About Romeo and Juliet

Written in the mid-1590s and first published in 1597, Romeo and Juliet is

Shakespeare's first non-historical tragedy, and it is in many ways the

richest and most mature of his early works. The writing bears many of the

characteristics of Shakespeare's early work, with frequent use of end-

rhymes and an abundance of descriptive, metaphoric imagery.

Shakespeare did not invent the story of Romeo and Juliet. He did not, in

fact, even introduce the story into the English language. The generally,

and understandably, forgotten Arthur Brooks first brought the story of

Romeus and Juliet to an English-speaking audience in a long and

plodding poem that was itself not original, but rather an adaptation of

adaptations that stretched across nearly a hundred years and two

languages. Many of the details of Shakespeare's plot are lifted directly

from Brooks' poem, including the meeting of Romeo and Juliet at the

ball, their secret marriage, Romeo's fight with Tybalt, the sleeping potion,

and the timing of the lover's eventual suicides. Such appropriation of

other stories is characteristic of Shakespeare, who often wrote plays

based on earlier works. Two examples are Richard III, which Shakespeare

based in large part on Thomas More's excellent history of that English

king, and Hamlet, which is based on two known sources: one from France,

another from medieval Denmark. Shakespeare's use of existing material

as fodder for his plays should not be taken as a lack of originality.

Instead, readers should note how Shakespeare crafts his sources in

new ways while displaying a remarkable understanding of the literary

tradition in which he is working.

Shakespeare's version of Romeo and Juliet is no exception. The play

distinguishes itself from its predecessors in several important aspects: the

subtlety and originality of its characterization (Shakespeare almost wholly

created Mercutio); the intense pace of its action, which is compressed

from nine months into four frenetic days; a powerful enrichment of the

story's thematic aspects; and, above all, an extraordinary use of language.

Contemporary readers often view Shakespeare as having invented

literature, and thus see Shakespeare as having occupied an enviable

position in which he could create his masterpieces upon a blank and

impressionable slate. This is not true. By the time Shakespeare wrote, a

rich and ancient tradition of literature already existed. Romeo and Juliet, in

fact, bears a resemblance not only to the works on which it is based; it is

also quite similar in plot, theme, and dramatic ending to the story of

Pyramus and Thisbe, told by the great Roman poet Ovid in his

Metamorphoses. Shakespeare was quite aware of this; he includes a

reference to Thisbe in Romeo and Juliet. Shakespeare also includes

scenes from the story of Pyramus and Thisbe in the comically awful play-

within-a-play put on by Bottom and his friends in A Midsummer Night's

Dream—a play Shakespeare wrote around the same time he was

composing Romeo and Juliet. Indeed, one can look at the play-within-a-

play in A Midsummer Night's Dream as parodying the very story that

Shakespeare seeks to tell in Romeo and Juliet. If A Midsummer Night's

Dream and Romeo and Juliet are looked at as a pair, as the simultaneity

of their writing implies they could be, it appears likely that Shakespeare

wrote Romeo and Juliet in full knowledge that the story he was telling was

old, clichéd, and an easy target for parody. In writing Romeo and Juliet,

Shakespeare, then, implicitly set himself the task of telling a love story

despite the considerable forces he knew were stacked against its success.

Through the incomparable intensity of his language Shakespeare

succeeded in this effort, writing a play that is universally accepted in

Western culture as the preeminent, archetypal love story.

Synopsis

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; 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; 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 intuits that 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.