English literature

• Romeo and Juliet


  Takes place in Verona, Italy
• Important families in Verona

  • Montagues
  • Capulets
• Montague and Capulet servants get into a fight with each other
• Benvolio, a Montague family member, tries to break up the fight but Tybalt, a Capulet, starts fighting with Benvolio
• The prince comes and breaks up the fight, telling Montague and Capulet that they'll be put to death if this happens again
• Montague and Lady Montague ask Benvolio where their son Romeo was during the fight
• Benvolio says Romeo has been moping around by himself but he'll find out why
• Romeo tells Benvolio that he's lovesick, he's in love with a girl named Rosaline who doesn't love him back
• Benvolio promises to help Romeo forget about her
• Count Paris says he wants to marry Capulet's only daughter Juliet
• Capulet wants Paris to wait a few years because Juliet's only 13, but says Paris can see if she's interested
• Capulet invites Paris to a feast that night
• Capulet's servant walks around town trying to invite a list of people to Capulet's feast, but the servant can't read
• The servant stops Benvolio and Romeo and asks them for help
• Romeo sees Rosaline's name on the list and Benvolio says they should crash the party so Romeo can compare Rosaline to other girls and get over her
• Romeo agrees to go but just so he can see Rosaline
• Lady Capulet, Juliet, and Juliet's nurse discuss the fact that Paris wants to marry Juliet
• Lady Capulet and the nurse sing Paris's praises, and Juliet agrees to meet him
• Romeo, Benvolio, and Mercutio crash the feast wearing masks
• At the party, Romeo sees Juliet and forgets all about Rosaline, he's in love
• Capulet's nephew Thibault recognizes Romeo's voice and is furious that Romeo snuck in
• Capulet orders the table to let it go because he doesn't want a fight at his feast
• Romeo finds Juliet, holds her hand, and gets her to let him kiss her, all while they talk to each other in poetry
• After this encounter, each one tries to find out who the other is and they're upset to find out they're from rival families, but both of them decide they're too much in love to go back
• After the party, Romeo ditches his friends and climbs over an orchard wall to see Juliet
• Romeo sees Juliet on her balcony talking to herself before she realizes Romeo is listening
• Juliet says she's in love with him, and Romeo steps out of hiding and says he loves her too
• Romeo asks his priest Friar Laurence if he'll conduct a marriage ceremony
• Friar Laurence is concerned about how quickly Romeo switched from Rosaline to Juliet but agrees to do it because he thinks it will bring peace to the feuding families
• Mercutio and Benvolio tell Romeo that Thibault wants to challenge him to a duel
• Juliet's nurse comes along wanting to talk to Romeo in private, and Romeo tells her to have Juliet come to Friar Laurence's that afternoon so they can get married
• Juliet meets Romeo in the friar's cell and the friar marries them
• Later, Thibault finds Romeo and tries to start a fight, but Romeo won't fight Thibault because he's Juliet's cousin
• Mercutio steps in to fight Thibault instead, and Romeo tries to break them up, but Thibault shoves his sword under Romeo's arm and stabs Mercutio, then runs off
• Mercutio dies cursing both families, and Romeo is enraged and kills Thibault when he returns
• The prince arrives and Benvolio tells him what happened, and the prince declares that Romeo is banished from Verona
• Juliet is impatiently waiting for her wedding night with Romeo when the nurse comes in and tells her that Romeo killed Tybalt and has been banished
• Juliet is mad at Romeo at first but then decides she's on Romeo's side
• Juliet sends the nurse to tell Romeo to spend the night with her
• Friar Laurence breaks the news to Romeo that he's been banished, and Romeo wants to kill himself