Montegue charactersCapulet charactersOther characters

Lord and Lady MontegueLord and Lady CapuletPrince Escalus (ruler)

RomeoJulietParis

Benvolio (Romeo’s cousin)Juliet’s nurseFriar Lawrence

MercutioTybalt

Act 1 Timeline of events

Scene 1 - Saturday morning on the streets of Verona

  • Servants of Capulet household start a fight w/ servants from Montegue household
  • Fight escalates into a huge brawl which brings the ruler, Prince Escalus
  • Prince E. is very angry and states that the next person who starts a fight will be executed
  • Lady Montegue is happy her son Romeo was not in the fight (Romeo is off sad and moping over a girl named Rosaline who he is in love with. She’s not interested)

Scene 2 -Saturday morning/afternoon at the Capulet house

  • A wealthy nobleman named Paris wants to marry Juliet Capulet and has come to ask her father’s permission to marry her
  • Lord Capulet feels she’s too young, and feels he should wait 2 years, but says if she wants to marry you Paris, I’m ok with it. He invites Paris to a big party he’s having this evening so Juliet can check him out
  • Meanwhile, a Capulet servant is out inviting people to the party and asks Romeo for help reading the invitation list
  • Romeo sees that Rosaline is invited, which gives Benvolio an idea
  • Benvolio feels they should “crash” the party so Romeo can check out other women of Verona and get over Rosaline

Scene 3 -Saturday evening in Juliet’s bedroom

  • Lady Capulet comes to talk to Juliet about marrying Paris
  • Juliet does not want to get married but agrees to look at Paris at the party tonight

Scene 4 -Saturday night on the streets of Verona

  • Romeo and friends walk to the Capulet party. It is a masquerade ball, so their masks will conceal their identities.
  • Romeo reveals that he has had a weird dream which sends Mercutio off on a tangent about Queen Mab, a fairy who visits people in their sleep and makes them dream
  • Mercutio feels dreams are just silly idle fantasies not to be taken seriously, but
  • Romeo, in a soliloquy, reveals his dream was ominous, that he will die as the result of a series of events that will all begin by him going to this party. He goes to the party anyway.

Scene 5 -Saturday night / early Sunday morning - Capulet Masquerade Party

  • When Romeo sees Juliet, it is love at first sight, and in speaking of her, Tybalt overhears him, knowing a Montegue has come to the party
  • Tybalt is furious and runs to tell Lord Capulet
  • Lord Capulet does not want a “scene” and besides, he’s heard Romeo is a good boy so leave him be, but Tybalt is pissed and vows revenge
  • Romeo and Juliet dance, then they kiss and fall in love, but the party ends so they must part
  • Upon leaving, they both learn each other’s names, thus learning they are each other’s enemy

Act 2 Timeline of Events

Scene 1 -early Sunday morning (like 3 a.m.)

  • Romeo ditches his friends to sneak into the Capulet yard to see Juliet
  • Romeo climbs over the Capulet wall and stands beneath Juliet’s window watching her stand on her balcony talking to herself

Scene 2 -same as scene 1

  • Famous balcony scene. When Romeo sees her he says the famous line: “Tis the east, and Juliet is the sun”
  • Juliet wonders aloud by Romeo has to be a Montegue (her enemy)
  • She wonders aloud about them giving up their names to be together
  • He speaks and startles her -she warns him not to let other Capulets find him here as they would kill him. He doesn’t care
  • They profess their love and vow to get married. She says she will send someone (her nurse) later in the morning to find out when and where they will marry

Scene 3 -later Sunday morning at Friar Lawrence’s cell

  • Romeo comes to tell Friar L. that he’s now in love with Juliet Capulet
  • The friar is mixing herbs (foreshadowing)
  • The Friar scolds him for falling in and out of love so easily, but…
  • The friar sees their secret marriage as a way to end the fued between the Montegues and Capulets, so he agrees to perform the marriage ceremony later today

