
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Shakespeare's main sources for Romeo and Juliet were
There is no evidence that Shakespeare read any of the French or Italian sources for this story, such as Pierre Boaistuau or Matteo Bandello.
In Brooke's narrative poem, Juliet is sixteen years old ("At sixteen years I first did choose my loving fere," she says), while in Shakespeare's play, her mother says, "[s]he's not fourteen" (Act I, scene 3).
Brooke does not mention Romeus' age. Near the beginning of the poem, he introduces him as
One Romeus, who was of race a Montague,
Upon whose tender chin, as yet, no manlike beard there grew,
so he's probably not much older than Juliet.
According to Painter, who follows Boaistuau, he is
Both Brooke's and Shakespeare's Romeo seem younger than this. Based on Romeo's and Juliet's relative maturity, I would argue that Shakespeare's Romeo is not much older than Juliet. In the introduction to the New Cambridge Shakespeare edition of Romeo and Juliet (second edition, 2003), G. Blakemore Evans writes,
Critics have often pointed out that Juliet is a stronger personality than Romeo and that she wins through an almost frightening maturity more quickly. We sense this in her poised and playfully serious exchange with Romeo at their first meeting (1.5) and it is underscored in the famous window scene (2.2), where she shows herself more thoughtful, prudent and realistic than Romeo, though no less deeply engaged, in sensing the tragic threat involved in such 'sudden haste': (...)
(He then goes on to quote Act II, scene 2, 116-220: "Although I joy in thee, ...")
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We don't know much. About the only concrete data is that he's described as a "youth". We also know that his parents and Juliet's parents are social peers, which implies that they're of roughly similar age, but leaves room for him to be considerably older without violating the text.
I think his flightiness and moodiness makes an interpretation of "mid to late teens" most justified, but I think you could justify a pedophile interpretation if you thought it made an interesting performance. I suspect that it would not, but I suppose it would be up to a director to try it and find out.
There is a more interesting question in the age of Paris, who is often portrayed as considerably older and a figure of disgust, but that isn't a requirement of the text. It is also possible to portray him as only slightly older and a sympathetic figure, one whom Juliet might have made a tolerable match were she not overcome by what she imagines to be true love. Setting up Romeo as a much older man could have some interesting implications for his unjustified murder of Paris.
It is noteworthy, I think, that Juliet is considerably younger than women were usually married in England at the time. Shakespeare's wife was in her late 20s, and that was much more the custom. Marrying Juliet off at 12 or 13 would not be impossible, but definitely unusual. Shakespeare often used foreign settings to gain some distance from everyday British customs. Romeo and Juliet are characters of exaggerated emotion, which fits well with the behavior of young teens, and less well with more mature characters.
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Was she also considerably younger than women were usually married in Italy at the time? – Rand al'Thor♦ Aug 25 '17 at 18:21
Also, this answer might be improved by comparing Shakespeare's play with the R&J story he ripped it off from. I've read that in that earlier story their ages were explicitly given. – Rand al'Thor♦ Aug 25 '17 at 18:22
I don't know the age of marriage in Italy at the time... but neither would most of Shakespeare's audience, and probably not Shakespeare either. – Joshua Engel Aug 25 '17 at 18:25
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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The balcony scene in Romeo and Juliet as depicted by Ford Madox Brown (1869-70)
Romeo Montague (Italian: Romeo Montecchi) is the male protagonist of William Shakespeare's tragedy, Romeo and Juliet. The son of Lord Montague and his wife, Lady Montague, he secretly loves and marries Juliet, a member of the rival House of Capulet, through a priest named Friar Laurence. Forced into exile after slaying Juliet's cousin, Tybalt, in a duel, Romeo commits suicide upon hearing falsely of Juliet's death.
The character's origins can be traced as far back as Pyramus, who appears in Ovid's Metamorphoses, but the first modern incarnation of Romeo is Mariotto in the 33rd of Masuccio Salernitano's Il Novellino (1476). This story was reworked in 1524 by Luigi da Porto as Giulietta e Romeo (published posthumously in 1531). Da Porto named the character Romeo Montecchi and his storyline is near-identical to Shakespeare's adaptation.[1] Since no 16th-century direct English translation of Giulietta e Romeo is known, Shakespeare's main source is thought to be Arthur Brooke's English verse translation of a French translation of a 1554 adaptation by Matteo Bandello.[2] Although both Salernitano and da Porto claimed that their stories had historical basis, there is little evidence that this is the case.
Romeo, an only child like Juliet, is one of the most important characters of the play, and has a consistent presence throughout it. His role as an idealistic lover has led the word "Romeo" to become a synonym for a passionate male lover in various languages. Although often treated as such, it is not clear that "Montague" is a surname in the modern sense.
The earliest tale bearing a resemblance to Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet is Xenophon of Ephesus' Ephesiaca, whose heroic figure is a Habrocomes. The character of Romeo is also similar to that of Pyramus in Ovid's Metamorphoses, a youth who is unable to meet the object of his affection due to an ancient family quarrel, and later kills himself due to mistakenly believing her to have been dead.[3] Although it is unlikely that Shakespeare directly borrowed from Ovid while writing Romeo and Juliet, the story was likely an influence on the Italian writers whom the playwright was greatly indebted to.[4] The two sources which Shakespeare most likely consulted are Brooke's translation of de Porta and William Painter's The goodly historye of the true, and constant Love between Romeo and Juliet.[5]
Romeo and Juliet has been adapted into film several times, and the part of Romeo has been played by several actors, including
^ da Porto, Luigi (1868). "The Original Story of Romeo and Juliet". In Pace-Sanfelice, G. (ed.). The original story of Romeo and Juliet by Luigi da Porto. From which Shakespeare evidently drew the subject of his drama. Being the Italian text of 1530, and an English translation, together with a critical preface, historical and bibliographical notes and illustrations. Translated by Pace-Sanfelice, G. Cambridge: Deighton, Bell, and co. hdl:2027/mdp.39015082232961.
^ Hunter, Lynette; Lichfield, Peter (2009). Negotiating Shakespeare's language in Romeo and Juliet: reading strategies from criticism, editing and the theatre. Farnham, England: Ashgate Publishing. p. 93. ISBN 978-0-7546-5844-3.
^ Halio, Jay (1998). Romeo and Juliet: A Guide to the Play. Hoboken, New Jersey: Blackwell Publishing. p. 93. ISBN 1-4051-1396-0.
^ Bevington, David M. (2006). How to read a Shakespeare play. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press. p. 37. ISBN 0-313-30089-5.
^ Hunter & Lichfield, p. 11
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