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Description edit
Shakespeare's tragedy about two young star-crossed lovers who defy their warring families' prejudices and dare to fall in love.
Ridiculously Simplified Synopsis edit
Summary edit
The play, set in Verona, begins with a street brawl between Montagues and Capulets who are sworn enemies. There is a street brawl and the Prince of Verona intervenes and declares that further breach of the peace will be punishable by death. Count Paris expresses his intention to marry Juliet... read more (warning: may contain spoilers)
Characters/People edit
- Romeo: The son of the Montagues. He is very romantic but extremely intense when it comes to relationships. Falls in love with Juilet
- Juliet: The daughter of the Capulets. She is thirteen years old. She's scared of marrying her suitor.
- Escalus: Prince of Verona. He keeps the peace in Verona also.
- Paris: a young count, kinsman to the prince, wishes to marry Juliet.
- The Nurse: Juliet’s nurse, the woman who raised 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. She provides a contrast with Juliet, given that her view of love is earthy and sexual, whereas Juliet is idealistic and intense. The Nurse believes in love and wants Juliet to have a nice-looking husband, but the idea that Juliet would want to sacrifice herself for love is incomprehensible to her.
- 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 the Montagues.
- Lord Montague: Head of one of the Montague family and Romeo's father.
- Lord Capulet: Head of the Capulet family and father of Juliet.
- Benvolio: nephew to Montague, and cousin/friend to Romeo, peace seeker
- Friar Laurence: 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!
- Mercutio: A kinsman to the Prince, and Romeo’s close friend. One of the most extraordinary characters in all of Shakespeare’s plays, Mercutio, overflows with imagination, wit, and, at times, a strange, biting satire and brooding fervor. Mercutio loves wordplay, especially sexual double entendres. He can be quite hotheaded, 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
- Friar John: of the Franciscan order. Sent to deliver Friar Laurence's letter to Romeo.
- Balthasar: Servant to Romeo/Montague household. Delievers him the news that Juliet is dead.
- Sampson: Servant to Lord Capulet/Capulet household
- Gregory: Servant to Lord Capulet/Capulet household
- Peter: Servant to Lord Capulet/Capulet household, travels with the Nurse.
- Abram: Servant to Lord Montague/Montague household .
- Apothecary: reluctantly sells Romeo poison
- Lady Montague: wife to Montague, mother of Romeo
- Lady Capulet: wife to Lord Capulet, mother of Juliet
- Rosaline: Romeo's unrequited love before meeting Juliet. niece of Lord Capulet.
Quotes edit
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“O, swear not by the moon, the inconstant moon.That monthly changes in her circled orb.Lest that thy love prove likewise variable.”
Juliet -
“O my love! my wife! Death, that hath suck'd the honey of thy breath Hath had no power yet upon thy beauty;”
Romeo -
“Come, gentle night, — come, loving black brow'd night, Give me my Romeo; and when he shall die, Take him and cut him out in little stars, And he will make the face of Heaven so fine That all the world will be in love with night, And pay no worship to the garish sun.”
Juliet -
“O Romeo, Romeo! wherefore art thou Romeo? Deny thy father and refuse thy name; Or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love, And I'll no longer be a Capulet.”
Juliet -
“Is love a tender thing? it is too rough, Too rude, too boisterous, and it pricks like thorn.”
Romeo -
“Sometime she driveth o’er a soldier’s neck, And then dreams he of cutting foreign throats, Of breaches, ambuscadoes, Spanish blades, Of healths five-fathom deep; and then anon Drums in his ear, at which he starts and wakes, And being thus frighted swears a prayer or two And sleeps again.”
Mercutio -
“Love is a smoke made with the fume of sighs; Being purged, a fire sparkling in lovers' eyes;Being vexed, a sea nourished with lovers' tears;What is it else? A madness most discreet,A choking gall, and a preserving sweet.”
Romeo -
“But soft, by yonder window breaks. It is the east and Juliet is the sun!”
Romeo -
“Wisely and slow; they stumble that run fast.”
