Romeo and Juliet – Knowledge Organiser
Plot summary
Prologue: A sonnet, recited by the chorus, outlines the play.
Act 1
Act I, Scene 1: Capulet and Montague servants fight in the streets. Benvolio tries to
break them up, but Tybalt arrives and challenges him. The Prince arrives and declares
that any further fighting will be punished with death. After this, the Montagues discuss
Romeo’s melancholy state and Benvolio learns Romeo is in love with Rosaline.
Act I, Scene 2: Paris seeks Capulet's permission to marry his daughter Juliet. Capulet says
she is too young, but Paris should try to win her affections at his banquet. Capulet’s
invitation list is intercepted by Benvolio and Romeo, who decide to attend the event.
Act I, Scene 3: The Nurse and Lady Capulet tell Juliet about Paris, and she agrees to
consider him as a potential suitor.
Act I, Scene 4: Romeo, Benvolio, and Mercutio arrive at the banquet, and Mercutio
banters with Romeo.
Act I, Scene 5: Romeo and Juliet see each other and fall in love immediately. Tybalt sees
Romeo and wants to fight him, but Lord Capulet stops him.
Act 2
Act II, Scene 1: Romeo separates himself from his friends as they leave the party.
Act II, Scene 2: Romeo listens to Juliet at her balcony, and they exchange vows to
marry. Juliet says she will send a messenger to Romeo the next day to arrange the
wedding.
Act II, Scene 3: Romeo goes to see Friar Lawrence to ask for his help with marrying
Juliet. The Friar agrees, hoping that their alliance will end their families' feuding.
Act II, Scene 4: Benvolio and Mercutio discuss Tybalt, who has challenged Romeo to a
duel. Romeo arrives and the friends banter about his love. The Nurse appears; Romeo's
friends depart. Romeo gives the Nurse a message for Juliet: she is to go to Friar Lawrence
that afternoon, and they shall be married. He arranges for the Nurse to receive a rope-
ladder for Juliet to lower for him that night.
Act II, Scene 5: The Nurse returns to an impatient Juliet. She teases her charge by
withholding the message but then tells her the good news.
Act II, Scene 6: Juliet comes to Romeo in Friar Lawrence's cell, and they greet each other
joyfully. The Friar prepares to marry them.
Act 3
Act III, Scene 1: Benvolio and Mercutio encounter Tybalt, and Mercutio mocks him.
Romeo arrives and refuses to accept Tybalt’s challenge to a duel (due to his secret
marriage to Juliet). Mercutio thinks this is cowardly so fights on his behalf. Romeo
tries to intervene and Mercutio is killed under his arm, cursing the families as he
dies. Romeo fights and kills Tybalt to get revenge. At Benvolio's urging, Romeo
flees. The Prince appears and interrogates Benvolio. Judging Tybalt to be guiltier
than Romeo, he spares the latter the death sentence but banishes him from Verona.
Act III, Scene 2: Juliet longs for night, when Romeo is to come. The Nurse brings her
word of Tybalt's death and Romeo's banishment, and volunteers to bring Romeo to
the distraught girl.
Act III, Scene 3: Romeo is in a state of anger and disbelief, hiding with the Friar. The
Nurse arrives with word of Juliet's distress. The Friar chastises Romeo for behaving
so foolishly and proposes that, after a night with Juliet, Romeo should flee to
Mantua until everything is cleared up. Romeo agrees and leaves.
Act III, Scene 4: Capulet decides to marry Juliet to Paris in three days to cheer her up.
Act III, Scene 5: Romeo and Juliet awake after spending the night together and
Romeo leaves. Lady Capulet arrives and tells Juliet about her impending marriage.
Julie refuses and her parents fly into a rage. The Nurse advises that Juliet ignore her
marriage to Romeo, which no one else knows about, and marry Paris.
Act 4
Act IV, Scene 1: Juliet interrupts Paris talking to Friar Lawrence and, when he
leaves, threatens to kill herself if the Friar doesn’t help her. He agrees to provide
her with a potion that will make her seem to be dead, until Romeo collects her from
the family crypt.
Act IV, Scene 2: Juliet apologizes to her father, promising to obey him and marry
Paris. Capulet moves the wedding up a day to the next morning.
Act IV, Scene 3: Juliet drinks the potion.
Act IV, Scene 4: Capulet sends the Nurse to awaken Juliet on the morning of her
wedding day.
Act IV, Scene 5: The Nurse finds Juliet dead and the family grieve for her.
Act 5
Act V, Scene 1: Balthasar arrives in
Mantua and tells Romeo that Juliet has
died. Romeo immediately plans to join
her and buy a poison from and
apothecary.
Act V, Scene 2: Friar John reports to
Friar Lawrence that he has been unable
to deliver Lawrence's letter to
Romeo. Lawrence sends John to fetch
a crow bar, planning to open the vault
and take Juliet into hiding in his own
cell until Romeo can be summoned.
Act V, Scene 3: Paris visits Juliet's
tomb at night. Romeo appears with
Balthasar, whom he sends away with
a letter to Montague. Paris steps forth
to challenge him. They fight, and
Romeo kills Paris. Romeo then enters
the crypt, drinks the poison, and dies.
Friar Lawrence arrives tells Juliet what
has happened and begs her to flee.
She refuses and stays. She kisses her
dead lover and stabs herself with his
dagger. The watchmen appear,
arresting Balthasar and the Friar as
the Prince arrives, followed by both
families. The Friar explains what has
happened, and his tale is confirmed by
Balthasar and by Romeo's letter to his
father. Montague and Capulet make
peace and vow to erect golden statues
of the two lovers.
Historical context
Techniques and Terminology
Queen Elizabeth I – She was queen while Shakespeare was writing, and supported him. Elizabeth I made Protestantism the official religion of England,
which angered many Catholics, and led to much conflict. Shakespeare may be referencing this in ‘Romeo and Juliet’, with the two warring families.
Patriarchy – patriarchal societies are ones where men are dominant, and have control over women e.g. by choosing who they would marry.
Nurses – employed by wealthy families to feed and care for their children.
The Humours – Elizabethans believed the body contained four ‘humours’: blood, phlegm, yellow bile and black bile. The amount you had of each
determined your personality. People with too much phlegm are emotional. People with too much blood are irresponsible and gluttonous. People with
too much yellow bile are violent and vengeful. People with too much black bile are depressed and self- centred.
Fate - the belief that your life is mapped out for you, or ‘written in the stars’. Many Elizabethans believed God decided your fate, and that astrology
could help you identify your course in life.
Bubonic Plague/Black Death – a plague that killed many people. Sufferers were quarantined in their houses, with a red ‘X’ painted on the door, and
left to die.
Prologue – sets up the story and foreshadows events.
Foreshadowing – when an author drops hints about what will
happen through language or symbolism.
Dramatic irony – when an audience knows something the
characters do not.
Symbolism – when an image represents an idea, e.g. light
symbolises happiness, flowers symbolise youth etc.
Double meaning – when a word can be read to mean two things e.g.
‘grave’= serious or grave stone.
Personification – when an object is given human qualities
Rhyming Couplets – two lines next to each other that rhyme with
each other, often used for dramatic impact.
