Shakespeare's famous young lovers, however “star-crossed,” contribute crucially to their tragic fate. From a period between before “adoles-cence” was conceptualized or named, they offer vivid evidence of what we recognize as early adolescent passions, yearnings, and connections, their evocativeness and their dangers. Juliet especially is presented as eloquent in her remarkable awareness of powerful and unfamiliar feelings. The play exemplifies the useful bearings of imaginative literature and psychoanalysis on one another.