Brief Summary of Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare

Romeo and Juliet is a play composed by the famous poet and playwright, William Shakespeare. The play involves two main characters, Romeo & Juliet. Both of them come from wealthy families that are constantly at loggerheads. These are the Montagues and the Capulets. Romeo is a member of the Montagues while Juliet is a Capulet. However, the two characters fall in love, but their relationship is illegal due to the ongoing conflict between these families. In the end, both characters kill themselves since they cannot bear life without one another. This type of play is called a tragedy due to the sad ending.

A Brief Summary of the Story

Two affluent families, the Capulets, and the Montagues get involved in a brawl within Verona. The locals and the Prince get fed up with the perpetual conflict and cannot tolerate it anymore. Therefore, the prince gives the last warning that whoever breaks the peace shall be killed.

Romeo the Montague accompanied by some of his friends attends a Capulet party uninvited. This is whereby Romeo meets Juliet for the very first time. They instantly fall in love with one another, but to their utter dismay, they discover they are sworn rivals courtesy of their family backgrounds. For this reason, they secretly marry each other in a private ceremony officiated by Friar Laurence.

After that, Romeo goes out accompanied by his friends Benvolio and Mercutio to celebrate his marriage. However, they get into a brawl with Tybalt, who is Juliet’s cousin. While fighting, Mercutio gets killed by Tybalt. Romeo then gets his revenge by killing Tybalt. When news of these events reaches the prince, he decides to banish Romeo from Verona. This decision causes great sorrow to both Romeo and Juliet.

Juliet’s father, Capulet decides to give his daughter’s hand in marriage to Paris. However, Juliet declines this decision. She then rushes to Lawrence and together they come up with a plan to reunite her with Romeo.

Juliet fakes death in a tomb as she awaits Romeo to come so that they can flee together. However, Romeo is unaware of this plan and thinks that Juliet is dead. Upon reaching Verona and seeing Juliet in the tomb, he drinks poison to join Juliet in death. Just as Romeo takes his last breath, Juliet wakes up and discovers the death of her lover. She immediately takes Romeo’s dagger and kills herself.

This tragedy causes the Montague and Capulet family to come to a ceasefire and vow never to fight again.