Romeo and Juliet 1 William Shakespeare wrote Romeo

Romeo and Juliet

1) William Shakespeare wrote Romeo and Juliet. 2) Romeo and Juliet is one of the most famous stories in the whole world. 3) It is a story about hate and love. It is a very violent story with lots of blood and death.

Characters Capulets - Lord Capulet (boy) - Lady Capulet (girl) - Juliet – 13 years old (girl) - Tybalt (Juliet’s cousin) (boy) - The Nurse (nanny) (girl) Montagues - Lord Montague (boy) - Lady Montague (girl) - Romeo – 16 years old (boy) - Benvolio – Romeo’s cousin (boy) - Paris (engaged to Juliet) (boy) - Mercutio – Romeo’s best friend (boy) Impartial characters - Friar Lawrence (boy) - Prince (boy)

The plot (what happens) • The Montague and Capulet families hate each other. This is called a feud. • Romeo is infatuated by a girl called Rosaline. • Lord Capulet has agreed for Paris to marry Juliet (even though he was worried she was too young). • Capulet organises a huge party to celebrate the engagement of Juliet and Paris. • Romeo, Mercutio and Benvolio arrange to sneak into this party so that Romeo can see Rosaline (it is a masked party so they can be in disguise). 8 B

• Tybalt spots Romeo and is furious. However, Lord Capulet stops him from attacking Romeo as he says no one should fight at a party. • Romeo doesn’t see Rosaline but sees Juliet. It is love at first sight. They don’t realise though they are each others enemy. • After the party, Romeo climbs up to Juliet’s balcony and they arrange to be married even though now they know each other’s name (a Montague and a Capulet).

• The next day, Friar Lawrence marries the pair. He think their marriage will end the family feud. • Later that day, Romeo was with Mercutio and Benvolio. Tybalt approached them and wanted to fight Romeo as he was still angry Romeo had been at the Capulet party. • Romeo refused to fight Tybalt because even though it was a secret, Tybalt Capulet and Romeo Montague were now family. Mercutio fights Tybalt though, and Tybalt kills Mercutio. Romeo then kills Tybalt and flees Verona.

• Juliet was inconsolable but Lord Capulet thought it was because of Tybalt’s death. To cheer her up he moves her wedding to Paris to Thursday. • Horrified, Juliet goes to Friar Lawrence and they come up with a plan. • That night, Juliet takes a drug that makes her appear to be dead for 42 hours. The plan is for the Friar to send a message to Romeo (he is now living in Mantua) to inform him of the plan. Romeo is supposed to come to Verona when she wakes up. • The morning of Juliet’s wedding, the Nurse finds her ‘dead’. Juliet’s wedding becomes a funeral. She is laid to rest in a tomb.

• The letter to Romeo gets lost though! But a messenger is sent to Mantua to inform him of Juliet’s death. • Romeo returns to Verona to see Juliet’s body. On the way he buys poison. • At the tomb, Romeo sees Paris grieving for his dead fiancée. Romeo fights Paris and kills him. • Romeo lies next to his wife and drinks the poison. Just as he dies, Juliet awakes. She sees the body of her husband takes his dagger. Juliet stabs herself and dies. • The Montagues and Capulets arrives at Juliet’s tomb and see the dead bodies of Juliet and Romeo. They understand their hate has caused the death of their children. They forgive each other and live in peace. The Capulets erect a gold statue of Romeo and the Montagues erect a gold statue of Juliet.