1. Summary:
ROMEO AND JULIET
By: William Shakespeare
The play begins with a large fight between the Capulet and the Montague, two
prestigious families in Verona, Italy. These families have been fighting for quite
some time, and the Prince declares that their next public brawl will be punished
by death. When the fight is over, Romeo’s cousin Benvolio tries to cheer him of
his melancholy. Romeo reveals that he is in love with a woman named Rosaline,
but he has chosen to live in a life of chastity. Romeo and Benvolio are
accidentally invited to their enemy’s party; Benvolio convinces Romeo to go.
At the party, Romeo locks eyes with a young woman named Juliet. They
instantly fall in love, but they do not realize that their families are mortal enemies.
When they realize each other’s identities, they are devastated, but they cannot
help the way that they feel. Romeo sneaks into Juliet’s yard after the party and
proclaims his love for her. She return his sentiments and the two decide to marry.
The next day, Romeo and Juliet are married by Friar Lawrence; an event
witnessed by Juliet’s Nurse and Romeo’s loyal servant, Balthasar. They plan to
meet in Juliet’s chamber that night.
Romeo visits his best friend Mercutio and his cousin Benvolio but his good
mood is cutailed. Juliet’s cousin, Tybalt, starts a verbal quarrel with Romeo,
which soon turns into a duel with Mercutio. Romeo tries to stop the fight but it is
too late: Tybalt kills Mercutio. Romeo, enraged, retaliates by killing Tybalt. Once
Romeo realizes the consequences of his actions, he hides at Friar Lawrence’s
cell.
Friar Lawrence informs Romeo that he has been banished from Verona and
will be killed if he stays. The Friar suggests Romeo to spend the night with Juliet,
and then leave for Mantua in the morning. He tells Romeo that he will attempt to
settle the Capulet and Montague dispute so Romeo can later return to a united
family. Romeo takes his advice, spending one night with Juliet before fleeing
Verona.
Juliet’s mother, completely unaware of her daughter’s secret marriage to
Romeo, informs Juliet that she will marry a man named Paris in a few days. Juliet,
outraged, refuses to comply. Her parents tell her that she must marry Paris and
the Nurse agrees with them. Juliet asks Friar Lawrence for advice, insisting she
2. would rather die than to marry Paris. Fr. Lawrence gives Juliet a potion which will
make her appear dead and tells her to take it the night before the wedding. He
promises to send word to Romeo – intending the two lovers be reunited in the
Capulet vault.
Juliet drinks the potion and everybody assumes that she is dead --- including
Balthasar, who immediately tells Romeo. Friar Lawrence’s letter fails to reach
Romeo, so he assumes that his wife is dead. He rushes to Juliet’s tomb and, in
deep grief, drinks a vial of poison. Moments later, Juliet wakes to find Romeo
dead and kills herself due to grief. Once the families discover what happened,
they finally end their bitter feud. Thus the youngsters’ deaths bring the families
together. Romeo and Juliet is a true tragedy in the literary sense because the
families gather sufficient self-knowledge to correct their behavior but not until it
is too late to save the situation.
BOOK
REPORT
IN
4. Title:
ROMEO AND JULIET
Author:
William Shakespeare
Type of Work:
Play
Genre:
Tragic Drama
Date of Publication:
1599 ( in the 2nd quarto, which was authorized)
Publisher:
Thomas Creede
Characters:
ROMEO- The hero and one of the protagonists of “Romeo and Juliet”. The son of
Old Montague, he is at first in love with Lord Capulet’s niece, Rosaline. When he
goes to a feast given by Capulet, he attends the feast in a mask, meets Capulet’s
daughter Juliet, falls in love with her, and becomes passionate and impulsive.
JULIET- The heroine and one of the protagonists of the play. She is the thirteen-
year-old daughter of Capulet. She is a happy, romantic, and an innocent girl who
falls in love with Romeo.
FRIAR LAWRENCE- The person who is responsible for helping Romeo and Juliet.
He is a good man with good intentions.
NURSE- a friend, guide, confidante, and educator of Juliet. She has raised Juliet
and is truly fond of her. She is a realist, who is fond of talking and joking. She
often provides comic relief to the play.
Settings:
The play is set in the thirteenth or fourteenth century in Italy in Verona and
Mantua. Much of the action takes place in Juliet’s house. Two cities of Venice are
also mentioned in the play. The Capulets and the Montagues, the main families of
5. the play, are from noble lineage and wealth; they dress well, live in fancy
surroundings, and are served by many attendants. The play’s basic setting,
therefore, is rich and elegant.
Confict:
Romeo and Juliet love each other, but their families have for a very long time
been arch enemies.
Climax:
The climax in Romeo and Juliet of William Shakespeare is when Friar
Lawrence gave a potion to Juliet to make her appear dead to avoid marrying Paris
but Romeo doesn’t know that is only a play. In deep grief Romeo killed himself,
and when Juliet awoke she discovered that Romeo is dead so she also killed
herself.
Theme:
LOVE
Romeo and Juliet are two of the most famous lovers in history, but some
people doubt that their historic love lives up to its reputation. Romeo starts the
play infatuated with Rosaline, a gorgeous girl with no interest in him. His “true-
love-at-first-sight” encounter with Juliet seems like it could be just another case
of puppy love. The two lovers come from warring families’ hatred. Their whirlwind
romance, however, ends in tragedy when each thinks the other is dead and
chooses to commit suicide rather than live alone. While Romeo and Juliet never
doubt the power of love, other characters criticize and reject is as simply
infatuation or lust. Some people interpret the play as a cautionary tale on the
dangers of young love. Others argue that Romeo and Juliet’s lover develops
throughout the play from a giddy flirtation to something deeper, and that the play
charts the path of a relationship from infatuation to real love.
Conclusion:
Thinking Juliet is dead, Romeo commits suicide to join her. Knowing Romeo
is dead, Juliet commits suicide to join him. The loss of their children reconciles
Capulet and Montague, and the feud is ended.
Moral Lesson:
Romeo and Juliet teach some moral lessons about lying to ones parents. The
two you lovers defy their parent wishes and arrange a way to be married behind
6. their backs. As a result they make some foolish choices that end up in their
death.
Not all people who care about you have the right answer. The adults in
Romeo and Juliet’s life did not really help the situation. The Friar especially made
it worse when he had intended to help. Use of the potion was a catalyst in the
young lover’s death.
Revenge is not all that it is cracked up to be. There are entirely too many hot
tempered responses in reference to avenging one person from the two sets of
feuding families.
Don’t wait until the crisis has become intolerable before forgiving one another.
Had the families been able to see through their bitter rivalry, the two lovers would
still be alive.
