This document introduces the main characters in Shakespeare's play Romeo and Juliet. It provides a brief description of each character including their name, their family or affiliation, and their role in the story. The major characters introduced are Romeo and Juliet, the young lovers whose marriage is opposed by their feuding families, as well as Friar Laurence who secretly marries them, hoping to end the family feud.

1. Introduction to Romeo and
Juliet
The cast of characters

2. Romeo
The hero of the
story and the son of
Montague and Lady
Montague. He falls
in love with Juliet

3. Juliet
The daughter of
Capulet and Lady
Capulet. She falls
in love with
Romeo.

4. Friar Laurence
He secretly marries Romeo and
Juliet in hopes that their marriage
might bring peace to Verona.

5. Nurse
Juliet's faithful caregiver. She
knows about Juliet's secret
relationship with Romeo.

6. Mercutio
A relative to the Prince of
Verona, and Romeo's close
friend.

7. Tybalt
A Capulet and Juliet's cousin on her
mother's side. He hates the
Montagues and is quick to start a
fight.

8. Lord Montague
Romeo's father
and head of the
Montague family.
He is a bitter
enemy of Capulet.

9. Lady Montague
Romeo's mother,
Montague's wife. She
dies of grief after
Romeo kicked out of
the town of Verona.

10. Lord Capulet
The head of the Capulet
family, father of Juliet,
husband of Lady
Capulet, and enemy, for
unexplained reasons, of
Montague.

11. Lady Capulet
Juliet's mother, Capulet's
wife. A woman who herself
married young (by her own
estimation she gave birth to
Juliet at close to the age of
fourteen), she is eager to see
her daughter marry Paris.

12. Paris
A relative of the Prince. He wants
to marry Juliet, but Juliet does not
want to marry him. Juliet’s parents
would like her to marry Paris.

13. Benvolio
Romeo's cousin who spends most
of the play trying to help Romeo
forget about an old girlfriend name
Rosaline.

14. Prince Escalus
The Prince of
Verona. He
wants there to be
peace in his city.

15. Balthasar
Romeo's servant, who brings Romeo
the news of Juliet's death, unaware that
she is only pretending to be dead so
she can then run away with Romeo.

16. Rosaline
The woman with
whom Romeo thinks
he is in love with at
the beginning of the
play.

17. Works Cited
All images are from imdb.com and come from Franco Zeffirelli’s 1968 film