Romeo and Juliet Romeo and Juliet Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare early in his career about two young star-crossed lovers whose deaths ultimately reconcile their feuding families. It was among Shakespeare's most popular plays during his lifetime and along with "Hamlet", is one of his most frequently performed plays. Today, the title characters are regarded as archetypal young lovers. "Romeo and Juliet" belongs to a tradition of tragic romances stretching back to antiquity. The plot is based on an Italian tale translated into verse as "The Tragical History of Romeus and Juliet" by Arthur Brooke in 1562 and
Their Eyes Were Watching God negroes." The hurricane that symbolizes the climax of Hurston's story also has an historical inspiration; in 1928, "a hurricane ravaged both coastal and inland areas of Florida, bringing torrential rains that broke the dikes of Lake Okeechobee". Scholars of the African diaspora note the cultural practices common to the Caribbean, Africa, and the United States in "Their Eyes Were Watching God". Hurston wrote "Their Eyes Were Watching God" while on a Guggenheim Fellowship in Haiti to research Obeah practices in the West Indies. Hurston's political views in "Their Eyes Were Watching God" were met with resistance from several leading Harlem