Romeo and Juliet — Complete Revision Guide

The Prologue, a sonnet, tells the audience that “star-cross'd lovers” from two feuding families will die, and only their deaths will end the feud. A street brawl between Montague and Capulet servants escalates until Prince Escalus threatens death for further disturbances. Romeo (a Montague) is lovesick over Rosaline, using artificial Petrarchan oxymorons (“O brawling love, O loving hate”). Benvolio and Mercutio persuade him to gate-crash the Capulet ball. At the ball, Romeo sees Juliet and falls instantly in love, forgetting Rosaline entirely. They share a sonnet (the “pilgrim” sonnet) and kiss, then discover they belong to enemy families. Tybalt, Juliet's cousin, recognises Romeo and swears revenge but is restrained by Lord Capulet.

Romeo sneaks into the Capulet orchard and overhears Juliet on her balcony wishing he were not a Montague (“What's in a name?”). They declare their love and plan to marry the next day. Romeo asks Friar Lawrence to perform the ceremony. The Friar agrees, hoping the marriage will end the feud. Juliet's Nurse acts as a go-between. Romeo and Juliet are secretly married that afternoon. The speed of events is deliberate: Shakespeare compresses everything to heighten urgency and the sense of fate.

This is the play's pivotal act. Tybalt challenges Romeo to a duel. Romeo refuses (because Tybalt is now his kinsman by marriage), but Mercutio fights Tybalt instead. Romeo intervenes and Mercutio is fatally wounded under Romeo's arm. Dying, Mercutio curses both houses: “A plague o' both your houses!” Enraged, Romeo kills Tybalt in revenge and is banished from Verona by the Prince. Juliet learns of Tybalt's death and Romeo's banishment and is torn (“Beautiful tyrant! fiend angelical!”). Romeo spends one night with Juliet before fleeing to Mantua. Lord Capulet, unaware of the marriage, arranges Juliet's marriage to Count Paris. When Juliet refuses, Capulet threatens to disown her.

Juliet goes to Friar Lawrence in desperation. He gives her a potion that will make her appear dead for 42 hours. The plan: she will be laid in the Capulet tomb, Romeo will be informed by letter, and he will rescue her when she wakes. Juliet takes the potion alone the night before her wedding to Paris, delivering a powerful soliloquy about her fears. The Capulet household discovers her apparently dead body and the wedding becomes a funeral.

The plan fails because Friar Lawrence's letter never reaches Romeo in Mantua (Friar John is quarantined due to plague). Romeo's servant Balthasar brings news of Juliet's “death” instead. Romeo buys poison (“Then I defy you, stars!”) and rides to Verona. At the tomb, he encounters Paris, kills him, then drinks poison beside Juliet's body. Juliet wakes moments later, finds Romeo dead, and kills herself with his dagger. The Friar confesses everything. The grief-stricken Montagues and Capulets finally make peace. The Prince concludes: “All are punish'd.”