Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare has always been a very popular play. Joseph A. Bryant states this in his introduction, but there was never any real controversy. Written most likely in 1595, we learn from Bryant that it is considered one of Shakespeare's most mature works showing the pinnacle of his creativity (xxviii-xxx). Thanks to this creativity, the audience loves Romeo and Juliet. However, Bryant also tells us that "[among] professional scholars the work has generated less enthusiasm" (xxiii). Indeed, even if the play possesses an "ingenuity of language" and a particular "brilliance of characterization" (xxiii), Bryant informs us that critics are shocked by the importance that Shakespeare attributes to pathos, and therefore believe that the play lacks real ethics. Bryant also covers his introduction to the aesthetics of Romeo and Juliet with particular attention to the play's structure, language, and characters, as well as how the play is a good example of tragedy. Many readers may feel that Romeo and Juliet relies too much on pathos; which is just a tear-jerking love story. However, Bryant's response to those who think the work lacks true ethics is that they are looking at it from a modern point of view. The play really needs to be seen from the perspective of the Elizabethan audience of 1595. Bryant tells us that "[t]hey knew, by training, what to think of impetuous young lovers who deceived their parents and sought advice from the friars" ( XXIV). The Elizabethan public also knew that suicide was a sin (xxiv). This was common sense knowledge, and if viewed through the conventions of the society of the time, then, as Bryant states, the work “must automatically have had an abundance of ethical meaning” (xxiv). Bryant also praises Shakespeare for not attacking these commonly accepted ethical conventions, even though today's readers can clearly see that Shakespeare thought nothing wrong with this relationship and did not even hold Romeo and Juliet entirely responsible for the consequences (xxiv). But some modern readers, Bryant, tells us, are also uncomfortable with the numerous references to fate and destiny, and assume "that Shakespeare intended the play to be deterministic" (xxiv). Bryant tells us that Shakespeare promises "in the Prologue to show the 'pitiful reversals' of a 'pair of star-crossed lovers'" and then lets his characters continue to refer to fate for the rest of the play (xxv).