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    Romeo and Juliet

    tragedy

    Romeo and Juliet is Shakespeare's tragedy of two teenagers from feuding families who fall in love, marry in secret, and are both dead within the week. Shakespeare gives away the ending in the opening lines, then makes you watch it happen anyway. Beneath the romance is a fast, sharp tragedy about how adult hatred destroys the young, driven by bad timing, hot tempers, and one undelivered letter. It gave English its most famous love story and its most famous balcony.

    ▸PROLOGUE▸SCENE I. Verona. A public place.▸SCENE II. A street.▸SCENE III. A room in Capulet's house.▸SCENE IV. A street.▸SCENE V. A hall in Capulet's house.

    ▸Prologue▸SCENE I. A lane by the wall of Capulet's orchard.▸SCENE II. Capulet's orchard.▸SCENE III. Friar Laurence's cell.▸SCENE IV. A street.▸SCENE V. Capulet's orchard.▸SCENE VI. Friar Laurence's cell.

    ▸SCENE I. A public place.▸SCENE II. Capulet's orchard.▸SCENE III. Friar Laurence's cell.▸SCENE IV. A room in Capulet's house.▸SCENE V. Capulet's orchard.

    ▸SCENE I. Friar Laurence's cell.▸SCENE II. Hall in Capulet's house.▸SCENE III. Juliet's chamber.▸SCENE IV. Hall in Capulet's house.▸SCENE V. Juliet's chamber.

    ▸SCENE I. Mantua. A street.▸SCENE II. Friar Laurence's cell.▸SCENE III. A churchyard; in it a tomb belonging to the Capulets.

    Characters

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    RomeoSon of Lord MontagueJulietDaughter of Lord CapuletMercutioKinsman to Prince Escalus, Romeo's friendFriar LawrenceFranciscan friar

    Famous Quotes

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    “O Romeo, Romeo! Wherefore art thou Romeo?”

    Juliet — Act 2, Scene 2

    “What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.”

    Juliet — Act 2, Scene 2

    “But soft! What light through yonder window breaks?”

    Romeo — Act 2, Scene 2

    Further Reading

    Shakespeare's 9 Best Quotes About Love

    "Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind." Here are nine of Shakespeare's most beloved lines about love, each explained in plain English, from Romeo and Juliet to the Sonnets.

    10 Powerful Female Characters in Shakespeare

    From Lady Macbeth to Beatrice, these ten women prove that Shakespeare's female characters are anything but dated. Meet the heroines who seize agency, mock patriarchy and still set the bar for complexity.

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