Cheat Sheet to Romeo and Juliet

We all have had the play, Romeo and Juliet, to study, at one point of time. And we've all avoided the Shakespearean text. Not to forget summaries of each scene in each act (there are five acts). Well, here are my interpretations of this play.

But first, the characters.

Montagues:
Lord Montague: Father of Romeo, and head of the Montague house.
Lady Montague: Wife of Montague, mother of Romeo.
Romeo: Sole son of the Montague name.
Benvolio: Cousin of Romeo. Peacemaker, as his name suggests.
Balthasar: Romeo's servant.
Abraham: Servant.

Capulets:
Lord Capulet: Father of Juliet, and head of the Capulet house.
Lady Capulet: Wife of Capulet, mother of Juliet.
Juliet: Sole daughter of the Capulet household.
Nurse: Juliet's servant and Confidant. More of a mother than her real mother.
Tybalt: Cousin of Juliet. King of Cats.
Peter: Servant of the nurse.
Gregory and Sampson: Two servants.

Friar Lawrence: Stands the middle ground. He is the confidant of both Romeo and Juliet.
We can already see some parallelism.

Royalty:
Prince Escalus: Prince of Verona.
Paris: A wealthy relative of the Prince, to marry Juliet.
Mercutio: A relative of the prince, but best friends with Romeo.

Now, the summaries.

Act 1:

Scene 1: Sampson and Gregory (Capulet servants) are walking down an alley, run into some Montague servants (Abram and Balthasar). The Capulet's servants provoke the Montague's, and it leads to a fight. Benvolio, cousin of Romeo, tries to stop them, but in comes Tybalt (cousin of Juliet), who leads Benvolio into a fight. The Prince intervenes, and says that the next act of violence between the Capulets and Montagues will be punished by death. Romeo's parents confide in Benvolio on his weird behaviour of late. Benvolio finds that Romeo is pining about his love for Rosaline.

Scene 2: Paris wishes to marry Juliet, and Capulet agrees to the marriage. He holds a feast at his home, and sends Peter to deliver invitations. Peter who can't read, asks Romeo to help him distribute the letters. Benvolio notices it's a party at the Capulet household, and asks Romeo to go with him in order to compare the beauties and cure his lovesickness.

Scene 3: Lady Capulet tells Juliet and Nurse about the marriage proposal, and Juliet agrees to try to fall in love with Paris as much as she can.

Scene 4: Benvolio and Mercutio convince Romeo to go to the party. They dress up as masked dancers, and Romeo insists on being a torch bearer rather than a dancer.

Scene 5: Romeo sees Juliet, and is enchanted by her beauty. Tybalt notices Romeo, and wishes to fight; he tells Capulet, but Capulet notes how well-behaved Romeo is, and tells him not to, as Romeo was doing nothing to provoke a fight. Romeo and Juliet converse, and Romeo kisses her (twice) and leaves. As he does, Juliet asks Nurse about the 'unknown man' (Romeo), to which Nurse tells her that it is the son of Montague.

Act 2:

Scene 1: Romeo decides to hide from his friends, as they continue to joke about Romeo's hopeless love for Rosaline. They are completely oblivious as to what happened between him and Juliet.

Scene 2: Juliet, at the balcony, calls out her worries of love, not knowing Romeo is listening. He reveals himself, and they exchange words of love to each other. They arrange for Nurse to be their go-between.

Scene 3: Friar Lawrence is persuaded by Romeo to agree to their (Romeo and Juliet's) marriage. Frair Lawrence notes the impulsiveness, but yields at the end.

Scene 4: Opens up on Benvolio and Mercutio joking about the challenge that Tybalt had sent to Romeo. They also joke about what had occupied Romeo the night before. Romeo joins in with the comedy until Nurse walks in.

Scene 5: The Nurse meets with Romeo to know of the marriage arrangements. She then goes home to Juliet and tells her what she had learned from Romeo.

Scene 6: Romeo and Juliet get married, by Friar Lawrence, in a very short, private ceremony.

