English

• Prologue


  Tells us that Romeo and Juliet's fate is predetermined and only their deaths can reconcile their warring families
• Act 1 Scene 1


  1. The two families hate each other, they only stop fighting when the Prince intervenes and threatens them with death

  2. Romeo thinks he's in love with Rosaline but she doesn't love him
• Paris


  Wants to marry Juliet to improve his social status
• Juliet's nurse and mother


  Seem keen for her to marry Paris
• Act 1 Scene 4

  1. Mercutio's Queen Mab speech

  2. Persuades Romeo to go to the Capulet party

  3. Romeo and Juliet meet and fall in love
• Romeo falls in love with Juliet


  But they should really be hating each other
• Act 2 Scene 2 (Balcony Scene)


  1. Romeo and Juliet meet for the second time

  2. Juliet says she will send a messenger to see if Romeo still wants to marry her
• Act 2 Scene 6


  Romeo and Juliet meet for the third time just before Friar Laurence performs the marriage ceremony
• Friar Laurence hopes the love will bring peace between the feuding Capulets and Montagues


  But this will lead to problems as they have no plan for what happens next
• Act 3


  1. Tybalt returns and kills Mercutio

  2. Romeo then kills Tybalt in revenge

  3. Romeo is banished from Verona
• Juliet is conflicted when she discovers Romeo has killed Tybalt


  She compares him to a black raven disguised in the white feathers of a peaceful dove
• Act 3


  1. Capulet decides Juliet should marry Paris in 3 days time

  2. Juliet goes to Friar Laurence who helps her plan to fake her own death
• Juliet is on the brink of suicide


  Friar Laurence's plan is for her to take a potion that will make her appear dead
• Juliet pretends to agree to marry Paris

  To relieve the immediate pressure
• Romeo's friend Balthazar believes Juliet is dead


  So he goes to Mantua to tell Romeo
• An outbreak of plague prevents the messenger taking Friar Laurence's letter to Romeo

  Fate has intervened again
• Final Scene


  1. Romeo arrives at the Capulet tomb, finds Paris mourning for Juliet outside

  2. They fight and Paris dies

  3. Romeo finds Juliet's body and kills himself

  4. Friar Laurence arrives but cannot persuade Juliet to leave

  5. Juliet then stabs herself to death
• The deaths of Romeo and Juliet finally convince their families to abandon hate and embrace love, they are reconciled