What exactly happened when Romeo and Juliet, the

world's most famous lovers, met for the first time? We know

that the young couple met one evening in July and declared

their love for each other immediately. We know that they

married the next day and shortly afterwards proved that

they were willing to die for one another. But why Romeo,

wherefore Juliet? Juliet found Romeo irresistible, yet he was

recently rejected out of hand by her cousin Rosaline. Juliet

herself was a beautiful young woman, but 'all the admired

beauties of Verona' were also present at the banquet where

they met. What made Juliet, rather than any other woman

present, so special in Romeo's eyes?

Shakespeare hints at many answers to such questions in

the text of the play. In this book those hints are expanded

and augmented by comments from some two hundred

other writers, poets and the occasional scientist. Justifiable

speculation allows more than 160 factors

that contributed to their mutual passion to be identified and

discussed.

When Romeo Met Juliet is meant to lead to a deeper

understanding of Shakespeare's play, but it aims to do more

than that. Using the Romeo-Juliet experience as a case

study, it attempts to throw light on the mystery of human

attraction that we know as 'falling in love.' For a privileged

few, it is 'love at first sight.' That, Juliet suggests, is like

being struck by lightning, but we suspect that it is how

love should be.