 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 retold in prose in Palace of Pleasure by William Painter in 1567 . Shakespeare borrowed heavily from both , but expanded the plot by developing a number of supporting characters , particularly Mercutio and Paris . Believed to have been written between 1591 and 1595 , the play was first published in a quarto version in 1597 . The text of the first quarto version was of poor quality , however , and later editions corrected the text to conform more closely with Shakespeare 's original . 
