Romeo and Juliet

Romeo and Juliet is a tragic love story about two young people from feuding families in Verona. Their secret marriage and attempts to be together ultimately lead to miscommunication and their deaths, which finally reconcile the warring families.

• 1Romeo Montague and Juliet Capulet meet at a ball and fall instantly in love
• 2They secretly marry with the help of Friar Lawrence
• 3Romeo kills Juliet's cousin Tybalt in a street brawl and is banished from Verona
• 4Juliet's parents arrange for her to marry Paris
• 5Friar Lawrence gives Juliet a potion to fake her death
• 6Romeo, unaware of the plan, finds Juliet 'dead' and poisons himself. Juliet awakens and kills herself

• •Love versus hate
• •Fate and destiny
• •Youth and impetuousness
• •Family loyalty and conflict
• •Time and haste
• •Individual versus society

• Romeo: Passionate young Montague who falls deeply in love with Juliet
• Juliet: Intelligent Capulet daughter who defies her family for love
• Friar Lawrence: Well-meaning priest who tries to help the lovers
• Mercutio: Romeo's witty friend killed by Tybalt
• Tybalt: Juliet's hot-headed cousin
• The Nurse: Juliet's devoted caretaker and confidante

• Written in the mid-1590s during Elizabethan England
• Based on earlier Italian stories about feuding families
• Reflects Renaissance ideas about romantic love and marriage
• Set in Verona, Italy, but written for an English audience
• Explores tensions between individual desire and family duty

• Analyze how Shakespeare presents different types of love throughout the play
• Examine the role of fate and free will in the tragedy
• Discuss how language and imagery reflect the themes
• Consider how Shakespeare portrays youth and its relationship to tragedy
• Explore the contrast between public violence and private love