Romeo and Juliet

"Did my heart love till now? Forswear it, sight! For I ne'er saw true beauty till this night."

The Most Excellent and Lamentable Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet is a 1597 tragedy play by William Shakespeare. It tells the story of two teenagers who fall in love despite their families' rivarly.

It is one of the first-known plays written by Shakespeare early in his writing career, and is even considered to be one of his most famous works.

The two titular characters has since become one of the most iconic fictional couples of all time.

Plot Summary
In Verona, Italy, an ongoing feud between two noble families, the Montague's and Capulet's, disrupts the town's peace when a brawl breaks out by the servants of the families. Verona's leader, Prince Escalus, breaks up the fights and threatens death to anyone if the violence happens again.

The Montague's 16-year-old son, Romeo, is in love with another woman named Rosaline, which makes him depressed. His cousin, Benvolio, tries to console him but Romeo still remains despondent.

Meanwhile, the Capulet's hold a masquerade party every year, and everyone in Verona is invited except the Montague's. Their 13-year old daughter, Juliet, is almost ready for marriage and the Prince's kinsman Count Paris is interested in Juliet and wants to marry her. When the party starts, Romeo and Benvolio, along with Romeo's friend Mercutio, sneak into the party to find Rosaline and see if he really is worthy of her. But the moment Romeo sees Juliet, he immediately forgets about Rosaline and falls in love with the Capulet girl. The two of them flirt and kiss, but become distraught when they find out they are related to both rival families. Romeo is so headstrong on Juliet that when he hears her speak about her forbidden romance on her balcony, he comes out of his hiding spot and they exchange vows of love.

The next day, with the help of a Franciscan monk Friar Lawrence and Juliet's nurse, Romeo secretly marries Juliet, in hopes that their marriage would end their families' feud. The same day, Mercutio and Benvolio encounter Juliet's cousin Tybalt, who is enraged that Romeo had shown up at the Capulet party and challenges him to a duel. When Romeo appears, he attempts to avoid conflict, until Mercutio steps in and fights Tybalt himself. Romeo tries to break up the fight, but Tybalt kills Mercutio. Romeo then kills Tybalt in a rage before he flees. The Prince finds out about the crime and declares Romeo to be exiled from Verona.

Juliet is heartbroken that her cousin is dead, but is relieved that her husband is alive and must stay loyal to him. Friar Lawrence helps Romeo spends his wedding night with Juliet before he leaves for Mantua the next day. The death of Tybalt affects the Capulet's and decide that their daughter must marry Paris. Juliet didn't want the idea of marrying another man since she is already married. But after her father threatens to disown her and the Nurse tells her to marry Paris and forget Romeo, she goes to Friar Lawrence for some advice. He gives her a potion to drink that will put her into a deathlike sleep, and after she is placed in the family crypt, she would wake up and be taken to Mantua where she would be reunited with Romeo.

After learning that the wedding will take place the next day, Juliet drinks the potion the night before and the Capulet's awaken to find her dead. They grieve and place her in the Capulet tomb, while the friar tries to send a message to Romeo in Mantua about Juliet; but he only hears the news that she is dead. Grief-stricken, he buys a vial of poison, arrives at the Capulet tomb where he kills Paris, and enters the crypt. He drinks the poison and dies next to Juliet. Shortly afterwards, Juliet awakens and finds Romeo's body, then the friar appears to tell her what has happened just as the watch is approaching. He begs Juliet to come with him, but she stays behind and kills herself with Romeo's dagger.

The Prince, the Montague’s and Capulet’s arrive, and Friar Lawrence tells them everything. The families are heartbroken, but finally agree to end their feud and decide to place golden statues of their children in their honour.

Characters
Romeo Montague- The son of the Montague family. He is a handsome 16-year-old who is wanting love since he had desires for another young woman named Rosaline. But as soon as he meets Juliet, he immediately falls in love with her instead. He hardly takes any part in the feud with his lover's family, and cannot bear to live without her.

Juliet Capulet- The daughter of the Capulet family. She is a beautiful 13-year-old who starts off as a naïve girl knowing very little about love and marriage. Once she meets Romeo, the son of her father's mortal enemy, she becomes a rebellious woman who would do anything to be with the man she loves; even if it means casting her strict family out of her life.

