Romeo and Juliet is a play by William Shakespeare, written between 1594–96 and first

published in 1597. Shakespeare sets the scene in Verona, Italy. The characters
of Romeo and Juliet have been depicted in literature, music, dance, film and theatre. Romeo
and Juliet’s passionate love defies the social and familial boundaries that seek to keep them
apart. Their ill-fated romance leads to a series of tragic events, culminating in the untimely
deaths of the titular characters. Against the backdrop of intense familial strife, the play explores
themes of love, fate, and the consequences of unchecked hatred. The appeal of the young hero
and heroine is such that they have become, in the popular imagination, the archetype type of
doomed lovers. However, their families, the Montagues and the Capulets, respectively,
are implacable enemies and hate each other so much that they fight on the street whenever
they meet and thus, their animosity towards each other has evolved from a long-running feud,
the origins of which most members of both families have forgotten, to a series of vendetta
incidents.
One of these families, the Capulets, organise a masked ball so that they can introduce their
daughter Juliet to a rich nobleman, Count Paris, who has asked to marry her. Juliet is nearly 14,
and her parents are keen for her to marry soon. Romeo is the son of the Montague family, and
is also about 14. Romeo and his friends decide that it would be exciting to go to the Capulets’
party too. But they agree that they must go in disguise because if they are recognised at the
party by the Capulets, they might be killed. However, Juliet’s cousin, Tybalt, recognises Romeo,
knows he is from the Montague family and wants to kill him.
Juliet and Romeo meet and fall instantly in love at the ball, and they profess their love when
Romeo, unwilling to leave, climbs the wall into the orchard garden of her family’s house and
finds her alone at her window. The two are married secretly by Friar Laurence. When Tybalt
seeks out Romeo in revenge for the insult of Romeo’s having dared to shower his attentions on
Juliet, an ensuing scuffle ends in the death of Romeo’s dearest friend, Mercutio. Impelled by a
code of honour, Romeo kills Tybalt and is banished to Mantua by the Prince of Verona, who has
been insistent that the family feuding cease.
Friar Lawrence, the priest who organised the secret wedding between Romeo and Juliet,
arranges for them to spend one night together as husband and wife before Romeo’s exile.
When Juliet’s father, unaware that Juliet is already secretly married, arranges the marriage with
Count Paris, the young bride seeks out Friar Laurence for assistance in her desperate situation.
He gives her a potion that will make her appear to be dead when in fact she’s only in a long,
deep sleep, and proposes that Romeo rescue her. She complies. While Juliet is sleeping, Friar
Lawrence sends a message to Romeo to tell him to come to her tomb and take her away.
Tragically, Romeo never gets Friar Lawrence’s message that Juliet has taken a drug and is
really alive, he only hears that she is dead.
Romeo returns to Verona on hearing of Juliet’s apparent death. He encounters a grieving Paris
at Juliet’s tomb, reluctantly kills him when Paris attempts to prevent Romeo from entering the
tomb, and finds Juliet in the burial vault. Romeo still believing that Juliet is dead, gives her a last
kiss and then drinks poison and dies, but soon after this, Juliet’s drug stops working and she
wakes up. She sees that Romeo is dead, takes his knife, and kills herself too. When the
Capulets and Montagues discover both their children dead, they are united in their sadness.
The families learn what has happened, make peace with each other, ending their long feud, and
promise to build a monument to the memory of both Romeo and Juliet.