How Old Are Romeo and Juliet in Shakespeare's Play?
Juliet is 13. In Act 1 her parents and her Nurse say she is not yet fourteen, and her birthday is about two weeks away. Romeo's age is never given in the play.
Readers and directors usually imagine Romeo as a teenager, often around sixteen, but that is an inference, not a line of text.
| Fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Juliet's age | 13, turning 14 on Lammas Eve (31 July) |
| Where it is stated | Act 1, Scenes 2 and 3 |
| Romeo's age | Not stated in the play |
| Juliet in Brooke's poem | Nearly 16 |
| Capulet asks Paris to wait | Two more years |
How old is Juliet?
In Act 1, Scene 2, her father Capulet tells Paris that his daughter has not yet seen the change of fourteen years, and asks him to wait two more summers before he thinks of her as a bride. In Scene 3, Lady Capulet says it again: she is not fourteen.
The Nurse then gives the exact date. She remembers Juliet's birth well, and says that on Lammas Eve at night Juliet will be fourteen. Lammas is 1 August, a harvest festival, so Lammas Eve is 31 July. Lady Capulet says it is a fortnight and odd days away, which puts the start of the play in mid-July.
The Nurse adds that her own daughter Susan, who has since died, was the same age as Juliet.
↑ Back to the topHow old is Romeo?
Shakespeare never says. There is no line that gives a number, and no other character states it. Clues point to a teenager: Romeo is lovesick over Rosaline when the play opens, but he is also treated as old enough to fight a duel and to kill Tybalt and Paris.
Because the text is silent, readers settle on their own picture. Mid-teens to about seventeen is the usual guess. In Arthur Brooke's poem, Shakespeare's main source, Romeo and Juliet are about the same age, nearly sixteen.
↑ Back to the topDid Shakespeare change Juliet's age?
Yes. In Brooke's poem of 1562, Juliet is nearly sixteen. Shakespeare made her thirteen, about two years younger, and keeps pointing to her youth through her parents, the Nurse and the story's timing.
The play does not explain the change. Critics generally read it as a way to stress how young and vulnerable the lovers are, and how fast everything happens to them.
↑ Back to the topWas marrying at 13 normal in Shakespeare's time?
No. Historians say thirteen was exceptionally young for a bride in Elizabethan England. Most English brides were at least nineteen, and many were in their early twenties. Capulet himself calls Juliet too young in Act 1.
Lady Capulet does say she had Juliet at about the same age, so an early marriage is not shocking to the characters. It is, however, unusual, and the play knows it.
↑ Back to the topWhy do actors playing them look older?
Most productions cast actors older than the characters, since the roles are demanding. That is why Juliet often looks like a young woman on stage and screen, although the text says thirteen.
↑ Back to the topMore about Romeo and Juliet
This guide covers the play only. Film and stage versions differ in places.