Friar Laurence- A Franciscan monk, who is a good friend and confessor to Romeo and Juliet. He assists in their plan to have their union bring peace to Verona and to their families. He marries the lovers secretly and tries to help them reunite; but his ideas resulted in tragic consequences. He is a kind and religious man, yet some of the decisions he makes are not helpful.

Mercutio- A kinsman to the Prince and Romeo's close friend. He tries to convince his friend to forget about his lovesickness and enjoy life. He is a wild, brooding young man who enjoys mentioning sexual jokes. He is also devoted and protective of Romeo, so when he saw Tybalt challenging Romeo to a fight, he impatiently intervenes and does the duel himself, but was killed.

The Nurse- Juliet's nursemaid, who breastfed her when she was an infant and a caregiver her whole life. She has a habit of making sexual puns of relationships and marriage, as well as a source of comic relief. She assists Juliet into marrying Romeo and having him climb up to her bedroom to consummate the marriage. Later on, however, after Romeo is exiled, the Nurse stops supporting Juliet and convinces her to marry someone else.

Paris- A count who is a kinsman to Prince Escalus. He is a chosen suitor to Juliet by the Capulet's and he takes interest in her, especially when he is to marry her. He is determined to have her be his wife and even acts as if they are now married.

Tybalt- A Capulet relative and cousin to Juliet. Ill-tempered, violent and devoted to his household, Tybalt hates the Montague's so much he wishes he can kill them all, especially when he suspects Romeo secretly attending their feast. He later confronts him and wants to duel him, but after he kills Romeo's friend Mercutio, Tybalt himself ends up being murdered by Romeo and his family grieve his death.

Benvolio- A Montague relative and cousin to Romeo. He is loyal and friendly who would comfort Romeo whenever he is depressed from being lovesick. Benvolio is usually calm as he tends to avoid the conflict on the streets of Verona and uphold the law by his kinsmen.

Lord Capulet- The patriarch of the Capulet family and father to Juliet. While he is loving and devoted to his only daughter, he can sometimes be stern with her; mostly when she has different thoughts after he arranges to have her be married to Paris. His longtime feud with the Montague's is responsible for Verona's constant unrest.

Lady Capulet- The matriarch of the Capulet family and mother to Juliet. She is supporting to her husband's actions in improving their daughter's sociality. She is eager for Juliet to be married to Paris and urges her to accept their plans with confidence. However, she is powerless to be a proper parent and has the Nurse be more of a moral mother-figure to Juliet.

Lord Montague- The patriarch of the Montague family and the father of Romeo. He had a longtime feud with Lord Capulet and is concerned of his son's despondence in the beginning of the play.

Lady Montague- The matriarch of the Montague family and the mother of Romeo. She died of a broken heart shortly after her son was exiled from Verona.

Prince Escalus- The leader of Verona and kinsman to Mercutio and Paris. He is bothered by the violent brawls and constantly warns both the Montague's and Capulet's of the consequences if their feud goes unpunished. He also struggles to maintain peace in his town.

Writing History/Reception
It is unknown exactly when Shakespeare began writing Romeo and Juliet, but it was estimated he may had the play published shortly before its first performance between 1594-1595, after the first quarto was completed and published. There have been no surviving records of any early performances before the Restoration of 1660, and that the play had appeared in seven editions before 1642. The first bad quarto was likely printed around 1597.

Romeo and Juliet received mostly positive reviews from some of the earliest critics, and had since earned a reputation of being the most iconic love story of all time. After the Restoration, thousands of performances had been held throughout the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries. It has been adapted numerous times into film, television, musicals, etc. Some of the most famous adaptations of Romeo and Juliet are Franco Zeffirelli's 1968 film and Baz Luhrmann's 1996 film.

Despite being one of his most famous works, Romeo and Juliet wasn't Shakespeare's actual creation. The play's source is from the narrative poem The Tragicall Historye of Romeus and Juliet by poet Arthur Brooke in 1562. It was based on a French translation by Italian writer Matteo Bandello.

