R. S. WHITE is Professor of English at the University of Western Australia.

As one of the world's greatest love stories Romeo and Juliet continues to excite new theatre-goers, readers and film-goers. Its depiction of tragic lovers strikes a chord in each generation of young people, and seems to speak in their own idiom. As such, it reflects, and allows us to analyse, changing attitudes to sex in a violent world. This collection of contemporary essays raises topical debates about the nature of love conventions, as well as offering new insights into Shakespeare's text.

Acknowledgements
General Editors' Preface
Introduction: What is this Thing Called Love?; R.S. White
'Death-marked love': Desire and Presence in Romeo and Juliet; L. Davis
The Name of the Rose in Romeo and Juliet; C. Belsey
Romeo and Juliet: Love-Hatred in the Couple; J. Kristeva
The Ideology of Romantic Love: The Case of Romeo and Juliet; D. C. Callaghan
'The Murdering Word'; K. Ryan
Baz Luhrmann's William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet; B. Hodgdon
The Servants; B. Brecht
Romeo and Juliet: The Nurse's Story; B. Everett
Eloquence and Liminality: Glossing Mercutio's Speech Acts; J. A. Porter
Romeo and Juliet's Open Rs; J. Goldberg
Further Reading
Notes on Contributors
Index.