Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare - Essay Example

Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare , Brian Gibbons (Editor) 5/9 Romeo and Juliet Romeo and Juliet is a very well known story written by William Shakespeare. This story has served as an inspiration for many modern day plays and movies. It is one of the very famous works of William Shakespeare which basically revolves around the love story of Romeo and Juliet and the difficult circumstances that they face in their unity. The plot presents with the twists and turns in the lives of Romeo and Juliet and their respective families and terminates with a very heartbreaking ending resulting in the death of the two lovers. The story takes place in Verona which is a city located in Italy. Two well known families in the city who are the Montagues and Capulets have been engaged in a tussle since a very long time. The plot starts with a public fight going on between members of the two families. The Prince of Verona, Prince Escalus intervenes and he is very annoyed by this ongoing tension between the two families which has been an issue since years. He declares that if another public fight between the two factions is discovered, those involved will be given a death penalty. This actually provides a clear picture of the extent to which the two families despise each other. Romeo is the son of Montague and Lady Montague. He is initially in love with a lady named Rosaline but she does not love him and denies his proposal. Because of this, Romeo is hurt and he is very sad. He informs his cousin Benvolio about his situation who tries to make him happy and get over with Rosaline. He suggests Romeo that he can look for other girls. On the other hand Juliet is the daughter of Capulet and Lady Capulet. Her father is presented by Paris with a request that he wants to marry his daughter. His father asks Lady Capulet to ask for the consent of Juliet to which Juliet responds that she would think about it. Capulet calls for a party so that Juliet and Paris can actually come close. The guests who are invited to the party include Rosaline and Romeo actually finds out about this. Romeo along with his cousin Benvolio decides to go to the party. Romeo and Benvolio try to disguise themselves by wearing masks. When Romeo reaches there and he sees Juliet, he immediately falls in love with her. He realizes that it is actually her that he truly loves and not Rosaline. On the other hand the situation is similar in the case of Juliet who also falls in love with Romeo. In the party the situation turns a bit chaotic because Tybalt who is Juliet’s cousin actually recognizes the Montagues. He plans to initiate a fight with Romeo but he is prevented to do so by Capulet. Romeo manages to escape from the scene. He discovers the fact that Juliet is a Capulet and Juliet also finds out that Romeo is a Montague. Romeo overhears Juliet confessing to herself that she loves Romeo despite of the fact that she knows about his background. When Romeo hears this he also expresses his feeling for her and they both decide that they will secretly get married. This marriage is decided between the two of them and they take Juliet’s nurse and Romeo’s servant Balthasar into confidence for the marriage which is scheduled to be one the very next day of their meeting. After leaving the party Romeo goes to the priest, Friar Lawrence and informs him about his intentions of getting married to Juliet. Friar Lawrence initially does not like the idea because he was aware of Romeo’s initial interest in Rosaline. But he thinks that this marriage between the two families might assist in the ending the hatred that has been going on since years. The ceremony is due the next day and Juliet is informed through her nurse that it will take place under the supervision of Friar Lawrence at his house only. After the marriage they both decide to meet in the night. When Romeo goes back he meets Mercutio who is Romeo’s acquaintance and Benvolio who inform him about the desire of Tybalt to fight with Romeo. Immediately Tybalt appears and despite of the fact that Romeo tries his best to avoid the fight, a battle begins between Tybalt and Mercutio. Mercutio is killed in the fight and this causes Romeo to lose his temper and as a result he initiates a fight against Tybalt which proves to be fatal for him and as a consequence Tybalt dies. Romeo takes refuge at the priest’s house and it is then found out that the Prince of Verona has ordered his exile from the city or otherwise he would face a death penalty. Romeo is grieved at this decision because this would make him go far from Juliet. The priest tells him that he would assist him in going to Juliet for that night but on the next day he would leave for Mantua to which he agrees. Romeo and Juliet spend the night together. The next day Juliet learns that her father has decided to get her married to Paris. She goes to Friar Lawrence and tells him that she would kill herself rather than marrying Paris. Friar Lawrence gives her a medication which would make her go into a deep sleep and everybody would think that she is dead. He suggests that after they bury her she can wake up and leave with Romeo for Mantua to which she agrees. On the day of her marriage to Paris she takes the fluid and everybody thinks that she is dead. She is then taken to the graveyard of Capulets for burial. In the meantime romeo is informed by Balthasar that Juliet is dead. Romeo takes with him poison and decides that after he sees her corpse he would commit suicide. This happens because the leeter that was dispatched by Friar Lawrence to Romeo about the truth is not received by him by then. In his pain he reaches the graveyard where Paris prevents him from going inside. Already grieved he has a fight with Paris which results in the death of Paris. Romeo then sees the dead body of Juliet and kisses her and drinks poison and dies. After this Juliet regains her consciousness and when she finds out that both Paris and Romeo are dead, she also subjects herself to suicide. Friar Lawrence tries to take her along but she rather chooses death. The Prince and the Capulets and Montagues arrive at the scene and are highly grieved by what happened. The two families realize that their fights will not yield anything good and they eventually end their enmity. Thus the two innocent lives are lost for ending the antagonism of two factions. References: Top of Form Shakespeare, William, and Brian Gibbons. Romeo and Juliet. London: Methuen, 1980. 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