omeo and Juliet

R
Romeo and Juliet is a famous play by William Shakespeare set in Verona in
the 1300’s. The two main characters come from two separate families, the
Montagues and the Capulets. Juliet is from the Capulet family and Romeo is
from the Montague family. These two families have been feuding with each
other for a very long time. The Prince decrees that the next person from
one of the families to fight will be sentenced to death.
Romeo and Juliet meet at a party that is being held at Juliet’s house
by her father. It is a masked ball. Romeo and some of his family
members decide to sneak into the party. While they are at the party,
the Montagues are recognised by Juliet’s cousin. The Capulets are
angry that the Montagues have snuck into their party and Tybalt
(Juliet’s cousin) wants to start a fight but he is stopped by Juliet’s father.
Romeo and Juliet speak for the first time at this party. They begin
to fall in love with each other. They don’t know that they are from
rival families. When they find out they’re from opposite families
they are really upset.
The Montagues begin to leave the party and Romeo sneaks over to
see Juliet one more time. This is when Juliet says the famous line,
“O Romeo, Romeo, where for art thou Romeo.”
Romeo decides the only thing he can do is to marry Juliet. Friar
Lawrence agrees to marry them in secret. The only people
who know about the secret marriage are Friar Lawrence
and Juliet’s nurse. The next day Romeo and some of his
family who were with him the night before bump into Tybalt
and some other members of the Capulet family who were still angry that
they crashed the party. Tybalt challenges Romeo to a duel. Romeo can’t
fight Tybalt as he is now married to Juliet and doesn’t want to fight
a member of his family. Nobody knows this and those who are with
him don’t understand why Romeo won’t fight Tybalt. Romeo’s friend
Mercutio becomes annoyed with Romeo and says he will fight Tybalt
himself. Romeo tries to stop them but Tybalt stabs Mercutio and he
dies. Romeo becomes enraged at this and kills Tybalt. At this he
panics and runs away as he has just killed Juliet’s cousin.

Page 1 of 4 visit twinkl.com.au

 Romeo and Juliet

The Prince finds out about the duel and banishes Romeo from Verona for his
crime. Juliet hears that Romeo has killed Tybalt and she gets really upset to
hear that he has killed her cousin. She remembers that she loves Romeo
and decides to forgive him. Romeo sees Juliet one last time before he
leaves Verona.
Juliet’s father now decides that she should marry another man named
Paris and arranges the wedding for 3 days time. Juliet can’t tell her
family that she is already married to Romeo and she doesn’t know what to
do. Her nurse tells her to pretend that Romeo is dead and to marry Paris.
Juliet doesn’t like this idea and goes to see Friar Lawrence.
Friar Lawrence makes a plan for Juliet. He tells her he has a potion that
she can drink that will make her look as though she has died. Then Friar
Lawrence and Romeo will collect her, and Romeo and Juliet can run away
together and be happy.
The night before Juliet’s wedding to Paris, she drinks the
pretend potion. She is found by her family and her nurse.
They are devastated to find her dead and they take
her to the family crypt.
Nobody gets to tell Romeo of the plan and
he hears that Juliet has died. He arrives back
in Verona and drinks a potion himself as he thinks life
is not worth living without Juliet. He lays down next
to Juliet and dies. Not long after this Juliet wakes up
from her sleep and is devastated to see Romeo dead
next to her. The Friar arrives to see Romeo is dead and
tells Juliet the truth about what has happened. She
becomes distressed with the news and stabs herself
with Romeo’s dagger. Juliet dies next to him.
Friar Lawrence returns again to the tomb with the
Prince, the Capulet’s and Romeo’s father. The deaths
of their children make the families realise they need
to make peace and they put a monument up in
their memory.

Page 2 of 4 visit twinkl.com.au

 Romeo and Juliet

Questions
1. Identify which character is from which family?

2. Why can’t there be any more fighting?

3. Discuss how this would have impacted the two families.

4. Why do you think there might have been such a large rivalry between the two families?

5. Why did Romeo choose to marry Juliet?

6. How does the family feud end?

7. Describe some similarities and differences between this story set in the 1300’s and today.

Page 3 of 4 visit twinkl.com.au