Romeo and Juliet full summary || william Shakespeare

Romeo and Juliet 

There is perhaps no love story more famous than that of Romeo and Juliet. This story of two young, star crossed lovers belongs to a tradition of tragic romance stretching back to antiquity. But the most famous version, of course, is the play by William Shakespeare. The story has been adapted numerous times for film, stage, opera, not to mention every single fifth-grader ever. 

Today I'll be telling you a brief summary of the story of Romeo and Juliet, accompanied by the art that it has inspired. 

Summary

The play begins on the street of Verona, where another brawl has broken out between the servants of the Montague and the Capulet, who, like their masters, are sworn enemies. Prince Escalus of Verona intervenes, and declares that any further conflict between the two families will be punishable by death.

Count Paris asks to Capulet for marrying his daughter, Juliet. Though happy with the match, Capulet asks Paris to wait two more years, since Juliet is not yet even 14. She is pretty young in this story. He then invites Paris to attend a Capulet ball, hoping that there, Paris will begin to win over Juliet's heart. Meanwhile, Lady Capulet and Juliet's Nurse try to persuade Juliet to accept Paris's courtship. 

Meanwhile, Montague's son, Romeo, runs into his cousin, Benvolio.  Romeo is moping around, so after some prodding by Benvolio, Romeo confides that he has an unrequited infatuation with a girl named Rosaline. Benvolio and their friend Mercutio tell Romeo to forget about Rosaline and that he will find another, more beautiful woman to love. They try to convince Romeo to attend the Capulet ball, and Romeo agrees, mostly because he knows that Rosaline, one of Capulet's nieces, will be there.

Once inside the feast, Romeo sees Juliet from a distance, and instantly falls in love with her. Rosaline who? Ah, so fickle, the heart of a teenager. A young Capulet named Tybalt, who is also a cousin of Juliet, recognizes Romeo and he is furious that Montague would sneak into a Capulet ball and is pretty ready to fight him, but he is held back by Capulet, who does not want any bloodshed in his house.

Romeo gets to speak to Juliet, and the two are profoundly attracted to one another. They kissed each other not even knowing each other's names. When he finds out from Juliet's Nurse that she is a daughter of Capulet, his family's enemy, he becomes distraught.

 When Juliet learns that the young man she just kissed is a son of Montague, she grows equally upset. After this, Romeo sees into the Capulet orchard. Hidden in the garden, he overhears Juliet at her window, vowing her love to him in spite of their family's hatred of the Montagues.

Romeo calls out to her, and they exchange vows of love, agreeing to get married to each other. Wait, you guys just met each are you sure you don't wanna take some time to think about this?? No? Romeo's friend and confessor, Friar Lawrence, though shocked at Romeo's sudden change in love, agrees to marry the young lovers in secret the following day. He hoped that their love would end the age-old feud between the Capulet and Montague.

The next day, Tybalt, still angry about Romeo sneaking into the Capulet ball, challenges Romeo to a duel.

Romeo, seeing as he just married Tybalt's cousin, doesn't wanna fight him. Mercutio, offended by Tybalt's insolence and Romeo's vile submission, accepts the duel on Romeo's behalf.

 When they begin to fight, Romeo tries to stop them by jumping in between them, but Tybalt stabs Mercutio under Romeo's arms.

Grief-stricken and overcome with guilt, Romeo slays Tybalt. By the way, Mercutio isn't even a Montague. He's actually a blood relative of Prince Escalus and Count Paris, so he just died over a family feud that he isn't even related to.

The Prince, who lost a kinsman in this feud, exiles Romeo from Verona under the penalty of death if he were to ever return. Romeo secretly spends the night in Juliet's chamber, where they consummate their marriage before he has to leave the following morning.

Morning comes and the both lovers bid farewell to each other, unsure about when they will meet again and will see each other again. Juliet learns that her father, due to recent events, now intends to marry her to Paris in just three days.

 She rushes to Friar Lawrence for advice, and he comes up with a plan to reunite the two. The night before the wedding, Juliet is to drink this poison which will put her in a temporary death like coma. That way she will appear to be dead, and she cannot marry Paris, and Romeo can meet her again in the crypt, to take her away.

He gives her the poison and promises to send a messenger to tell Romeo the plan. When Juliet returns home, she finds out that the wedding has been moved ahead by a day, so she is going to be wedded the next day. That night she drinks the potion,and she falls into a death-like coma.

The next morning, the Nurse finds her, appearing to be dead, and she is entombed in the family crypt, all according to plan. There was one huge problem  with the plan, though the messenger was not able to  reach Romeo on time, and Romeo only received news that Juliet is dead. Romeo is overcome with grief and decides that he doesn't wanna live without her, so he plans to kill himself. He travels back to Verona and buys poison on the way. On the way into the crypt, he bumps into Paris. The two fight, and he slays Paris. When he finds Juliet inside the tomb, appearing to be dead, he drinks the poison and dies by her side.

When Juliet awakens and finds Romeo dead, she kisses his poisoned lips.When that does not kill her, she stabs herself in the chest with his dagger. The feuding families and the Prince meet at the tomb to find all three dead.

 Friar Lawrence recounts the story of two star-crossed lovers. The families are reconciled by their children's deaths, and agree to end their violent feud. The play ends with the Prince's elegy for the lovers: "For never was a story of more woe than this of Juliet and her Romeo."

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