Key Facts
full title · The Most Excellent and Lamentable Tragedy of
Romeo
and Juliet
author · William Shakespeare
type of work · Play
genre · Tragic drama
language · English
time and place written · London, mid-1590s
date of first publication · 1597 (in the First Quarto, which
was likely an unauthorized incomplete edition); 1599 (in
the Second Quarto, which
was authorized)
publisher · Thomas Creede (in the Second Quarto, using the title The
Most Excellent and Lamentable Tragedie, of Romeo and Iuliet)
climax · The deaths of Romeo and Juliet in the Capulet tomb
(V.iii)
protagonists · Romeo; Juliet
antagonists · The feuding Montagues and Capulets; Tybalt; the prince
and citizens of Verona; fate
settings (time) · Renaissance (fourteenth or fifteenth century)
settings (place) · Verona and Mantua (cities in northern Italy)
point of view · Insofar as a play has a point of view, that of Romeo
and Juliet; occasionally the play uses the point of view of the
Montague and Capulet servants to illuminate the actions of their
masters.
falling action · The end of Act V, scene iii, when the prince and the
parents discover the bodies of Romeo and Juliet, and agree to put
aside their feud in the interest of peace.
tense · Present
foreshadowing · The Chorus’s first speech declaring that Romeo and
Juliet are doomed to die and “star-crossed.” The lovers’ frequent
thoughts of death: “My grave is like to be my wedding bed” (Juliet, I.v.132).
The lovers’ thoughts of suicide, as when Romeo threatens to kill
himself after killing Tybalt. Friar Lawrence’s warnings to behave
moderately if Romeo and Juliet wish to avoid tragedy: “These violent
delights have violent ends . . . Therefore love moderately” (II.v.9–14).
The lovers’ mutual impression that the other looks pale and deathlike
after their wedding night (III.v). Juliet’s faked death by Friar
Lawrence’s potion. Romeo’s dream-vision of Juliet kissing his lips
while he is dead (V.i). Romeo’s outbursts against fate: “O, I am
fortune’s fool!” (III.i.131) and “Then I
defy you, stars” (V.i.24).
tones · Passionate, romantic, intense, rhapsodic, violent,
prone to extremes of emotion (ecstasy, rage, misery, etc.)
themes · The forcefulness of love; love as a cause of violence;
the individual versus society; the inevitability of fate
motifs · Light/dark imagery; opposite points of view
symbols · Poison; thumb-biting; Queen Mab