Act 3:

Scene 1: After the marriage, Romeo, while walking down the street, bumps into Tybalt. He tells Tybalt that he refuses the challenge, as he has a reason to love him now. Mercutio, impatient, draws his sword for Romeo in response to the challenge. Romeo steps between them to stop the fight, but Tybalt cunningly strikes under Romeo's arm, and kills Mercutio. Romeo and Benvolio take dying Mercutio to the doctor, but he dies upon arrival. Romeo crosses paths with Tybalt again, and in rage for retribution, challenges Tybalt and kills him. The Prince arrives, assesses the situation, grieves Mercutio's death, and banishes Romeo instead of killing him.

Scene 2: Juliet, waiting for a response from Romeo, receives instead the news of what occurred from Nurse. She wishes to cry for the demise of Tybalt, but cry with joy that Romeo was not killed, nor would he be executed. She sends her ring, and word, through Nurse to Romeo (who is hiding in Frair Lawrence's cell.

Scene 3: Friar Lawrence tries to make Romeo see the bright side of things, like the fact that he was not dead. Nurse walks in, gives Romeo Juliet's ring and word, and leaves. This cheers Romeo up, as Juliet is neither mad, nor disgusted by him.

Scene 4: During this time, Capulet meets with Paris, and they prepone the marriage, in order to make Juliet stop crying and grieving for Tybalt (that's what they think).

Scene 5: Romeo and Juliet consumate their marriage. Dawn approaches, and Romeo leaves Juliet. Nurse urges him to hurry, as Juliet's mother was approaching. Lady Capulet brings Juliet the news of the preponed arranged marriage. Juliet opposes, which makes her father mad. He disowns Juliet as his daughter for all the disobedience she has wrought. Juliet, after her parents leave, asks Nurse what to do. She is shocked that even Nurse turns on her. She decides to go to Friar Lawrence, and if that fails, she has the power to suicide.

Act 4:

Scene 1: Friar Lawrence devises a plan; he gives Juliet a vial of poison that would make her seem dead, and would only wake her after 42 hours. He sends another Friar to Romeo with details of their plan.

Scene 2: Under the pretense that she had gone to confess sins, Juliet returns and begs forgiveness (not really) of her father. Her father is pleased, and he shifts the wedding to the next day (even closer).

Scene 3: Before bed, Juliet dismisses Nurse, and takes the poison.

Scene 4: The Capulet household is almost done with the wedding preparations, and Capulet sends Nurse to wake Juliet up from her slumber.

Scene 5: The entire Capulet household and Paris are in dismay and utter shock by Juliet's demise. They use the wedding preparations for funeral preparations.

Act 5:

Scene 1: Since Friar Lawrence's letter did not reach Romeo, Romeo hears the news of Juliet's death (in Mantua). He goes to the nearest apothecary and purchases the strongest and fastest poison. He then heads to the Capulets' vault to confirm this news.

Scene 2: Friar Lawrence learns that Romeo never received the letter, and heads to the Capulets' vault himself.

Scene 3: Romeo reaches Juliet's tomb the moment that Paris is praying for her. Paris' page runs to find the Prince and the authorities. Romeo and Paris fight, and Paris dies. Romeo looks at Juliet's lifeless body, kisses her, and drinks the poison. Friar Lawrences appears after this, and Juliet subsequently wakes up. Juliet looks at Romeo's corpse, and tries to glean some poison from his lips. She fails, and takes his dagger, and stabs herself. The Prince, Capulet and Montague (alone, as her wife died due to Romeo's banishment) arrive to the scene. They are shocked, and Friar Lawrence tells them the whole story of what happened. Capulet and Montague feel cursed, and as said in the prologue;

"Whose misadventur'd piteous overthrows
Doth with their death bury their parents' strife.
The fearful passage of their death-mark'd love,
And the continuence of their parents' rage,
Which but their children's end nought could remove,"

That's the end of the summary, but if you want a one sentence summary:

Boy meets girl, forbidden love happens, they die.

Happy Valentine's Day!

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