''The Jeweler's Shop'' (subtitled ''A Meditation on the Sacrament of Matrimony, Passing on Occasion into a Drama'') ( pl, Przed sklepem jubilera) is a three-act play, written in 1960 by Karol Wojtyła (later Pope John Paul II), that looks at three couples as their lives become intertwined and mingled with one another. The play looks at humanity's ideas and expectations of

romantic love Romance or romantic love is a feeling of love for, or a strong attraction towards another person, and the courtship behaviors undertaken by an individual to express those overall feelings and resultant emotions. The ''Wiley Blackwell Encyc ...

and

marriage Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognized union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children, and between ...

. It is a truthful and animated look at the way people are when in love and their motivations for entering into couplehood.

The play

Renaissance precursor

Four centuries earlier the

humanist Humanism is a philosophical stance that emphasizes the individual and social potential and agency of human beings. It considers human beings the starting point for serious moral and philosophical inquiry. The meaning of the term "human ...

poet Italian Cardinal

Pietro Bembo Pietro Bembo, ( la, Petrus Bembus; 20 May 1470 – 18 January 1547) was an Italian scholar, poet, and literary theorist who also was a member of the Knights Hospitaller, and a cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. As an intellectual of the ...

authored a prose work ''

Gli Asolani ''Gli Asolani'' (the people of Asolo) are dialogues in three books written between 1497 and 1504 by Pietro Bembo in the language of Petrarch and comprise his first important work. Although he had shown a copy to Lucrezia Borgia in 1503, the first ...

'' (''The People of Asoli'') using a similar framing device of a marriage feast to explore true love's deeper roots. Refuting a superficial analysis of subjective good vs bad experience, pithily characterized by Bembo as amare (bitter) and amore (sweet), he illustrates a third possibility. Reconciling pain and suffering with happiness and joy, human lovers can aim at the perfection of pure Platonic love, the ideal of cosmic transcendence or everlasting union. The first edition of that work was dedicated to

Lucrezia Borgia Lucrezia Borgia (; ca-valencia, Lucrècia Borja, links=no ; 18 April 1480 – 24 June 1519) was a Spanish-Italian noblewoman of the House of Borgia who was the daughter of Pope Alexander VI and Vannozza dei Cattanei. She reigned as the Gover ...

at whose husband's court he had been retained. While widely read in continental Europe at the time, the work was not translated into English until 1954.

Film adaptation

''The Jeweler's Shop'' was adapted to the screen (''

La Bottega dell'orefice ''The Jeweller's Shop'' ( it, La bottega dell'orefice) is a 1988 Italian-Austrian-Canadian-German drama film based on ''The Jeweler's Shop'', a play written by Karol Józef Wojtyła (Pope John Paul II) and scripted by Jeff Andrus, starring Burt ...

'') by director Michael Anderson and writer Jeff Andrus in 1989 with award-winning actors

Burt Lancaster Burton Stephen Lancaster (November 2, 1913 – October 20, 1994) was an American actor and producer. Initially known for playing tough guys with a tender heart, he went on to achieve success with more complex and challenging roles over a 45-yea ...

and

Olivia Hussey Olivia Hussey (born Olivia Osuna; 17 April 1951) is an English film, stage, and television actress. Her awards include a Golden Globe Award and a David di Donatello Award. The daughter of Argentine opera singer Andrés Osuna, Hussey was born i ...

. The film's title used the English spelling "Jeweller" rather than the American "Jeweler".

External links

''The Jeweler's Shop'' (Hardcover) at The Catholic Company''The Jeweler's Shop'' (Hardcover) at Amazon.comInformation on the film adaptation of the play at IMDb
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jewelers Shop, The Polish plays 1960 plays Works by Pope John Paul II