Romeo and Juliet Summary – By Acts
One of William Shakespeare’s best-known love plays is “Romeo and Juliet.” It is a classic of Anglo-Saxon literature that has been adapted countless times to both the world of theater and cinema. But do you know exactly the plot of this work? In this lesson from a PROFESSOR we are going to reveal you a complete summary of Romeo and Juliet by acts so that, thus, you can know what happens in each of the acts of this masterpiece of literature. An ideal lesson to prepare for your exam or your work at school. We started! In this article we will provide you the Romeo and Juliet scene summaries.
Introduction to Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet
Before beginning with this summary of Romeo and Juliet it is important that we pause briefly on this work to better understand its importance in literature and culture in general. As we have already mentioned, this tragedy is written by William Shakespeare and it is a play that presents us with a love story between two enemy families.
The two lovers live in Verona, an Italian city, but they are part of two families that have been estranged for many years. A story of an impossible love in which the two lovers must overcome social and family obstacles in order to enjoy their feelings and surrender to love. It is, therefore, a completely romantic work since it mixes some of the characteristics of this literary genre: love, tragedy and death.
However, it is relevant to mention an important fact : the plot of Romeo and Juliet is not an original idea of Shakespeare but the plot is inspired by a 1562 play written by Arthur Brooke and entitled “The tragic story of Romeo and Juliet “.
Summary of Romeo and Juliet, Act I
But we now fully enter this summary of Romeo and Juliet by acts to focus on Act I, that is, the one that serves as the presentation of the argument.
Scene i
The play begins with a fight in a square in Verona. Two servants of the Capulet family are quietly talking until servants of the Montague family, their enemy family, arrive. They begin to argue and fight in a very strong way until the argument is calmed by the intervention of the families.
Benvolio is Romeo’s cousin and they are both members of the Montague family. Romeo is in the woods, wandering and lost in his own feelings. The cousin goes in search of him and finds a sad Romeo in love with Rosalina, a girl who does not reciprocate his feelings.
Scene ii
In the second scene of Romeo and Juliet we are introduced to the other family, the Capulets. Here we will meet Paris, a suitor of Juliet who asks her father for her hand. He refuses because he considers that his daughter is still too young to marry. Anyway, she invites him to the masquerade party at the Capulets’ house.
Paris leaves the house and then meets Romeo and Benvolio. At this moment, the two find out that there is going to be a party at the Capulets’ house and Romeo believes that his beloved Rosalina will go there. Therefore, they decide that they too will go to this celebration although, obviously, they are not invited because they are part of the enemy family.
Scene iii
In this scene we will meet Julieta’s mother, a woman who wants to try to convince her daughter to marry Paris, since he is a good man and comes from a good family. In this scene we witness the private conversation between mother and daughter in which the former aims for her daughter to end up accepting the young man’s proposal.
Scene iv
This is the scene of the feast of the Capulets. Romeo and Mercutio manage to sneak in as it is a masquerade party and no one seems to recognize them. Romeo is downcast and doesn’t have much interest in that event. But, suddenly, he will meet Juliet, a young woman with whom he will immediately fall in love without knowing who she is and that she is a member of the rival family. However, at the end of the party, Mercutio will be in charge of discovering that Juliet is Capulet and that, therefore, it is better that he quickly forget about her.
ACT II of Romeo and Juliet
We continue this summary of Romeo and Juliet to now focus on Act II. Below we explain what happens in each scene so that you better know the progression of events.
Scene i
Romeo cannot stop thinking about Juliet so, when he is near his house, he decides to jump over the wall to meet his beloved. He distances himself from Benvolio and Mercurio, two members of his family who try to convince him to return but who, in the end, give up.
Scene ii
It is one of the most mythical scenes in Romeo and Juliet. We meet on the balcony of the girl’s room. From under the balcony, Romeo will confess his love to her and she will tell him that she feels the same. They seem unwilling to accept the enmity of their families and decide to swear eternal love. Romeo promises Juliet that the next day he will marry her. Romeo has to leave because noises are heard and the lovers do not want to be discovered.
Scene iii
In this scene we will meet a character who had not yet appeared in the play: Fray Lorenzo. This friar is talking about a poison that has the ability to kill. And at this precise moment, Romeo arrives and tells him of the strong love he feels for Juliet. Friar Lorenzo realizes that this love relationship can be positive for the future of Verona since it could mean the end of the enmity between the two families.
Scene iv
This scene begins with a conversation between Benvolio and Mercutio. The former is explaining to the latter that he has intercepted a letter addressed to Romeo in which Tybalt, a Capulet, challenged him to a duel.
Romeo appears on the scene and also Juliet’s Mistress who tells him that, to marry the young woman, Romeo must go to Fray Lorenzo to make his confession and then marry the two lovers.
Scene V
Now the Mistress arrives at Juliet’s house and tells the young woman that Romeo has accepted the request. So he also quotes the girl to go to Fray Lorenzo’s cell so that she can marry his Romeo.
Scene VI
The last scene of this Act II of Romeo and Juliet is the meeting of the two lovers in Fray Lorenzo’s cell ready to marry. And they do.
Summary of Act III of Romeo and Juliet
We continue this summary of Romeo and Juliet to talk about Act III where the knot of the plot takes place. The lovers have already met and, ignoring all the family rules, have decided to get married. But their environment is still at war …
Scene i
This scene begins with a fight between the Capulets and the Montagues. On the Montague’s side are Benvolio and Mercutio and, from the Capulet family, Tybalt arrives, who had previously challenged Romeo to a duel. Romeo also appears in the dispute and begins to fight with Tybalt but Mercutio gets in the middle of the dispute and ends up very hurt, so much so that in the end he ends up dying.
