Romeo and Juliet as a Shakespeare study: a summary.

1. ROMEO AND JULIET
Shakespeare as a literary study:
Grade 10 : English Home Language
Presented by: Ms Khadeejah Jamal

2. *William Shakespeare was born in 1564 in England. He
worked as an actor, poet, and playwright.
*He wrote Romeo and Juliet in 1594 /1595. He derived the
plot from another play.
*This was one of his first tragedies (a play dealing with tragic
events, usually has an unhappy ending, resulting in the main
characters downfall) – he mainly wrote comedies before.
Background Information

3. It was among Shakespeare's most popular plays during his lifetime. It is still
one of his most frequently performed plays, and has been adapted many
times (in the forms of movies, cartoons, musicals, modern-day remakes, etc).
THE PLAY IS SET IN VERONA, ITALY, AND FOCUSES ON THE
STORY OF TWO YOUNG STAR-CROSSED LOVERS WHOSE
DEATHS ULTIMATELY RECONCILES THEIR FEUDING FAMILIES.

4. CHARACTERS
The Montagues:
-Romeo Montague: The main character
(about 17 years old)
-Lord and Lady Montague: Romeo’s
parents
-Benvolio: Romeo’s cousin and best friend
-Mercutio: Romeo’s best friend
The Capulets:
-Juliet Capulet: The main character (13)
-Lord and Lady Capulet: Juliet’s parents
-Tybalt: Juliet’s cousin
-Nurse: Juliet’s nurse who has taken
care of her since she was a baby
-Rosaline: Lord Capulets niece,
Romeo’s initial love interest
Other Important Characters:
-Prince Escalus: The ruling Prince of Verona
-Count Paris: Man who wishes to marry Juliet
-Friar Lawrence: The friar and a confidant
-Friar John: Apprentice sent to deliver the letter to Romeo

5. PLOT SUMMARY
ACT 1
 •Romeo is lovesick for Rosaline.
 •A street fight between the Montague and Capulet families
ensue.
 •The Capulets get ready for their masked ball. Romeo and
his friends gate-crash the party. Romeo sees Juliet for the
first time and falls in love with her.

6. PLOT SUMMARY
ACT 2
 •Romeo visits Juliet and they learn they belong to opposing
feuding families. Despite their conflicting loyalties to their
families, they swear their love for each other and decide to
marry.
 •Plans are made for the wedding.
 •Romeo and Juliet are married by Friar Laurence. Juliet’s
Nurse helps Romeo visit Juliet in her bedchamber as her
husband.

7. PLOT SUMMARY
ACT 3
 •Benvolio and Mercutio meet Tybalt. Mercutio is killed by Tybalt.
 •Romeo avenges the death of Mercutio and kills Tybalt.
 •Prince Escalus banishes Romeo from Verona.
 •Romeo spends the night with Juliet and parts with her at dawn,
leaving Verona. He is unaware of the wedding Lord Capulet arranges
for Juliet to marry Count Paris.

8. PLOT SUMMARY
ACT 4
 •Juliet refuses her fathers wishes to marry Paris. She decides
she would rather commit suicide than betray Romeo.
 •Friar Laurence advises Juliet to pretend to take the poison and
fake her death. Knowing she will later escape and join Romeo,
she “agrees” to marry Paris. Her father moves the wedding
forward.
 •Juliet takes the fake potion. Her Nurse discovers she is “dead”.
The wedding preparations are changed to those of a funeral.

9. PLOT SUMMARY
ACT 5
 •Romeo learns of Juliet’s death. Devastated, he plans to return to Verona to
confirm that she is dead, and to commit suicide.
 •Friar John is supposed to deliver the news that Juliet faked her death to
Romeo. Friar Laurence learns that Friar John was unable to deliver the
letters to Romeo.
 •Romeo sees Juliet’s “dead body”. Paris sees Romeo there, they fight, and
Paris is killed. Romeo takes the poison (so he can be with Juliet) – just as
Juliet wakes. Romeo dies. Juliet then stabs herself to death so she can “be
with Romeo”.
 •The Capulets and Montagues end their feud. The tragic love story ends.

10. THEMES
•Love: Forbidden love, love at first sight
•Fate: The belief that an individuals life has
been decided for them and there is nothing
they can do to change it
•Death: People dying at a very young age
(Mercutio, Tybalt, Paris, Romeo, Juliet)
•Time: Everything is related to time, it is crucial
to the plot

11. MOTIFS
A motif is a recurring element that usually
relates to the themes of a story.
Shakespeare uses the motif of ‘duality’ in the play (things
that contrast each other). Some of these are:
-Light/Day vs Dark/Night
-Young vs Old
-Love vs Hate
-Wisdom vs Passion

12. REFERENCES
 •Bordeianu, A. (2011). Romeo&Juliet. Available from Slideshare at
https://www.slideshare.net/andrabordeianu/romeojuliet?qid=c003a22d-eb23-4e1b-98a8-
352ccb5017fd&v=&b=&from_search=10 (Accessed 18 August 2022).
 •Little Flower Catholic School (2010). Romeo and Juliet. Available from Slideshare at
https://www.slideshare.net/SRatliff/romeo-juliet-3393418?qid=2f684ab4-5c89-41bf-b147-
6e2168a8be54&v=&b=&from_search=4 (Accessed 18 August 2022).
 •McGinnis, D. (2015). Romeo and Juliet. Available from Slideshare at
https://www.slideshare.net/DianeMcGinnis/romeo-and-juliet-45586513?qid=66498159-67e3-44a5-95dd-
d040d0b79d1f&v=&b=&from_search=7 (Accessed 18 August 2022).
 •Wang, E. (2015). Romeo and Juliet Plot Timeline. Available from Slideshare at
https://www.slideshare.net/elvienawang/romeo-and-juliet-plot-timeline-53258060?qid=95a9dd7f-47d7-
4d19-80e5-a16897ca825b&v=&b=&from_search=10 (Accessed 18 August 2022).
 •Xumora (2014). Romeo and Juliet. Available from Slideshare at
https://www.slideshare.net/xumora1221/romeo-and-julliet-42158904?qid=d88f6e7b-0ae5-4cf3-8cbb-
3466747b5c06&v=&b=&from_search=6 (Accessed 18 August 2022).
INFORMATION ADAPTED FROM::

13. THANK YOU !