ROMEO
AND
JULIET
William Shakespeare
(26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616)
AUTHOR OF
THE PLAY
WILLIAM
SHAKESPEARE
• Greatest writer in the English
language
• World’s Greatest Dramatist
• Playwright
• Poet
• Actor
SETTING
Verona, Italy
THEMES
Love as a Cause of Violence
• The themes of death and violence permeate Romeo and Juliet, and
they are always connected to passion, whether that passion is love
or hate. The connection between hate, violence, and death seems
obvious.
• This tragic choice is the highest, most potent expression of love
that Romeo and Juliet can make. It is only through death that they
can preserve their love, and their love is so profound that they are
willing to end their lives in its defense.
The Forcefulness of Love
• Romeo and Juliet is the most famous love story in the English literary
tradition. Love is naturally the play’s dominant and most important theme.
The play focuses on romantic love, specifically the intense passion that
springs up at first sight between Romeo and Juliet.
• In Romeo and Juliet, love is a violent, ecstatic, overpowering force that
supersedes all other values, loyalties, and emotions. In the course of the
play, the young lovers are driven to defy their entire social world: families
(“Deny thy father and refuse thy name,” Juliet asks, “Or if thou wilt not, be
but sworn my love, / And I’ll no longer be a Capulet”) and friends (Romeo
abandons Mercutio and Benvolio after the feast in order to go to Juliet’s
garden).
The Individual Versus Society
• Much of Romeo and Juliet involves the lovers’ struggles against public
and social institutions that either explicitly or implicitly oppose the
existence of their love.
The Inevitability of Fate
• The mechanism of fate works in all of the events surrounding the lovers:
the feud between their families (it is worth noting that this hatred is never
explained; rather, the reader must accept it as an undeniable aspect of the
world of the play); the horrible series of accidents that ruin Friar
Lawrence’s seemingly well-intentioned plans at the end of the play; and
the tragic timing of Romeo’s suicide and Juliet’s awakening. These events
are not mere coincidences, but rather manifestations of fate that help bring
about the unavoidable outcome of the young lovers’ deaths.
SYMBOLS
A symbol is something that stands for more than itself…
symbols in Romeo and Juliet include fire, stars, poison, roses,
and masks
• Fire – overwhelming passion, either love or hate
• Stars – fate, doomed love
• Poison – death, greed, falseness
• Rose – love and death, Juliet
• Mask – secrecy, putting up a false front
CHARACTERS
ROMEO
• The son and heir of Montague and Lady
Montague.
• A young man of about sixteen, Romeo is
handsome, intelligent, and sensitive.
• Though impulsive and immature, his idealism
and passion make him an extremely likable
character.
• He lives in the middle of a violent feud
between his family and the Capulets, but he is
not at all interested in violence.
• His only interest is love.
JULIET
• The daughter of Capulet and Lady Capulet.
• A beautiful thirteen-year-old girl, Juliet begins
the play as a naïve child who has thought little
about love and marriage, but she grows up
quickly upon falling in love with Romeo, the
son of her family’s great enemy.
• Because she is a girl in an aristocratic family,
she has none of the freedom Romeo has to roam
around the city, climb over walls in the middle
of the night, or get into swordfights.
TYBALT
• A Capulet, Juliet’s cousin on her mother’s side.
Vain, fashionable, supremely aware of courtesy
and the lack of it.
• He becomes aggressive, violent, and quick to
draw his sword when he feels his pride has been
injured.
• Once drawn, his sword is something to be
feared. He loathes Montagues.
MERCUTIO
• A kinsman to the Prince, and Romeo’s close
friend. One of the most extraordinary characters
in all of Shakespeare’s plays.
• He can be quite hot-headed, and hates people
who are affected, pretentious, or obsessed with
the latest fashions.
• He finds Romeo’s romanticized ideas about
love tiresome and tries to convince Romeo to
view love as a simple matter of sexual appetite.
BENVOLIO
• Montague’s nephew, Romeo’s cousin and
thoughtful friend.
• Benvolio makes a genuine effort to defuse
violent scenes in public places, though Mercutio
accuses him of having a nasty temper in private.
• He spends most of the play trying to help
Romeo get his mind off Rosaline, even after
Romeo has fallen in love with Juliet.
FRIAR LAURENCE/LAWRENCE
• A Franciscan friar, friend to both Romeo and
Juliet.
• Kind, civic-minded, a proponent of moderation,
and always ready with a plan, Friar Lawrence
secretly marries the impassioned lovers in hopes
that the union might eventually bring peace to
Verona.
• As well as being a Catholic holy man, Friar
Lawrence is also an expert in the use of
seemingly mystical potions and herbs.
PARIS
• A kinsman of the Prince, and the suitor of Juliet
most preferred by Capulet.
• Once Capulet has promised him he can marry
Juliet, he behaves very presumptuous toward
her, acting as if they are already married.
JULIET’S NURSE
• Juliet’s nurse, the woman who breast-fed Juliet
when she was a baby and has cared for Juliet
her entire life.
