Romeo and Juliet

William Shakespeare has provided some of the most brilliant plays to ever be performed on the stage. He is also the author of numerous sonnets and poems, but he is best known for his plays such as Hamlet, Macbeth, A Midsummer Night's Dream, and Romeo and Juliet. In this essay I would like to discuss the play and movie, "Romeo and Juliet", and also the movie, Shakespeare in Love.


The play Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare is set in the fictional city of Verona. Within the city lives two families, The Capulets and the Montegues, who have been feuding for generations. One night there is a celebration held at the house of the Capulet's. At the party the only son of the Montegues, Romeo, and the daughter of the Capulets, Juliet, see each other from across the room. The moment their eyes meet we are supposed to believe that they instantaneously fall in love with each other. Because they are from two warring families their love would most likely be forbidden. Juliet's father has also promised her to his good friend Paris. Because the love between the young couple is so powerful they go to Friar Lawrence and they are secretly married. On the day of their marriage Tybalt, Juliet's cousin, challenges Romeo to a duel. In the midst of all this chaos, Romeo's best friend, Mercutio, is murdered by Tybalt. Romeo then slays Tybalt out of revenge. When the prince of Verona finds out what Romeo has done he banishes Romeo from Verona forever. When the friar hears of this he devises a plan so that the two lovers can be together.


The major climax of the play comes when the friar gives Juliet a potion that will make it seem as though she has died, when in fact she is alive the whole time. While in Mantua, Romeo mistakenly hears that Juliet has actually died and he goes to lay by her side. Just as he takes a vile of poison and dies Juliet awakens to find her love lying dead at her side. She cannot fathom living in a world without Romeo so she takes his sword and ends her own life.