What Is Romeo and Juliet About? Shakespeare's Love Tragedy Explained Simply

Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, written in the mid-1590s, about two teenagers from the feuding Montague and Capulet families of Verona who fall in love, marry in secret and die within a few days. It is one of Shakespeare's most popular plays and has become the world's best-known story of young love destroyed by hatred. Shakespeare did not invent the plot: he based it on earlier tales, especially an English poem by Arthur Brooke.

The writer

William Shakespeare (1564–1616) was born in Stratford-upon-Avon and became an actor, playwright and part-owner of a theatre company in London. He wrote around 39 plays and 154 sonnets. Romeo and Juliet comes from the earlier part of his career, when he was writing comedies and history plays; it mixes jokes and wordplay with growing darkness.

The story in brief

A chorus tells us at the very start that two "star-crossed lovers" will die and that their deaths will end their families' quarrel. So the audience knows the ending before the play begins; the tension lies in watching how it happens.

Romeo, a Montague, sneaks into a Capulet party and falls instantly in love with Juliet, who is not quite fourteen. Only afterwards do they learn that their families are enemies. That night, in the famous balcony scene, they confess their love and decide to marry. The next day Friar Laurence marries them in secret, hoping the match will bring the families together.

Within hours everything goes wrong. Juliet's cousin Tybalt kills Romeo's friend Mercutio in a street fight, and Romeo, in fury, kills Tybalt. The Prince banishes Romeo from Verona. Meanwhile Juliet's parents, unaware she is married, arrange for her to marry a nobleman, Paris.

The Friar gives Juliet a potion that will make her appear dead for a time, planning to tell Romeo so that he can rescue her from the family tomb. But the message never reaches him. Romeo hears only that Juliet is dead, buys poison, goes to the tomb and drinks it beside her. Juliet wakes, finds him dead and stabs herself with his dagger. The grieving families finally make peace.

Love, speed and fate

Everything in the play happens very fast: the lovers meet, marry and die in about four days. Some readers see a pure, beautiful love; others see two impulsive teenagers whose haste, together with their families' hatred, leads to disaster. The idea of fate, of being "star-crossed", runs through the whole play, but so do bad choices and bad luck.

Famous lines

The play is full of lines that are still quoted: "O Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo?" (which means "why are you Romeo?", that is, why are you a Montague, not "where are you"), "What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other word would smell as sweet", and "Parting is such sweet sorrow". "Wherefore" is one of the most commonly misunderstood words in English for exactly this reason.

A story retold everywhere

Romeo and Juliet has been turned into operas, ballets, the musical West Side Story and many films. In English, "a Romeo" means a romantic or flirtatious man, and "star-crossed lovers" describes any couple whose love seems doomed.

Learn with Romeo and Juliet: English phrases

Phrase	Meaning	Example
star-crossed lovers	lovers whose relationship is doomed	They were star-crossed lovers from rival schools.
what's in a name?	names don't change what something is	What's in a name? The cheap brand tastes the same.
a Romeo	a romantic or flirtatious man	He thinks he's a real Romeo.
love at first sight	falling in love immediately	It was love at first sight.
wherefore	why (old English, not "where")	Wherefore art thou sad?

Try this: Write three English sentences about a famous couple, using "star-crossed lovers" and "love at first sight".