Romeo and Juliet
The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet
- Author
- William Shakespeare
- Year
- 1597
- Country
- England
- Copyright
- Written in the 1590s. Out of copyright; the full text is in the public domain.
Two young people from feuding houses fall in love in one night and, undone by their elders' feud and one missed letter, die together within five days.
Why it is a classic
Nearly every romance device starts here: the sonnet at first meeting, the balcony, the secret marriage, the catastrophe by misunderstanding. The clock is compressed to five days, which is why it still reads at web-novel speed.
Structure breakdown
- 01Act 1 · First sight
A street brawl shows the feud. Romeo sneaks into the Capulet ball and falls for Juliet in a shared sonnet.
- 02Act 2 · Balcony and wedding
On the balcony they agree to renounce their names. Friar Laurence marries them in secret, hoping to end the feud.
- 03Act 3 · Murder on the wedding day
Tybalt kills Mercutio; Romeo kills Tybalt. Romeo is banished and Juliet's parents rush her marriage to Paris.
- 04Act 4 · The feigned death
Juliet takes the friar's potion and appears dead. The letter that would tell Romeo is stopped by a plague quarantine.
- 05Act 5 · The tomb
Believing her dead, Romeo drinks poison in the tomb. Juliet wakes and follows with his dagger. The houses reconcile.
What to steal for your own script
- Compress time. A five-day clock makes every decision rash, and rashness justifies the tragedy.
- Catastrophe needs no villain, only one piece of information that arrives late. A single letter holds up the structure.
- Express a scene's emotion through form. The first meeting is a sonnet; in a serial, chapter titles and register can do the same work.
Original excerpt
Act 2, Scene 2 — the balcony · Studio script format · English original
Two soliloquies that overlap without the speakers knowing; Juliet does not know Romeo can hear.
Capulet's orchard
Enter ROMEO. JULIET appears above at a window.
ROMEO
But, soft! what light through yonder window breaks?
It is the east, and Juliet is the sun.
JULIET
O Romeo, Romeo! wherefore art thou Romeo?
Deny thy father and refuse thy name;
Or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love,
And I'll no longer be a Capulet.
ROMEO
(aside)
Shall I hear more, or shall I speak at this?