Romeo and
Juliet
William Shakespeare
In the streets
of Verona another brawl breaks out between the servants of the feuding noble
families of Capulet and Montague. Benvolio, a Montague, tries to stop the fighting,
but is himself embroiled when the rash Capulet, Tybalt, arrives on the scene.
After citizens outraged by the constant violence beat back the warring
factions, Prince Escalus, the ruler of Verona, attempts to prevent any further
conflicts between the families by decreeing death for any individual who
disturbs the peace in the future.
Romeo, the son of Montague, runs into his cousin Benvolio, who had earlier seen
Romeo moping in a grove of sycamores. After some prodding by Benvolio, Romeo
confides that he is in love with Rosaline, a woman who does not return his
affections. Benvolio counsels him to forget this woman and find another, more
beautiful one, but Romeo remains despondent.
Meanwhile,
Paris, a kinsman of the Prince, seeks Juliet’s hand in marriage. Her father
Capulet, though happy at the match, asks Paris to wait two years, since Juliet
is not yet even fourteen. Capulet dispatches a servant with a list of people to
invite to a masquerade and feast he traditionally holds. He invites Paris to the
feast, hoping that Paris will begin to win Juliet’s heart.
Romeo and
Benvolio, still discussing Rosaline, encounter the Capulet servant bearing the
list of invitations. Benvolio suggests that they attend, since that will allow
Romeo to compare his beloved to other beautiful women of Verona. Romeo agrees
to go with Benvolio to the feast, but only because Rosaline, whose name he
reads on the list, will be there.
In Capulet’s
household, young Juliet talks with her mother, Lady Capulet, and her nurse
about the possibility of marrying Paris. Juliet has not yet considered
marriage, but agrees to look at Paris during the feast to see if she thinks she
could fall in love with him.
The feast
begins. A melancholy Romeo follows Benvolio and their witty friend Mercutio to
Capulet’s house. Once inside, Romeo sees Juliet from a distance and instantly
falls in love with her; he forgets about Rosaline completely. As Romeo watches
Juliet, entranced, a young Capulet, Tybalt, recognizes him, and is enraged that
a Montague would sneak into a Capulet feast. He prepares to attack, but Capulet
holds him back. Soon, Romeo speaks to Juliet, and the two experience a profound
attraction. They kiss, not even knowing each other’s names. When he finds out
from Juliet’s nurse that she is the daughter of Capulet—his family’s enemy—he
becomes distraught. When Juliet learns that the young man she has just kissed
is the son of Montague, she grows equally upset.
As Mercutio and Benvolio leave the Capulet estate, Romeo leaps over the orchard
wall into the garden, unable to leave Juliet behind. From his hiding place, he
sees Juliet in a window above the orchard and hears her speak his name. He
calls out to her, and they exchange vows of love.
Romeo hurries to
see his friend and confessor Friar Lawrence, who, though shocked at the sudden
turn of Romeo’s heart, agrees to marry the young lovers in secret since he sees
in their love the possibility of ending the age-old feud between Capulet and
Montague. The following day, Romeo and Juliet meet at Friar Lawrence’s cell and
are married. The Nurse, who is privy to the secret, procures a ladder, which
Romeo will use to climb into Juliet’s window for their wedding night.
The next day,
Benvolio and Mercutio encounter Tybalt—Juliet’s cousin—who, still enraged that
Romeo attended Capulet’s feast, has challenged Romeo to a duel. Romeo appears.
Now Tybalt’s kinsman by marriage, Romeo begs the Capulet to hold off the duel
until he understands why Romeo does not want to fight. Disgusted with this plea
for peace, Mercutio says that he will fight Tybalt himself. The two begin to
duel. Romeo tries to stop them by leaping between the combatants. Tybalt stabs
Mercutio under Romeo’s arm, and Mercutio dies. Romeo, in a rage, kills Tybalt.
Romeo flees from the scene. Soon after, the Prince declares him forever
banished from Verona for his crime. Friar Lawrence arranges for Romeo to spend
his wedding night with Juliet before he has to leave for Mantua the following
morning.
In her room,
Juliet awaits the arrival of her new husband. The Nurse enters, and, after some
confusion, tells Juliet that Romeo has killed Tybalt. Distraught, Juliet
suddenly finds herself married to a man who has killed her kinsman. But she
resettles herself, and realizes that her duty belongs with her love: to Romeo.
Romeo sneaks
into Juliet’s room that night, and at last they consummate their marriage and
their love. Morning comes, and the lovers bid farewell, unsure when they will
see each other again. Juliet learns that her father, affected by the recent
events, now intends for her to marry Paris in just three days. Unsure of how to
proceed—unable to reveal to her parents that she is married to Romeo, but
unwilling to marry Paris now that she is Romeo’s wife—Juliet asks her nurse for
advice. She counsels Juliet to proceed as if Romeo were dead and to marry
Paris, who is a better match anyway. Disgusted with the Nurse’s disloyalty,
Juliet disregards her advice and hurries to Friar Lawrence. He concocts a plan
to reunite Juliet with Romeo in Mantua. The night before her wedding to Paris,
Juliet must drink a potion that will make her appear to be dead. After she is
laid to rest in the family’s crypt, the Friar and Romeo will secretly retrieve
her, and she will be free to live with Romeo, away from their parents’ feuding.
Juliet returns
home to discover the wedding has been moved ahead one day, and she is to be
married tomorrow. That night, Juliet drinks the potion, and the Nurse discovers
her, apparently dead, the next morning. The Capulets grieve, and Juliet is
entombed according to plan. But Friar Lawrence’s message explaining the plan to
Romeo never reaches Mantua. Its bearer, Friar John, gets confined to a
quarantined house. Romeo hears only that Juliet is dead.
Romeo learns
only of Juliet’s death and decides to kill himself rather than live without
her. He buys a vial of poison from a reluctant Apothecary, then speeds back to
Verona to take his own life at Juliet’s tomb. Outside the Capulet crypt, Romeo
comes upon Paris, who is scattering flowers on Juliet’s grave. They fight, and
Romeo kills Paris. He enters the tomb, sees Juliet’s inanimate body, drinks the
poison, and dies by her side. Just then, Friar Lawrence enters and realizes
that Romeo has killed Paris and himself. At the same time, Juliet awakes. Friar
Lawrence hears the coming of the watch. When Juliet refuses to leave with him,
he flees alone. Juliet sees her beloved Romeo and realizes he has killed
himself with poison. She kisses his poisoned lips, and when that does not kill
her, buries his dagger in her chest, falling dead upon his body.
The watch
arrives, followed closely by the Prince, the Capulets, and Montague. Montague
declares that Lady Montague has died of grief over Romeo’s exile. Seeing their
children’s bodies, Capulet and Montague agree to end their long-standing feud
and to raise gold statues of their children side-by-side in a newly peaceful
Verona.
Source: http://www.sparknotes.com/shakespeare/romeojuliet/summary.html
I am an English teacher in SMA N 1 Pati who love to read and write. -You know my name, not my story. You know what I've done, not what I've been through. If you were on my shoes, you'd fall at the first step.- ^_^
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