Scene 4 -Sunday morning / early afternoon on the streets of Verona

  • Mercutio and Benvolio speak of how Romeo didn’t come home last night and also that Tybalt has sent a threatening letter to the Montagues about Romeo crashing the party last night
  • Romeo appears and they give him a hard time
  • Nurse appears looking for Romeo to find out about the wedding
  • Mercutio teases the nurse in a comical scene and she brags that she could take him
  • Romeo and nurse go into church to speak privately and she warns Romeo not to break Juliet’s heart, as there is another man who is interested in Juliet named Paris
  • Romeo swears his love for Juliet is true; he tells the nurse to tell Juliet to meet him later a Friar Lawrence’s cell for their marriage ceremony
  • Romeo also tells the nurse to get a rope ladder from his servant named Balthasar (so Romeo can later climb into Juliet’s room when it’s dark for them to have their “wedding night”

Scene 5 -Sunday afternoon - Juliet’s bedroom

  • Juliet is anxiously awaiting the nurse’s return to hear the news of her marriage to Romeo
  • Nurse finally returns but stalls because she wants to make sure Lady Capulet is not around to eavesdrop
  • Finally, she tells Juliet to lie to her parents and say she’s going to Friar Lawrence’s to give confession (shrift) but really she’ll be getting married

Scene 6 -Sunday afternoon at Friar Lawrence’s

  • Friar Lawrence warns the two about rushing into love, but he marries them. They swear their undying love for each other

Act 3 Timeline of Events

Scene 1 -Sunday afternoon on the streets of Verona

  • After Romeo and Juliet got married, she went home to wait for night for Romeo to climb into her bedroom so they can have their wedding night
  • Romeo is walking home
  • Meanwhile, Tybalt is out looking for Romeo and when he sees him, tries to start a fight with him
  • Romeo doesn’t want to fight and hints that the two are family now
  • Tybalt persists, but Mercutio ends up fighting Tybalt. At first, the fight is comical but then Tybalt accidentally stabs Mercutio who then dies
  • Romeo is consumed with guilt and becomes enraged; he goes after Tybalt, they fight, Romeo kills Tybalt and then Romeo says “I am fortune’s fool” and he runs away
  • Prince Escalus arrives and Benvolio explains that Tybalt started the whole fight so Romeo shouldn’t be executed
  • The Prince banishes Romeo from Verona instead of executing him

Scene 2 -still Sunday afternoon in Juliet’s bedroom

  • The nurse comes in crying and tells Juliet that Romeo has killed her cousin Tybalt
  • At first, Juliet is mad at Romeo but then realizes she must support her husband and that Tybalt would have killed Romeo if Romeo hadn’t killed Tybalt
  • Juliet becomes so upset, she talks of suicide, but the nurse promises to find Romeo and bring him to Juliet to comfort her

Scene 3 -still Sunday at Friar Lawrence’s cell

  • Romeo runs to Friar L. for comfort after killing Tybalt and threatens suicide at the thought of being banished from Verona (he will now go live in Mantua)
  • Friar L. scolds Romeo and tells him he should be thankful for being banished instead of executed
  • Friar tells Romeo to go to Juliet and spend the night with her, but leave for Mantua very early so he will not be caught in Verona by the Prince’s guards

Scene 4 -Sunday night / early Monday morning at the Capulet household

  • Paris comes to offer his sympathies to Lord Capulet, who has a sudden change of heart, and decides that Juliet WILL marry Paris this Thursday
  • Lord Capulet tells his wife to go tell Juliet of this news

Scene 5 -Sunday night / early Monday morning in Juliet’s bedroom

  • Meanwhile, while Lord Capulet was talking with Paris, Juliet is upstairs having her wedding night with Romeo
  • At dawn, Romeo leaves. Then the nurse comes to warn Juliet that her mother is coming
  • Lady Capulet enters and tells Juliet that she is marrying Paris on Thursday and Juliet is furious
  • Juliet hints at her marriage to Romeo when she says that she’d rather marry Romeo than Paris (meaning I’d rather marry our enemy than marry Paris)
  • Lord Capulet is so angry, he tells Juliet he will disown her if she doesn’t marry Paris
  • When alone, Juliet tearfully turns to the nurse for advice, but the nurse tells Juliet to forget about Romeo and just marry Paris
  • Juliet is devastated and vows to no longer trust or confide in the nurse and runs to Friar L. for help

