At its premiere in the late 1590s, Romeo & Juliet was a smash hit. The script was published twice within five years of the play’s release, a feat unheard of in a population boasting only a 40% literacy rate. It was poised to be a hit from the start: Shakespeare’s audiences already knew and loved the story.
Like other playwrights of the era, Shakespeare took inspiration for many of his plays from existing stories. The audiences of Elizabethan England didn't want new stories: they wanted the tales and myths they loved. The playwrights of the era responded appropriately: few plays released in the Elizabethan era, including the works of Shakespeare, were original material. Instead, playwrights put the material of other writers in their characters' mouths.
Shakespeare’s romantic drama Romeo & Juliet was based on a popular Italian novella, Matteo Bandello’s The Tragical History of Romeus and Juliet. The novella was translated into English in 1564 and quickly became a bestseller. The story of two teenagers defying their parents for the sake of true love was romantic and glamorous: everyone was talking about it. Shakespeare made a few small changes to the story, but the tale of Montagues and Capulets remained generally the same. Audiences flocked to see the novella they loved come to life onstage and the rest, as they say, is history.