"Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet inspired by Nizami's Layli and Maj"
Lyra
Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet inspired by Nizami’s Layli and Maj
January 27, 2008
“From Arab and Habib folklore the story passed into Persian
literature, and in 12th century, Nizami wrote a famous adaptation of
Layli and Majnun in Persian. In his adaptation, the young lovers
become acquainted at school and desperately fall in love. However,
they cannot see each other because of a family feud, and Laila’s
family arranges for her to marry another man. It is a tragic story of
undying love much like the later Romeo and Juliet, which was itself
said to have been inspired by a Latin version of Layla and Majnun to
an extent. [4]
However, Shakespearean scholars deny any such influence.[5]. The
Azerbaijani Turkish adaptation of the story, Dâstân-ı Leylî vü Mecnûn
(داستان ليلى و مجنون; “The Epic of Layla and Majnun”) was written in
16th century by Fuzûlî. In Azerbaijan, Fuzûlî’s adaptation of Layli
and Majnun was made into an opera by the renowned Azerbaijani composer
Uzeyir Hajibeyov and staged in Baku on January 25, 1908.
The myth has influenced many Middle Eastern poets, especially Sufi
writers in whose literature the name Leyli/Layla suggests a reference
to their concept of the Beloved. The name has also found its way into
modern occult literature in connection with the archetype called
Babylon or Babalon. These writings use the spelling Laylah, which also
suggests the Arabic and Hebrew words for night. Where romance outside
of marriage is frowned upon, the name Layla has influenced other
aspects of Middle Eastern culture. The name ‘Layla’ means ‘one who
works by night’, referring to the fact that the romance was hidden and
kept a secret.
In Turkey, the phrase “To feel like Layla” is used to describe the
feeling one gets when one is completely “out-of-it” and dazed, or,
like Majnun, to be crazily in love. The word ‘Majnun‘ (or Majnoon) in
Persian and Arabic means ‘crazy’. It is also a common motif used in
the Muslim literature of South Asia, especially in Urdu ghazals
(wikipedia article).”
Among the poems attributed to Qays bin al-Mullawah, regarding
Layla:<SUP class=reference id=”_ref-5[6]
I pass by these walls, the walls of Layla
And I kiss this wall and that wall
It’s not Love of the houses that has taken my heart
But of the One who dwells in those houses
In the late 19th century, Ahmed Shawqi wrote a poetic play about the
tragedy. Qay’s lines from the play are sometimes confused with his
actual poems. The play is considered one of the best in modern Arab
poetry.
The story is also featured in Bahá’u'lláh’s Sufi writings, the Seven
Valleys.
Webliography and Bibliography
ArRalm. “The Original Legend in Arabic Literature” >> ArtArena.
Accessed January 26, 2008.
Coker, J. T. 2000. “Follow Your Heart: The Story of Layla and Majnun.”
Sunrise. June/July. Theosophical University Press.
Mabillard, Amanda. 2007. “An Analysis of Shakespeare’s Sources for
Romeo and Juliet”. Shakespeare Online. Unable to access January 26,
2008.
Perlm. “Layli and Madjnun in Persian Literature” >> ArtArena. Accessed
January 26, 2008.
Rabbani, Faraz. 2006. “Loss of Meaning.” Islamica Magazine. No. 15.
Smith, Paul. “Nizami: Layla and Majnun.” [3]
Symon, Roz. “Romeo and Juliet sources.” Royal Shakespeare Company Play
Guide. >> Royal Shakespeare Company. http://www.rsc.org.uk/romeo/about/sources.html
>> Royal Shakespeare Company site. Accessed January 26, 2008.
Wikipedia Layla and Majnun http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Layla_and_Majnun#_note-3
Last accessed January 26, 2008.
Mabillard, Amanda. 2007. “An Analysis of Shakespeare’s Sources for
Romeo and Juliet”. Shakespeare Online. (09/12/07) , [1] . On
Shakespeare’s sources for Romeo and Juliet see further [2] , the Royal
Shakespeare Company site, [3].
Who’s Who
Mabillard, Amanda B.A. (Honors), from 1999-2003 (last updated
08/28/2005 compiled information for a site http://www.shakespeare-online.com/
intended to provide comprehensive and accurate information about the
Bard. She also wrote the Guide to Shakespeare for About, Inc., A part
of The New York Times Company, where she published her original
articles on Shakespeare’s life and works. Her site was listed as a
Wiki source, however the link to her article, “An Analysis of
Shakespeare’s Sources for Romeo and Juliet” is a deadlink.
