A Summary By Callie Mathis and Brittany Keye.

Romeo and Juliet:A Tragic Love Story With A Fatal Ending.

By William Shakespeare.

Two households, both alike in dignity,     In fair Verona, where we lay our scene,

    From ancient grudge break to new mutiny,

    Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean.

    From forth the fatal loins of these two foes

    A pair of star-cross'd lovers take their life;

    Whole misadventured piteous overthrows

    Do with their death bury their parents' strife.

    The fearful passage of their death-mark'd love,

    And the continuance of their parents' rage,

    Which, but their children's end, naught could remove,

    Is now the two hours' traffic of our stage;     The which if you with patient ears attend,

    What here shall miss, our toil shall strive to mend.

This

summarize

s what will

happen

during the

course of

the play.

Prologue

In this Act Romeo and Juliet meet, but first we are introduced to the

fighting going on between the Montagues and the Capulets. This

starts with scene one being a fight between the servants of each family. Romeo and Juliet

meet at a masquerade ball where they dance. They end up kissing after Romeo smooth talks Juliet. Then they find out they are from opposing families. Yet they still find the strength to love each

other.

This is the

introduction to

the play where

we are

introduced to the

characters and

the fight going

on between the

Montagues and

Capulets.

Act 1

 Now old desire doth in his death-bed lie,     And young affection gapes to be his heir;     That fair for which love groan'd for and

would die,     With tender Juliet match'd, is now not

fair.     Now Romeo is beloved and loves again,     Alike betwitched by the charm of looks,

    But to his foe supposed he must complain,

    And she steal love's sweet bait from fearful hooks:

    Being held a foe, he may not have access     To breathe such vows as lovers use to

swear;     And she as much in love, her means much

less     To meet her new-beloved any where:     But passion lends them power, time

means, to meet     Tempering extremities with extreme

sweet.

This

summarize

s the love

that Romeo

and Juliet

have

between

them.

Act 2 Prologue

Romeo climbs over the walls surrounding Capulet's orchard.

Benvolio and Mercutio look for him, but do not find him. Romeo

overhears Juliet declare her love for him, then they agree to get married. Romeo convinces Friar Lawrence to marry them that day. Romeo meets

up with Mercutio and Benvolio. Juliet's Nurse arrives at the

appointed time, to learn about the wedding arrangements and convey them to Juliet. Juliet waits for the

Nurse to return. The Nurse eventually gives her Romeo's

message. Juliet meets Romeo at Friar Lawrence's cell, where they

are married.

This sets it up

for Romeo and

Juliet to get

married and

presents the

chance for a

fight or

obstacle to

appear in their

marriage (The

fight between

Mercutio and

Tybalt).

Act 2

Mercutio & Benvolio are talking about the possibility of a fight. Tybalt comes looking for Romeo. Mercutio & Tybalt are about to fight when Romeo appears.  Romeo tries to

avoid the conflict because he is now married to Juliet (Tybalt’s cousin).  Mercutio cannot stand Romeo coving into Tybalt's rudeness and draws his sword to fight.  Romeo and Benvolio try to stop the fight.  Tybalt stabs Mercutio under Romeo's arm and leaves,

but he did not mean to stab Mercutio.  Mercutio ends up dying, but swears a curse upon both the Capulets and the Montagues.  Then Tybalt and Romeo fight.  Romeo kills Tybalt and then leaves after realizing what

he has done. Benvolio tells the story of what happened.  Immediately, the Prince exiles

Romeo.

This is the climax

of the story. It

sets us up for the

suicides and

presents the

main conflict to

us. The main

conflict is that

Romeo has killed

Tybalt and has

been banished

and can no

longer return to

Verona to see his

beloved Juliet.

Act 3

Paris tells the Friar that he is marrying Juliet on Thursday of that week. Juliet asks the Friar to help

her, and he comes up with a plan. He gives her a potion that will make it

appear as if she has died in her sleep. It will last for 42 hours and

she will awake in the tomb. He will send a letter to Romeo to let him

know what is happening so Romeo can be there to let her out of the tomb. Juliet takes the potion and

returns home. Juliet acts as if nothing is wrong and continues to

make the others believe she is preparing to marry Paris. While

everyone is busy with the wedding preparations, Juliet takes the poison. They find her body the next morning.

This tells us of

the troubles that

well happen and

how they “think”

they well over

come it. This is

the falling action

of the play, this

will eventually

lead to the

resolution.

Act 4

While Romeo waits in Mantua, his servant comes and tells him that he saw Juliet being placed in the Capulet tomb. Romeo does not want believe she is dead and he believes he

cannot go on without her so he buys a poison to kill himself and leaves to see if she

is really dead. Friar Laurence sends the letter to Romeo, but it is too late. When Romeo gets to the tomb, he meets Paris. The two fight and Romeo kills Paris. He

enters the tomb and sees Juliet. Thinking she is dead he drinks the poison and dies instantly. The Friar races to the tomb, but he is too late and sees Romeo dead on the floor beside Juliet. She wakes up to find

Romeo dead beside her. Juliet takes Romeo’s dagger and stabs herself.

Montagues, Capulets, and the Prince arrive. The Friar explains everything that has

happened. The Montagues and Capulets finally see what their fighting has caused so

they decide to end the war between their houses.

This tells about

the end of the

play and how

Juliet and Romeo

die. Each

committing

suicide. Romeo

kills himself

because he fears

that Juliet is

already dead, not

knowing about

her ‘s and the

Friar’s plan to

fake her death.

Act 5

Main Characters.

Romeo JulietFriar LawrenceNurseMercutioBenvolio

Lord &Lady Capulet Lord &Lady Montague Benvolio Prince Escalus Balthasar Friar John Rosaline  The Apothecary Tybalt Paris

The CharactersMinor Characters.

Sampson & Gregory-Two servants of the Capulets, who hate the Montagues. They successfully provoke some Montague servants into a fight at the very beginning.

 Abram-Montague’s servant, who fights with Sampson and Gregory in the first scene of the play.

Peter -  A Capulet servant who invites guests to Capulet’s feast and escorts the Nurse to meet with Romeo.

Servants.

Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare

This story has

become one

of the most

well-known

love stories of

all time and

will be

treasured

forever.

Next page is works cited

By Callie Mathis and Brittany Keye.

The End

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Works Cited