Romeo and Juliet story guide

ACT I  |  ACT II  |  ACT III

Scene 1: The bedroom
At dawn next morning the household is stirring and Romeo must go. He embraces Juliet and leaves as her parents enter with Paris. Juliet refuses to marry Paris and, hurt by her rebuff, he leaves. Juliet¹s parents are angry and threaten to disown her. Juliet rushes to see Friar Laurence.

Scene 2: The chapel
Juliet falls at the Friar¹s feet and begs for his help. He gives her a phial of sleeping potion which will make her fall into a deathlike sleep. Her parents, believing her to be dead, will bury her in the family tomb. Meanwhile Romeo, warned by Friar Laurence, will return under cover of darkness and take her away from Verona.

Scene 3: The bedroom
That evening Juliet agrees to marry Paris; but next morning when her parents arrive with him they find her apparently lifeless on the bed.

Scene 4: The Capulet family crypt
Romeo, who has not received the Friar¹s message, returns to Verona stunned by grief at the news of Juliet¹s death. Disguised as a monk he enters the crypt, and finding Paris by Juliet¹s body, kills him. Believing Juliet to be dead, Romeo drinks a phial of poison. Juliet awakes and, finding Romeo dead, stabs herself.

KENNETH MACMILLAN