Love and Death in Egypt and Rome

Abstract

This paper looks at Shakespeare’s use of Italian sources in writing Romeo

and Juliet. My emphasis will be on the ways in which Shakespeare

understood Italian ideas about death and burial to differ from those

prevalent in England, and to explore what he gained by refuting the central

premise of all of Romeo and Juliet’s Italian sources: that their love would

have an afterlife beyond the grave. The paper will also consider

Shakespeare’s return to the topic in Antony and Cleopatra, in which he

imagines an alternative model for conceiving of posthumous love.

Keywords: Romeo and Juliet, Antony and Cleopatra, Death, Burial,

Posthumous love