Act 4 Timeline of Events

Scene 1 -late Monday into Tuesday at Friar Lawrence’s cell

  • Paris comes to talk to the friar about performing his marriage ceremony to Juliet Thursday
  • Juliet arrives and speaks to Paris in puns, hinting that she loves “him” (Paris thinks she means the friar but we know she means Romeo)
  • Paris leaves and Juliet threatens suicide if the Friar cannot come up with a plan for her to NOT have to marry Paris
  • He mixes up a potion for Juliet to take the night before her marriage to Paris
  • He tells her to go home and apologize and act like she wants to marry Paris
  • On Wednesday night, she will drink the potion and it will make her appear dead for 42 hours
  • Thursday morning, she will be “dead”’; her body will be placed in the Capulet Charnel House and there she will remain
  • Meanwhile, friar will send a letter to Romeo so he understands their plan. Another friar will take the letter to Mantua
  • The letter will instruct Romeo to sneak back into Verona and into the Charnel House so he is there when Juliet wakes up. The two will escape to Mantua until Friar Lawrence can talk to both parents and the Prince and get Romeo pardoned

Scene 2 -Tuesday now, at Capulet’s house

  • Juliet returns and apologizes to her father and agrees to marry Paris
  • Lord Capulet is so happy he decides to move up the wedding to tomorrow (Wednesday)
  • This prompts her to take the potion earlier than planned. How will Romeo learn of this change of plans?

Scene 3 -Tuesday night in Juliet’s bedroom

  • Juliet is nervous and has reservations about taking the potion (what if? What if?...)
  • She finally says “to Romeo” and drinks the potion

Scene 4 -early Wednesday morning, before dawn, at Capulet house

  • The Capulet household is busy preparing for the wedding
  • Lady Capulet hints that her husband has been unfaithful (explains her coldness to him)

Scene 5 -same as scene 4

  • The Nurse discovers Juliet “dead.” Lord and Lady Capulet are devastated
  • Friar Lawrence comes and tells them to prepare for her funeral

Act 5 Timeline of Events

Scene 1 -Wednesday in Mantua

  • Romeo’s servant, Balthasar, arrives to tell him that Juliet has died (Balthasar does NOT know about Friar L.’s plan)
  • Since Romeo has not heard from Friar Lawrence, he believes Balthasar and vows to die
  • Romeo finds a poor apothecary and bribes him with money to break Mantua’s law and sell Romeo some poison

Famous line where Romeo says that Money (greed) does more damage to men’s souls than poison

Scene 2 -Wednesday at Friar Lawrence’s cell

  • Friar Lawrence finds out that the other friar was unable to deliver the letter because Mantua would not admit him or accept the letter because he had been working with the ill and they feared contagion
  • Friar Lawrence is very upset and rushes to the Capulet charnel house to be there when Juliet wakes up so she is not alone

Scene 3 -Wednesday evening in the cemetary

  • Paris has come to the Capulet charnel house to lay flowers next to Juliet, but sees Romeo there
  • Paris thinks Romeo has come to vandalize the charnel house as an act of revenge for being exiled, and Paris tries to arrest him
  • Romeo warns him (“tempt not a desperate man”) but Paris does not listen; they fight, and Paris dies
  • Paris’ dying words are to be laid by Juliet, so Romeo brings him into the charnel house, remembering this must be the man the nurse spoke of in Act 3
  • Romeo says good bye to Juliet, drinks the poison, and dies
  • Meanwhile, Balthasar is still in the churchyard as Friar Lawrence arrives and Friar has fears for Romeo and Juliet
  • Friar enters the tomb, sees Romeo dead and when Juliet awakens, tries to get her to leave with him, but she has seen Romeo’s body and refuses
  • Friar leaves because he hears people coming. Juliet sees there is no poison left, so she takes Romeo’s dagger and stabs herself and dies
  • The watchmen have alerted the Prince who has arrived along with the Capulets and Lord Montegue (Lady Montegue has died from grief over Romeo’s banishment)
  • It looks suspicious with Romeo’s dagger in Juliet so they all turn to Friar Lawrence to explain and in a long speech (page 839-840) he tells the whole story to everyone
  • The Capulets and Montegues realize their feud has cost them their only children, so they end their feud and promise to create statues of each other’s child in Verona
  • Prince concludes the story: “There never was a story of more woe, than that of Juliet and her Romeo”

The End