1. Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare

2. The Main Characters Romeo Montague – in love with the idea of love Juliet Capulet – young, strong, and doesn’t want to be married (until she sees Romeo! ) Lord/Lady Capulet – want Juliet to marry Paris for money Friar Lawrence – Holy man that marries Romeo and Juliet in secret and tries to help them be together Nurse – Juliet’s Nurse to who has helped raise her

3. Side Characters Benvolio (Montague Side) – Romeo’s best friend and cousin Mercutio (Montague Side) – Romeo’s friend, related to the Prince Tybalt (Capulet) – likes to fight, best fighter in Verona County Paris – related to the Prince, wants to marry Juliet Prince Escalus – the ruler of Verona

4. Plot 1300-1400’s Verona, Italy Montague and Capulet hate each other – fighting in the streets all the time Romeo is in love with a girl named Rosaline, but she doesn’t love him Romeo is super depressed and Benvolio tells him to move on and meet other ladies! Mercutio invites Romeo and friends to the Capulet’s party

5. Plot At the Capulet party, Romeo and Juliet meet and it’s love at first sight! Romeo and Juliet confess their love for each other even though they know they’re from opposing families Friar Lawrence secretly marries Romeo and Juliet in hopes that it would stop the fighting On their wedding day Tybalt picks a fight with Romeo who refuses to fight  Mercutio steps in and is killed by Tybalt  Romeo becomes enraged and kills Tybalt

6. Plot The Prince banishes Romeo from Verona as punishment for killing Tybalt Lord Capulet tells Juliet she will marry Paris on Thursday Juliet goes to Friar Lawrence to find a way out of marrying Paris Friar comes up with the plan for Juliet to fake her own death and be rescued by Romeo, who will receive a letter telling him of the plan Romeo never gets the letter and instead hears that Juliet is really dead

7. Plot Romeo goes to Verona and buys poison to kill himself Breaks into the Capulet tomb and drinks the poison over Juliet’s “dead” body Juliet wakes up and stabs herself when she sees Romeo is dead Everyone comes and sees the dead couple. Friar Lawrence tells the Prince and the families about Romeo and Juliet’s marriage Capulets and the Montagues make up

8. Themes Individuals vs. Society: Romeo and Juliet create a relationship that is not supported by either family, friends, and society in general. They are forced to hide their love and eventual marriage that leads to deadly consequences. They both try to give up their names and their roles in society, but fail: Romeo tries to avoid a fight with Tybalt, which results in Mercutio and Tybalt’s deaths and Romeo’s banishment and Juliet tries to avoid her arranged marriage to Paris which leads to her faking her death and eventually Romeo’s suicide.

9. Themes Fate: The prologue in the beginning of the play declares Romeo and Juliet as lovers, destined by fate to die. Regardless of what plans they make or how pure their love is, disaster follows the couple and keeps them apart: 1.First they find out they are from opposing families, 2.Juliet is arranged to marry Paris after she is married to Romeo 3.Romeo is banished for killing Tybalt (even though Romeo tried to avoid the fight!) 4.Friar Lawrence plans Juliet’s fake death and writes to Romeo to explain the plan, but the letter is never delivered to Romeo 5.Romeo takes poison and dies only seconds before Juliet wake up from the sleeping potion

10. Themes Love: Love is a major theme in the play. We see Romeo as a young man that falls in and out of love quickly (remember Rosaline!!). Juliet clearly states she does not wish to marry anyone and thus cuts herself off from love. When the two meet they fall in love quickly, but it is made clear that their love is deep and passionate. Their love is also destructive and deadly as it results (directly or indirectly) in the deaths of Mercutio, Tybalt, Paris, Romeo, and Juliet. It also destroyed the relationship between Juliet and her parents as she adamantly refuses to agree to marry Paris.