• A vulgar, long-winded, and sentimental
character, the Nurse provides comic relief with
her frequently inappropriate remarks and
speeches.
• But, until a disagreement near the play’s end,
the Nurse is Juliet’s faithful confidante and
loyal intermediary in Juliet’s affair with Romeo.
LORD CAPULET
• The patriarch of the Capulet family, father of
Juliet, husband of Lady Capulet, and enemy, for
unexplained reasons, of Montague.
• He truly loves his daughter, though he is not
well acquainted with Juliet’s thoughts or
feelings, and seems to think that what is best for
her is a “good” match with Paris.
• Often prudent, he commands respect and
propriety, but he is liable to fly into a rage when
either is lacking.
LADY CAPULET
• Juliet’s mother, Capulet’s wife.
• A woman who herself married young (by her
own estimation she gave birth to Juliet at close
to the age of fourteen), she is eager to see her
daughter marry Paris.
• She is an ineffectual mother, relying on the
Nurse for moral and pragmatic support.
LORD MONTAGUE
• Romeo’s father, the patriarch of the Montague
clan and bitter enemy of Capulet.
• At the beginning of the play, he is chiefly
concerned about Romeo’s melancholy.
LADY MONTAGUE
• Romeo’s mother, Montague’s wife.
• She dies of grief after Romeo is exiled from
Verona.
ROSALINE
• The woman with whom Romeo is infatuated at
the beginning of the play.
• Rosaline never appears onstage, but it is said by
other characters that she is very beautiful and
has sworn to live a life of chastity.
BALTHASAR
• Romeo’s dedicated servant, who brings Romeo
the news of Juliet’s death, unaware that her
death is a ruse.
THE APOTHECARY
• An apothecary in Mantua. Had he been
wealthier, he might have been able to afford to
value his morals more than money, and refused
to sell poison to Romeo.
ROMEO
AND
JULIET
William Shakespeare
(26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616)
ROMEO AND JULIET
On a hot summer's day, the young
men of each faction fight until the
Prince of Verona intercedes and
threatens to banish them. Soon after,
the head of the Capulet family plans a
feast. His goal is to introduce his
daughter Juliet to a Count named Paris
who seeks to marry Juliet.
Montague's son Romeo and his
friends (Benvolio and Mercutio) hear
of the party and resolve to go in
disguise. Romeo hopes to see his
beloved Rosaline at the party. Instead,
while there, he meets Juliet and falls
instantly in love with her. Juliet's
cousin Tybalt recognises the Montague
boys and forces them to leave just as
Romeo and Juliet discover one
another.
Romeo lingers near the Capulet
house to talk with Juliet when she
appears in her window. The pair
declare their love for one another
and intend to marry the next day.
With the help of Juliet's Nurse, the
lovers arrange to marry when Juliet
goes for confession at the cell of Friar
Laurence. There, they are secretly
married (talk about a short
engagement).
Following the secret marriage, Juliet's
cousin Tybalt sends a challenge to
Romeo. Romeo refuses to fight,
which angers his friend Mercutio who
then fights with Tybalt..
Mercutio is accidentally killed as
Romeo intervenes to stop the fight.
In anger, Romeo pursues Tybalt,
kills him, and is banished by the
Prince.
Juliet is anxious when Romeo is late to meet her
and learns of the brawl, Tybalt's death, and Romeo's
banishment. Friar Laurence arranges for Romeo to
spend the night with Juliet before he leaves for
Mantua. Meanwhile, the Capulet family grieves for
Tybalt, so Lord Capulet moves Juliet's marriage to
Paris to the next day. Juliet’s parents are angry
when Juliet doesn't want to marry Paris, but they
don't know about her secret marriage to Romeo.
Friar Laurence helps Juliet by
providing a sleeping draught that will
make her seem dead. When the
wedding party arrives to greet Juliet the
next day, they believe she is dead. The
Friar sends a messenger to warn Romeo
of Juliet's plan and bids him to come to
the Capulet family monument to rescue
his sleeping wife.
Juliet takes a potion, given her by the
friar, that makes her appear dead. The
friar will send Romeo word to be at her
family tomb when she awakes. The vital
message to Romeo doesn't arrive in
time because the plague is in town (so
the messenger cannot leave Verona).
Hearing from his servant that Juliet is
dead, Romeo buys poison from an
Apothecary in Mantua.
He returns to Verona and goes to the tomb
where he surprises and kills the mourning
Paris. Romeo takes his poison and dies, while
Juliet awakens from her drugged coma. She
learns what has happened from Friar
Laurence, but she refuses to leave the tomb
and stabs herself. The Friar returns with the
Prince, the Capulets, and Romeo's lately
widowed father. The deaths of their children
lead the families to make peace, and they
promise to erect a monument in Romeo and
Juliet's memory.
If you will be given a chance to
What do you think is the motive
be Romeo or Juliet, are you going
of Lord Capulet in marrying his
to do the same decision marrying
daughter to Paris despite
the man of your love even if he is
Juliet’s young age?
the enemy of your family?