Friar Laurence -
“What must be shall be”
Juliet -
“She speaks, yet she says nothing.”
Romeo -
“A pair a star-crossed lovers take their life”
Chorus -
“Ay me, sad hours seem long.”
Romeo -
“Alas that love, so gentle in his view, Should be so tyrannous and rough in proof!”
Benvolio -
“And I will make thee think thy swan a crow.”
Benvolio -
“O, then I see Queen Mab hath been with you. She is the fairies midwife.”
Mercutio -
“O, she doth teach the torches to burn bright! It seems she hangs upon the cheek of night As a rich jewel in an Ethiop's ear”
Romeo -
“You kiss by th' book.”
Juliet -
“He jests at scars that never felt a wound But soft, what light through yonder window breaks?”
Romeo -
“O, swear not by the moon, th' inconstant moon, That monthly changes in her circled orb, Lest that thy love prove likewise variable.”
Juliet -
“Love goes toward love as schoolboys from their books, But love from love, toward school with heavy looks.”
Romeo -
“How silver-sweet sound lover's tongues by night, Like softest music to attending ears.”
Romeo -
“Thy head is as full of quarrels as an egg is full of meat, and yet thy head hath been beaten as addle as an egg for quarreling.”
Mercutio -
“No, 'tis not so deep as a well, nor so wide as a church door, but 'tis enough. 'Twill serve.”
Mercutio -
“A plague o' both your houses!”
Mercutio -
“Gallop apace, you fiery-footed steeds Towards Phoebus' lodging.”
Juliet -
“Wilt thou be gone? It is not yet near day. It was the nightingale, and not the lark, That pierced the fearful hollow of thine ear.”
Juliet -
“Night's candles are burnt out, and jocund day Stands tiptoe on the misty mountain-tops.”
Romeo -
“Thank me no thankings, nor proud me no prouds”
Capulet -
“Come weep with me, past hope, past care, past help.”
Juliet -
“Not stepping o'er the bounds of modesty.”
Juliet -
“Death, that hath sucked the honey of thy breath, Hath had no power yet upon thy beauty.”
Romeo
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O Romeo, Romeo! wherefore art thou Romeo? Deny thy father and refuse thy name; Or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love, And I'll no longer be a Capulet.
Highlighted by 115 Kindle customers -
What's in a name? that which we call a rose By any other name would smell as sweet;
Highlighted by 104 Kindle customers -
My only love sprung from my only hate! Too early seen unknown, and known too late! Prodigious birth of love it is to me, That I must love a loathed enemy.
Highlighted by 101 Kindle customers -
Love is a smoke raised with the fume of sighs; Being purged, a fire sparkling in lovers' eyes; Being vex'd a sea nourish'd with lovers' tears: What is it else? a madness most discreet, A choking gall and a preserving sweet.
Highlighted by 99 Kindle customers -
Did my heart love till now? forswear it, sight! For I ne'er saw true beauty till this night.
Highlighted by 95 Kindle customers -
Is love a tender thing? it is too rough, Too rude, too boisterous, and it pricks like thorn.
Highlighted by 86 Kindle customers -
But, soft! what light through yonder window breaks? It is the east, and Juliet is the sun. Arise, fair sun, and kill the envious moon, Who is already sick and pale with grief, That thou her maid art far more fair than she:
Highlighted by 81 Kindle customers -
My bounty is as boundless as the sea, My love as deep; the more I give to thee, The more I have, for both are infinite.
Highlighted by 65 Kindle customers -
Good night, good night! parting is such sweet sorrow, That I shall say good night till it be morrow.
Highlighted by 64 Kindle customers -
For never was a story of more woe Than this of Juliet and her Romeo.
Highlighted by 53 Kindle customers
Setting & Locations edit
Organizations edit
- Capulet Household: The family which Juliet belongs to.
- Montague Household: The rival family of the Capulets. It is also Romeo's family.
First Sentence edit
Two households both alike in dignity, In fair Verona where we lay our scene From ancient grudge, break to new mutiny, Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean: From forth the fatal loins of these two foes, A pair of star-crossed lovers take their life: Whose misadventured piteous overthrows, Doth with their death bury their parents' strife.
