Romeo and Juliet

Tybalt, still looking to punish Romeo for his appearance at the Capulets’ party, runs into Mercutio and Benvolio. He provokes Mercutio into a duel, while Benvolio tries to stop the fighting. Romeo enters, and Tybalt calls him a villain. Romeo, having just married Juliet (who is Tybalt’s cousin), swears he’s not, but Tybalt challenges him to draw. Mercutio draws first, then Tybalt, and they eventually fall to fighting. Romeo tries to break it up, but Tybalt reaches under Romeo’s arm and fatally stabs Mercutio, who curses the Montagues and the Capulets for their continuing feud.

At Friar Lawrence’s cell, the Friar warns Romeo not to let his passions run away with him. Juliet enters, and the two lovers greet each other enthusiastically. Friar Lawrence entreats them to follow him, so that he might perform the marriage ceremony.

As she waits for the Nurse to come back from her secret meeting with Romeo, Juliet bemoans how long it seems to be taking. Finally, the Nurse returns. But before she gives Juliet the good news, she decides to have a little fun with her charge, and goes on and on about her aching bones. At last, the Nurse tells Juliet that she is to meet Romeo and Friar Lawrence today. As a bonus, she’ll leave a ladder out so that Romeo can climb into Juliet’s room that evening. That way, the newly married couple can spend the night together.

Still in search of Romeo, Mercutio and Benvolio finally run into their friend on the street. We learn from Benvolio that the Montagues have received a threatening note from Tybalt, directed at Romeo. Mercutio is worried about lovesick Romeo’s ability to best the talented Tybalt in a duel. Soon enough, they run into Romeo, and they note that he’s no longer moping. Romeo and Mercutio banter for a while, until Juliet’s nurse arrives.

As Romeo approaches, Friar Lawrence delivers a speech about the power of herbs and plants to both heal and poison. Romeo enters halfway through, waits for the Friar to finish, and then asks for his help in marrying Romeo and Juliet. Friar Lawrence marvels at how quickly Romeo switched from loving Rosaline to loving Juliet, but he also realizes that a marriage between a Montague and a Capulet just might put an end to the feud between the families, so he agrees to perform the ceremony.

Romeo stands below Juliet’s balcony, marveling at her beauty. Not knowing he’s there, Juliet speaks, wondering why Romeo must be a Montague, and she a Capulet. She thinks a name is simply a word, and it would be easy for Romeo to take a new name, and therefore not be forbidden to her. Romeo reveals himself, agreeing to forsake the name Romeo if he can have her love. Juliet warns him that, as a Montague, he’ll be killed if he’s spotted with her, but Romeo doesn’t care. After much discussion, the two swear their love for each other and agree to be married.

After another introduction from the chorus, informing us that Romeo and Juliet have officially fallen in love, Romeo steps onstage to inform us that he finds himself unable to leave the Capulets’ because he’s so drawn to Juliet. After he withdraws in search of Juliet, Benvolio and Mercutio appear in search of him. Mercutio tries to draw him out using Rosaline’s name, but the two are unsuccessful and decide to call it quits.

Capulet welcomes his guests to the party. Romeo quickly spots Juliet and is captivated. At the same time, Tybalt spots Romeo and recognizes him as a Montague. He points him out to Capulet, who tells Tybalt to let it go—tonight is not the night for fighting. Romeo, meanwhile, woos Juliet, and the two share a kiss. After they part, Romeo finds out from her nurse that Juliet is a Capulet, and Juliet later finds out that Romeo is a Montague.

Romeo, Benvolio, and their friend Mercutio arrive at the Capulet party in style. Romeo tells his friends that he doesn’t plan on dancing tonight—he’s too sad. Plus, he had a dream the night before that gave him a bad feeling about the party. Mercutio teasingly thinks his dream is the result of a visit from Queen Mab. She’s the miniature “fairies' midwife,” who visits people in their sleep and fulfills their desires (however good or bad) in dreams.

Lady Capulet and the Nurse call Juliet to enter the scene. Lady Capulet wants to talk to her daughter, Juliet, about the possibility of marriage. They discuss the fact that Juliet still has two weeks left before her fourteenth birthday, but, as Lady Capulet points out, plenty of girls her age are mothers already. Juliet is open to marriage, although she admits she hasn’t thought much about it. Lady Capulet tells her that handsome Paris is interested in taking her as his wife. Juliet says she’ll keep an open mind. In the meantime, the Capulet party has just begun.