Romeo, full of anger and pain, ends up killing Tybalt, the culprit of Mercutio’s death. The prince of Verona will appear in the square where the dispute has occurred and, as soon as he finds out what happened, he orders Romeo to go into exile from the city.
Scene ii
The Mistress tells Juliet everything that has happened. In this scene we will enter into the emotional depth of Julieta who, on the one hand, repudiates what her newly released husband has done with Teobaldo but, on the other hand, understands that it was her cousin who caused the fight. Romeo’s exile is what hurts him the most and, for this reason, the Mistress decides to make a nighttime date for the two lovers so they can say goodbye.
Scene iii
Romeo is in Fray Lorenzo’s cell and it is here that he learns that the prince has ordered his exile. Romeo sinks into sadness because that exile means that he will have to separate from Juliet, his beloved wife. The Mistress appears and together they make an appointment at night so that the two loved ones can see each other.
Scene iv
Juliet’s suitor, Paris, was still interested in marrying the young woman. Julieta’s father tells her that, for the moment, the girl cannot marry because Teobaldo, her cousin, has just died. However, make an appointment for the wedding: on Thursday they will be able to get married.
Scene V
Romeo and Juliet have spent the whole night together, loving and enjoying each other. But now dawn is coming and, with the arrival of dawn, Romeo has to leave to fulfill the exile to which he has been condemned.
When Romeo leaves the room, Juliet’s mother appears and tells him that the wedding with Paris is scheduled for next Thursday. But the girl refuses to marry him. Her father will intervene in the dispute and threaten the young woman who will either marry for good or, if not, he himself will take her by force to the church.
Juliet, desperate, seeks advice from the Mistress who recommends that she marry Paris.
Romeo and Juliet Act IV
We continue with this summary of Romeo and Juliet by chapters to focus on Act IV of this work. Remember: Romeo is in exile and Juliet is forced to marry a man she does not love. The play continues as follows.
Scene i
We are on the day before the wedding between Juliet and Paris. Fray Lorenzo is in charge of officiating the wedding and the two future spouses are in his cell to arrange the wedding date. Juliet, with the excuse of having to confess, will manage to be a moment alone with the friar who knows that in reality his heart belongs to Romeo.
Faced with this complicated situation, the friar decides to intervene: he recommends that he drink a potion that will help him fake his death. In this way, she can avoid marrying someone she does not love, and when she wakes up, Romeo will come for her to escape together and fully live their love. Juliet agrees to this feigned death and takes the poison.
Scene ii
We are at the Capulet family’s house and we are witnessing a very moving scene in which all the servants are preparing the young woman’s wedding. Julieta approaches her father and apologizes for her attitude. He affirms that he will marry Paris and, thus, solves the small family conflict that had generated his refusal.
Scene iii
After Juliet’s mother and the Mistress have been choosing the wedding dress, the young woman is left alone in her room. At this moment, he decides to drink the poison that the friar has given him so that the entire designed plan can be carried out and, thus, fake his death.
Scene iv
The next day, Paris arrives with music. Everything is ready for the two to get married and Juliet’s father sends the Mistress to wake up and fix her daughter since today is the big day.
Scene V
The Mistress finds Juliet apparently dead on the bed.
The mistress, Juliet’s mother, and her husband come one after another and find Juliet apparently dead. All members of the family enter the room and observe the dead girl.
Summary of Romeo and Juliet: Act V and final
And we come to the last act of this summary of Romeo and Juliet. Act V is the final act in this tragic love story. Juliet, who has already drunk the cleric’s poison, appears to be dead on her bed. And the story continues as follows …
Scene i
This act begins with a scene in which we will see the exiled Romeo. He is in the town of Mantua and, here, Romeo will meet a person who will tell him that Juliet has died. Romeo, plunged into despair, decides to return to Verona but, first, he buys poison.
Scene ii
Fray Lorenzo had delivered a letter to Fray Juan so that Romeo would be aware of the whole plan he had hatched with Juliet. But in this scene we learn that Fray Juan has not managed to deliver the letter and, therefore, Romeo does not know that Juliet is not really dead.
Scene III and final
We are in Juliet’s pantheon. Here appears Paris with a large bouquet of flowers. He hears some noises and hides. It is then that Romeo will appear on the scene, accompanied by Baltasar, the boy who revealed that Juliet had died. Before entering the pantheon, Romeo gives him a letter that is addressed to his father Montague.
When Romeo enters the room, Paris comes out of hiding because he believes that the young man wants to harm Juliet’s body. The two duel and eventually Romeo kills Paris. He continues walking towards the body of his beloved and, standing next to her, he decides to drink the poison that kills him immediately.
Immediately Fray Lorenzo appears who finds Romeo and Paris both dead. At that moment, Juliet begins to wake up from her dream and, as soon as she sees that her loved one is dead by her side, she takes a sword and sticks it in her.
After this moment, the relatives of the Montagues and the Capulets appear on the scene. Friar Lorenzo, under the orders of the prince, explains everything that has happened. And Baltasar ends up delivering the letter that Romeo had written to his father in which he tells that the enmity between the two families is a curse and that it only causes death.
Eventually, the two families will end up burying the hatchet.