Table of Contents edit
Dramatis Personae
Prologue
ACT I
Prologue
ACT II
ACT III
ACT IV
ACT V
Glossary edit
- hoodwink'd: blindfolded
Themes & Symbolism edit
- Things Aren't Always As They Seem: Describe this theme.
- Friar Laurance's Flowers: In Friar Laurence's soliloquy at the beginning of Act II , Scene III, he states the following: "Within the infant rind of this small flower; poison hath residence, and medicine power:; For this, being smelt, with that part cheers each part; Being tasted, slays all senses with the heart.; Two such opposed kings encamp them still; In man as well as herbs,--grace and rude will; And where the worser is predominant,; Full soon the canker death eats up that plant" He is speaking of a flower in his cell, which gives off a sweet, and healing odor (thus medicinal power), but when tasted, is deadly. As in his herbs, men also possess medicine and poison, but under the names of grace and rude will. When a plant has too much poison, it will die from canker death (a disease which starts outs small and at the center of the plant, but grows steadily over time, killing the plant's tissues, and eventually killing the whole plant). Similarly, if a man has more rude will than grace, he will begin to die from the inside.
- The Power of Fate to Determine Events: From the very beginning of the play, Romeo and Juliet are called 'star cross'd lovers'. Romeo calls out, "I am fortune's fool!" and Juliet begs for Fate to send Romeo back to her. It is made clear early on that the events are played out because of fate and not because of the free will of the characters.
- Passion: Romeo and Juliet is about passion. Passionate hate between the Montagues and the Capulets, passionate friendship between Romeo, Benvolio, and Mercutio , and passionate love between Romeo and Juliet. Through it all Friar Laurence warns that “these violent delights have violent ends”, but no one listens. The lesson is not, do not love, or do not hate, but to love and hate in moderation. Many people forget that because they are too wrapped up in the love story.
Series & Lists edit
This is book 99 of 194 in Shelfari Most Popular (December 2010). (authoritative list)
Preceded by Interview with the Vampire, and followed by A Tale of Two Cities.
This book is in LMU Anglistik Syllabus. (authoritative list)
This is book 96 of 195 in Shelfari Most Popular (December 2011). (authoritative list)
Preceded by The Firm, and followed by A Tale of Two Cities.
This book is in Folger Shakespeare Library. (edition-based publisher list)
This book is in Shakespeare's Tragedies. (community list)
This book is in Harbrace Shakespeare. (edition-based publisher list)
This book is in Best Books of All Time. (community list)
This is book 109 of 195 in Shelfari Most Popular (June 2010). (authoritative list)
Preceded by The Tipping Point, and followed by Crime and Punishment.
This book is in 100 Fantabulous Book Challenge. (community list)
This is book 3 of 5 in Bella Swan's reading list. (community list)
Preceded by Jane Austen.
This is book 95 of 195 in Shelfari Most Popular (June 2011). (authoritative list)
Preceded by The Last Olympian, and followed by A Walk to Remember.
Authors & Contributors edit
- William Shakespeare (Author)
Other Contributors:
- Claudia Daneu (Translator) - Spanish
First Edition edit
Original Language: English
Publisher: Cuthbert Burby
Country: England
Publication Date: 1599
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: 243
Publisher: Cuthbert Burby
Country: England
Publication Date: 1599
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: 243
Classification edit
- Library of Congress: Add the Library of Congress Classification.
- Dewey: 741.5973
Subjects edit
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Movie Connections edit
- William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet (IMDb): 1996Baz Luhrmann, director
- Romeo and Juliet (IMDb): 1968Franco Zeffirelli, director
- West Side Story (IMDb): 1961
- Star Crossed (IMDb): 2009. Aka Amor em Jogo. Portuguese Movie.
- William Shakespeare: 1998
- Romeo and Juliet (IMDb): 1954
Books with Additional Background Information edit
Books That Influenced This Book edit
Books Influenced by This Book edit
Books That Cite This Book edit
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