Love vs Hate
Love vs hatred is mostly a major conflict that divides the relations between the characters that either were supposedly caused by one or both. The Montague and Capulet's had an intense feud full of hatred for many years, and it was their children, Romeo Montague and Juliet Capulet, who use their romantic bond to break the hate between their families. When Romeo and Juliet meet for the first time, they don't know each other's names for who they are related to. They are distraught afterwards at the fact that they are meant to be enemies, but are so much in love that they can't go back now.

Aside from their love, there are some members who despise their enemies with intense cruelty, most famously Tybalt of the Capulet's. He hates the Montague's so much that he often boasts about killing them all himself, and he attempts to do this himself when he challenges Romeo to a duel as a kind of revenge for him sneaking into the Capulet feast. But he ends up fighting and killing Mercutio and his opponent's final words are "A plague o' both your houses!", since he is cursing the families for their feud that is causing death and chaos. Even Mercutio's relative Prince Escalus is irritated by the bloodshed that he threatens the Montague's and Capulet's that they will be executed the more they carry out their feud. Meanwhile, Romeo and Juliet are still headstrong on each other, that they can't bear to live without each other and think about suicide, despite Friar Lawrence trying everything he can to keep them together. In the end, though, Romeo and Juliet kill themselves and their bodies discovered in the Capulet tomb. After Friar Lawrence reveals the truths of how he secretly married them, the Prince declares both the parents are punished; and thanks to their pointless, unnecessary feud, the Montague's and Capulet's will mourn their children forever. They know that hate can bring death and suffering and their reconciliation can perhaps bring more love in them for once.

Loyalty
The theme loyalty is used as another main conflict in the play. Several of the characters' allies are devoted to one another and defend them from their enemies who also have a feud against. At such times, however, their allies may stop supporting them or the main characters themselves would turn them away. For example, Juliet always looked up to her Nurse who is her personal caregiver and guardian, as well as someone she can go to for some advice. The Nurse initially helps Juliet be married to Romeo, but after his banishment, she betrays Juliet by telling her to get over Romeo and marry Paris instead; in addition, Juliet is betrayed by both of her parents from her disobedience to not marry Count Paris. However, others always keep their loyalty to their allies throughout the entire play. Friar Lawrence maintains his wisdom as he agrees to marry them as a chance to bring peace to Verona and offer them advice in their situations. Mercutio is a devoted friend to Romeo; aside from cracking sexual jokes around him, Mercutio is protective of him and offers to fight Romeo in his place. After he is killed by Tybalt, Mercutio manages to keep his devotion by saving his friend from a brutal death.

Both Romeo and Juliet are loyal to each other with their love. They decide that the only way for them to be together is to betray their own parents and cast them out of their lives; if they ever revealed to them about their secret relationship, they may face the worst consequences related to betrayal. Juliet is shocked when she finds out Romeo killed Tybalt and she may sound like she will turn her back against him as well, but ends up having to stay by his side as her marriage to him would not be reversed now. The more decisions are made, the more harder the characters try to keep their loyalty to one another.

Violence
In Verona, the feud between the Lords Montague and Capulet is causing violence that eventually escalates into tragedy, and based on the opening lines in the prologue, Shakespeare provided readers and audiences how violence will play a key role as one of the main conflicts. The first act begins with the street brawl of the servants of the rival Montague's and Capulet's, in which Benvolio tries to put a stop to it but was confronted by Tybalt. The fights were eventually broken up by the Prince, and he threatens death to anyone if it ever happens again. In a rather foreshadowing case, the Prince may have revealed a hint of what the consequences of violence can be.

Act III, Scene 1, is the climatic moment of the violent events in Verona. Tybalt demands Romeo to duel with him, but he avoids conflict as he is now married to Tybalt's cousin Juliet and hopes that now he is his relative, he would be more understanding and loving to him. It then takes a tragic turn when Mercutio is killed by Tybalt, and after Romeo witnesses him dying, he is immediately filled with rage and when Tybalt returns, he kills him on the spot before fleeing. There are a couple of characters who symbolize the difference between consolation and confrontation. Benvolio is a peaceful young man whose presence would bring comfort and console to others during a fight, while Tybalt is an angry, aggressive younger man who would always stick to violence instead of making peace as he will do anything to bring honour to his family. After Prince Escalus discovers the crime, he decides this is the final straw but rather than sentence Romeo to death, he instead orders him to be exiled from Verona.Mercutio's final words before his death reveals how irritated and frustrated he is of the violent nature of Verona's two respected families.

