Romeo and Juliet: A New Context for Victory?
Romeo and Juliet: A New Context for Victory?

Summary/Abstract: The contention of the present comparative study is that the closest Shakespearean work to Conrad’s Victory is not The Tempest, as has previously been thought, but Romeo and Juliet. Besides various thematic links between these two texts, also noted by Adam Gillon (1976), I argue that Victory and Romeo and Juliet are connected on the level of genre, plot, and characterization, with whole scenes in Conrad’s novel mirroring those in Shakespeare’s play. In conclusion I suggest that the striking similarities between the two works can either be explained by a conscious desire on Conrad’s part to imitate Shakespeare’s art, or by a kind of involuntary emulation, whereby the novelist had so far assimilated the Bard’s work as to follow it unconsciously while composing his own novel.

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