The play, set in Verona, begins with a
street brawl between Montague and Capulet supporters who are sworn enemies. The
Prince of Verona intervenes and declares that further breach of the peace will
be punishable by death. Later, Count Paris talks to Capulet about marrying his
daughter, but Capulet is wary of the request because Juliet is only thirteen.
Capulet asks Paris to wait another two years and invites him to attend a
planned Capulet ball. Lady Capulet and Juliet's nurse try to persuade Juliet to
accept Paris's courtship.
Meanwhile, Benvolio talks with his cousin
Romeo, Montague's son, about Romeo's recent depression. Benvolio discovers that
it stems from unrequited infatuation for a girl named Rosaline, one of
Capulet's nieces. Persuaded by Benvolio and Mercutio, Romeo attends the ball at
the Capulet house in hopes of meeting Rosaline. However, Romeo instead meets
and falls in love with Juliet. After the ball, in what is now called the
"balcony scene", Romeo sneaks into the Capulet orchard and overhears
Juliet at her window vowing her love to him in spite of her family's hatred of
the Montagues. Romeo makes himself known to her and they agree to be married.
With the help of Friar Laurence, who hopes to reconcile the two families
through their children's union, they are secretly married the next day.
Juliet's cousin Tybalt, incensed that
Romeo had sneaked into the Capulet ball, challenges him to a duel. Romeo, now
considering Tybalt his kinsman, refuses to fight. Mercutio is offended by
Tybalt's insolence, as well as Romeo's "vile submission,"and accepts
the duel on Romeo's behalf. Mercutio is fatally wounded when Romeo attempts to
break up the fight. Grief-stricken and wracked with guilt, Romeo confronts and
slays Tybalt.
Montague argues that Romeo has justly
executed Tybalt for the murder of Mercutio. The Prince, now having lost a
kinsman in the warring families' feud, exiles Romeo from Verona and declares
that if Romeo returns, "that hour is his last." Romeo secretly spends
the night in Juliet's chamber, where they consummate their marriage. Capulet,
misinterpreting Juliet's grief, agrees to marry her to Count Paris and
threatens to disown her when she refuses to become Paris's "joyful
bride." When she then pleads for the marriage to be delayed, her mother
rejects her.
Juliet visits Friar Laurence for help,
and he offers her a drug that will put her into a death-like coma for "two
and forty hours." The Friar promises to send a messenger to inform Romeo
of the plan, so that he can rejoin her when she awakens. On the night before
the wedding, she takes the drug and, when discovered apparently dead, she is
laid in the family crypt.
The
messenger, however, does not reach Romeo and, instead, Romeo learns of Juliet's
apparent death from his servant Balthasar. Heartbroken, Romeo buys poison from
an apothecary and goes to the Capulet crypt. He encounters Paris who has come
to mourn Juliet privately. Believing Romeo to be a vandal, Paris confronts him
and, in the ensuing battle, Romeo kills Paris. Still believing Juliet to be
dead, he drinks the poison. Juliet then awakens and, finding Romeo dead, stabs
herself with his dagger. The feuding families and the Prince meet at the tomb
to find all three dead. Friar Laurence recounts the story of the two
"star-cross'd lovers". The families are reconciled by their
children's deaths and agree to end their violent feud. The play ends with the
Prince's elegy for the lovers: "For never was a story of more woe / Than
this of Juliet and her Romeo."