Fate
The prologue's opening lines reveal the fates of Romeo and Juliet, as they predict their deaths at the end. They also sense that they were to meet their demises for the moment they were born, and they are destined to be forbidden star-crossed lovers. In addition, it is evident that the young teens can even see their own fates; such as when Romeo is about to go into the Capulet feast with his friends, he thinks that he is about to be doomed and if he should attend his parents' enemies' party anyway. Mercutio's last words are a warning of the couple's tragic downfall, and after Romeo hears of Juliet's death, he plans his own fate by killing himself at her side in the tomb. Throughout the play, Romeo and Juliet constantly see omens that are visions of how they would meet their destiny and how it will play out. Some claim that their deaths were a prediction, but in actuality, it was a series of tragic events that led to the young couple's deaths and if some of these events were successfully planned out, then they may not have died, or probably have not even met. If Romeo and Benvolio talk about love the day after the ball, Romeo would not have met Juliet, and if Juliet awakens just before Romeo arrives, then they would have still been together and well.

Romeo would sometimes go far as to curse fate and the "stars" for the events that would be his end. He calls himself a "fortune's fool" he is berating fortune for making a fool out of him into killing the man who killed his friend. When he is informed that Juliet is dead, he laments that he will "deny the stars" and he is willing to reverse his and Juliet's fortunes, since he believes the stars had made his and Juliet's fates, and he wishes that he could change it back so that he could still be with the woman he loves. Shakespeare argues on how humans are driven by forces that control their actions and words, which is a fair explanation of fate during his time.

Poison
Romeo kills himself by swallowing a vial of poison inside the Capulet tomb by Juliet's body. However, aside from being a deadly weapon, poison symbolizes society bringing misery by poisoning good things into more fatal. Since the Montague and Capulet was poisoned by hatred, it would eventually cause their children's love into poison. But poison may also be a good thing, as Friar Lawrence notes on how nothing in nature that can't be put to good and bad uses. Even if he carefully explains the vial he gives to Juliet on how she would cheat death, the plan ends up being poisoned by Romeo's suicide.

Thumb biting
In the 16th-17th centuries, possibly around the time period of Romeo and Juliet, thumb-biting was considered to be a rude gesture. It symbolizes insult and being disgraceful to others, mainly to your enemies as is the case in the play, where the servants offend their opponents by placing their thumb behind their front teeth and flicking it out. It even symbolizes cowardice, as it was also commonly used in Sicily and the gesture there means "to hell with you".

Light and Darkness
Lightness symbolizes purity, hope and good fortunes. Innocent characters such as Romeo, Juliet, Mercutio and Benvolio display their virtuousness in the daylight. The light can also be used to describe someone that has goodness and beauty in them, such as when Romeo calls Juliet "the sun" as she offers light with her beauty and innocence, and the brightness is a sign of their strength and love.

Darkness symbolizes doom and mystery. Romeo and Juliet often were together in the evening as the darkness was able to cover their secret from their families and how the doom can bring death, since the young couple committed suicide inside the tomb while in the middle of the night. The night, however, can be relaxing and it gives the lovers to have their private life away from the light and feel safe in the shrouded dark.

Queen Mab
A mystical fairy that Mercutio delivers a monologue about before going to the Capulet feast, who is believed to ride on her carriage in the night and brings dreams to sleepers. Queen Mab symbolizes the power of fantasies, daydreaming and desire. In Mercutio's words, he thinks that these dreams and desires can be easily corrupted and nonsensical, since Romeo and Juliet find their love to be more real.

Foreshadowing

 * The chorus predicts Romeo and Juliet will die; Romeo senses his consequences at the Capulet ball would be his “untimely death”; Juliet sees Romeo “dead at the bottom of the tomb”, and the couple constantly want to kill themselves if they can’t be together. Foreshadows their tragic deaths inside the Capulet tomb.