Romeo and Juliet is the quintessential tragic romance and its title characters are the model for star-crossed lovers everywhere. Written early in his career, it is one of the earliest tragedies, one of his most popular during his lifetime, and one of the most frequently performed to this day.  The play showcases Shakespeare’s skill in using dramatic techniques: switching between comedy and tragedy, use of different poetic forms for different characters, expanding the role of minor characters and using sub-plots to embellish the story.

The tragic disconnect between the lovers stems from the feud between their families, the Capulets and Montagues. Romeo and Juliet meet by chance at a Capulet ball that Romeo has crashed and fall in love at first sight and pledge themselves to one another.  Juliet’s cousin Tybalt challenges Romeo to a duel for the offense of attending the ball. Romeo refuses, but his friend Mercutio accepts in his stead and is killed in a mishap. Romeo slays Tybalt in response and is exiled from Verona by the Prince.  Juliet’s father betroths her to Count Paris but she resists and seeks help from Friar Laurence, who gives her a sleeping potion so she can feign death and sends a message to Romeo about the plan. The message never arrives, Romeo is grief-struck, kills Paris in a case of mistaken identity, drinks poison and dies. Juliet awakes, finds Romeo dead, and stabs herself to death. The families arrive to find all three dead and reconcile.  The closing elegy by the Prince says it all: "For never was a story of more woe / Than this of Juliet and her Romeo."

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