Roz Symon is RSC’s Play Guide Writer and Editor. Royal Shakespeare
Company is a new Romeo and Juliet Play Guide, a unique resource
offering readers detailed insights to the process of theatre. Through
extracts from rehearsal diaries and a series of interviews with
directors, designers and actors, you can learn more about Peter Gill’s
production of Romeo and Juliet [RSC 2004-5] and more about the play in
general. The Guide also offers practical, entertaining ways for
students, teachers and life-long learners to explore a 400-year old
performance text. The Guide includes photographs of past productions,
film versions of the play, the Royal Shakespeare Company rehearsal
process, Shakespeare’s life and times, stage fighting or design
issues. His site was listed as a Wiki source.
?symon?>Roz Symon, writer and editor of of the Royal Shakespeare
Company’s online site, while there are a number of versions of love
stories written in the mid-15th century to mid-16th century that are
similar to Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet there is there is no
evidence to suggest that Shakespeare read them. “Ephesiaca is a 5th-
century story (printed in 1726 and translated into English the
following year) which tells the story of a woman called Anthia, who is
separated from her husband and rescued from robbers by Perilaus. To
avoid marrying Perilaus, Anthia obtains a draught from a physician
which she thinks will kill her, but which turns out only to be a
sleeping potion. She awakes in a tomb and is carried off by tomb-
robbers to other adventures.”
“The theme of star-crossed lovers became popular in Renaissance Italy.
Masuccio’s Il Novellino (1476) includes the story of Mariotto and
Giannozza of Sienna, who are secretly married by a Friar, after which
Mariotto quarrels with a prominent citizen, kills him and is exiled to
Alexandria. Giannozza’s father chooses a husband for her but to avoid
marriage, Giannozza gets a sleeping potion from the Friar, sends word
to her husband of what’s going to happen, is buried, taken from the
tomb by the Friar, and sets sails for Alexandria. By a cruel twist of
fate, the messenger carrying her letter is captured by pirates and
Mariotto, hearing she has died, returns to Sienna disguised as a
pilgrim. Trying to open the tomb, he is seized and beheaded. Giannozza
makes her way home to Sienna and dies in a convent.”
Symon claimed that Luigi da Porto’s tale of Montecchi and Cappelletti”
entitled Istoria Novellamente Ritrovata di due Nobili Amanti
(published c. 1530) is closer to Shakespeare’s play. “The story is set
in Verona, the lovers, Romeo and Giulietta, are aristocrats. Their
families - the Montecchi and the Cappelletti - are sworn enemies.
Romeo goes disguised to a Carnival ball at the Cappelletti’s house,
hoping to see the object of his unrequited love. There, Giulietta
falls in love with him at first sight, he abandons his pursuit of
unrequited love and later climbs up to Giulietta’s balcony to woo her.
Hoping their union will reconcile the two houses, they go to a
Franciscan Friar, Lorenzo, who marries them hoping that peace will
follow. He is wrong. At the end of the story, Giulietta awakes before
Romeo dies and so they have the chance to speak to each other.
Giulietta ‘drew in her breath and held it long, and then, uttering a
great cry, fell dead on the corpse of Romeo’ (Symon). ”
“There are other versions dating back to the mid 16-centruy but
Shakespeare’s main source is undoubtedly Arthur Brooke’s long poem The
Tragicall Historye of Romeus and Juliet (1562), which text is a loose
translation of Boiastuau (Symon).”
Romeo and Juliet before Shakespeare: four early stories of star-
crossed love (Toronto: Centre for Reformation and Renaissance studies,
2000) contains four early versions of the Romeo and Juliet story :
Mariotto and Ganozza by Masuccio Salernitano, A tale about two noble
lovers by Luigi da Porto, The unfortunate death of two most wrethched
lovers by Matteo Bandello and Of two lovers by Pierre Boaistuau.
Flynn-Burhoe, Maureen. 2008. “Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet inspired
by Nizami’s Layli and Majnun.”>> Google Docs. http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=ddp3qxmz_507ct84shfc
Updated January, 26.
Posted by Maureen Flynn-Burhoe Filed in Tag Clouds