Romeo and Juliet Summary: Plot, Setting and Key Facts
Romeo and Juliet is Shakespeare's tragedy about two teenagers from feuding families in Verona who fall in love, marry in secret and die within days of meeting.
The play was written in the mid-1590s. The whole action lasts only a few days.
| Fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Author | William Shakespeare |
| Written | About 1594-96 |
| Genre | Tragedy in five acts |
| Setting | Verona and Mantua, Italy |
| Feuding families | Montague and Capulet |
| Time span | A few days |
| Main theme | Love, hate and fate |
What is Romeo and Juliet about?
Act 1. A street brawl between the servants of the Montagues and the Capulets is stopped by Prince Escalus, who warns that the next breach of the peace will be punished by death. Count Paris asks Capulet for Juliet's hand. Romeo, miserable over Rosaline, goes to a Capulet feast in disguise and meets Juliet. They fall in love before learning each other's names.
Act 2. After the balcony scene, Romeo asks Friar Laurence to marry them. The Friar agrees, hoping to end the feud, and the Nurse arranges the wedding. They are married in secret the next day.
Act 3. Tybalt, furious that Romeo came to the feast, challenges him. Romeo refuses to fight, so his friend Mercutio takes the challenge and is killed. Romeo kills Tybalt in revenge and is banished to Mantua. After a night with Juliet he leaves. Capulet, not knowing of the marriage, decides she will wed Paris on Thursday.
Act 4. Juliet begs the Friar for help. He gives her a potion that will make her seem dead for 42 hours, so that she can be taken from the family tomb and join Romeo. She drinks it the night before the wedding, and the household finds her dead in the morning.
Act 5. The Friar's letter never reaches Romeo, because Friar John is quarantined in a house suspected of plague. Romeo hears from his servant that Juliet is dead, buys poison and goes to the tomb. There he kills Paris, who is mourning at the grave, and drinks the poison. Juliet wakes, finds him dead and stabs herself. The two families end their feud.
↑ Back to the topWhere and when is it set?
The play is set in Verona, Italy, with a short stay for Romeo in Mantua. The action takes only a few days, from a Sunday morning brawl to the tragedy in the tomb, which is part of why events feel so rushed.
↑ Back to the topWho are the main characters?
Romeo Montague and Juliet Capulet are the lovers. Friar Laurence marries them and plans the potion trick. Mercutio, Tybalt and Paris die along the way. The Nurse is Juliet's confidante, and Prince Escalus rules Verona. For the full list, see our Romeo and Juliet characters guide.
↑ Back to the topKey facts about the play
The Prologue is a 14-line sonnet that gives away the ending, so the audience knows from the start that the lovers will die. Juliet is thirteen, and Romeo's age is never stated.
Shakespeare took the plot from Arthur Brooke's 1562 poem, but he made Juliet younger and gave Mercutio a larger part. The first printed edition appeared in 1597.
↑ Back to the topMore about Romeo and Juliet
This guide covers the play only. Film and stage versions differ in places.