Romeo and Juliet Summary

Like many other plays of the time it is written and spoken in Old English and includes many words and phrases that are rarely used in the modern language such as, “Thou” instead of you and “Did my heart love till now?” which now would be said as “Have I ever felt love before until now?”. At the time the play was set marriages were very different than they are today such as; you could get married at 14, Marriages were often arranged by the Bride’s and Groom’s parents and very often the Groom was chosen by the Bride’s family based on the Groom’s wealthy and social status. The manners of children and teenagers were also a lot higher and stricter such as they always had to do as they were told or be beaten whereas now due to laws beatings are out of the question. The play is about two teenage children of two very rich, feuding families in Verona, Romeo Montague and Juliet Capulet. Romeo and Juliet were said to be star-crossed lovers meaning that they were fated, which shows as a twisting turn of events soon leads to them taking their own lives in the name of love.

A key part of “Romeo and Juliet” is Fate because when the play was written in The Elizabethan Era many people believed that the stars held secrets about their future, which if deciphered could tell people about things to avoid, advice on what to do in crisis and many other things. The Stars foretold that “Romeo and Juliet” were “Star Crossed” meaning that their paths crossing were inevitable so they would meet sooner or later. “Star Crossed” also means unlucky which is demonstrated by “Romeo and Juliet’s” tragic yet heart warming decision to end their lives be in heaven together which of course would not actually happen as committing suicide is a sin. Some evidence of “The Stars” playing a part in the play is that Romeo refers to them several times such as at the Capulet feast he speaks of “Some consequence yet hanging in the stars” and nearing his final demise he accuses the “inauspicious stars” of being cruel hence the term “Cruel Fate”.

There were many factors that led “Romeo and Juliet” to their deaths such as; the curse that Romeo’s best friend Mercutio placed upon both The Montague’s and Capulet’s houses which in the Elizabethan Era was taken very seriously. Friar Lawrence also played quite a large part in their passing as his plan led from one disaster to another such as; Friar John being kept at a plague house whilst attempting to deliver the plan to Romeo “I could not send it- here it is again- Nor get a messenger to bring it thee, So fearful were they of my infection.” When clearly Friar Lawrence should have sent several messengers in different directions to ensure Romeo was informed.

Another flaw in the Friar’s plan was that Balthazar, who was Romeo’s servant was not informed about the plan either so when he saw Juliet’s body being removed from the Capulet family home he assumed that she was really dead and went off to inform Romeo. “Romeo and Juliet” was written to be fast paced to keep the lower class who were branded as “less intellectual” entertained, such as; The first day Romeo and Juliet met and Juliet told Romeo” If that thy bent of love be honourable, Thy purpose marriage, send me word to-morrow.” The following day they got married and the day after that Juliet went to Friar Lawrence for help and that night drank the potion.