William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet

William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet

Type of Work:

Romantic tragedy

Setting

Verona, Italy; Fifteenth century

Principal Characters

Romeo, son of the house of Montague

Juliet, daughter of the Capulet household

Benvolio, Romeo's cousin

Mercutio, Romeo's friend

Tybalt, Juliet's cousin

Lady Montague, the clan's matriarch

Lady Capulet, Juliet's mother

Juliet's ribald nurse

Friar Lawrence, a Franciscan Monk

Story Overview

For a very long time the Capulets and the Montagues had been feuding.

Harsh words often led to violence between the two houses, who were

sworn as deadly enemies. Prince Escalus of Verona happened upon one

such bloody brawl and angrily pronounced, "If ever you disturb our

streets again, your lives shall pay the forfeit of the peace."

Shortly after this, Romeo and his cousin Benvolio met on the street,

and Romeo sadly confessed his unrequited love for an aloof and

indifferent young woman. "[Give] liberty unto thine eyes; Examine

other beauties," was Benvolio's curative. But Romeo was unmoved: "Thou

canst not teach me to forget."

Meanwhile, as Lord Capulet arranged for the marriage of Juliet, his

fourteen-year-old daughter, to Paris, a kinsman of the Prince, he

advised Paris to woo the girl gently. That night Capulet was to give a

party so Paris could meet Juliet. He called a servant to deliver the

invitations.

Now the servant could not read, so as he walked along he petitioned

Romeo and Benvolio to read the guest list to him. In thanks, he told

Romeo, "If you be not of the house of Montagues, I pray come and crush

a cup a wine." Since Romeo's unreceptive ...

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...erhaps Shakespeare's most famous play, Romeo and Juliet combines the

contrasting elements of humour and sorrow, bawdiness and civil strife,

and innocent love and ignorant hate to rouse an amazing depth of mixed

tenderness and tension. Although a Chorus begins the play by notifying

the audience that these near-perfect lovers will in the end take their

own lives, an irrational sense of hope remains that somehow they might

escape their destiny. But the pride-hardened hatred between the

feuding families leads the play to its inevitable tragic end.

Moreover, though the drama is one of ultimate reconciliation,

ironically, both families lose their only children - neither family

line will be carried on. In a sense Shakespeare is suggesting that war

and hate lead, not to victory for either side, but to spiritual

annihilation.