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Romeo and Juliet:
Prologue & Act one (Summary)

Colour code:
Black: Summary
Red: Analysis

The Prologue:
Summary:
During the prologue, the stage is set for the play to follow
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The prologue mentions where the scene takes place
giving us a sense of setting
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A brief
introduction to the two houses is provided in the prologue
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It is stated that these two families have a long-standing feud
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( Romeo and Juliet are called
star-crossed lovers
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) According to
the prologue, Romeo and Juliet will eventually take their lives because of the food of
their parents
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(The structure of the prologue is written as a sonnet consisting of fourteen lines
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Their names are
Sampson and Gregory
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(The servants of each house have serious hatred for one
another
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They fight only
because their masters hate each other
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) Sampson talks about how he would push the Montague men
from the wall (into the streets) and thrust the women to the wall
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(Sampson makes violent
and misogynistic comments regarding abusing women
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He talks about violence and rape
with pride
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) As they
talk, the Montague servant Abram walks in with other members of the house
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This causes the fight in the first scene to begin
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They fight for no reason at all
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Tybalt demands that Benvolio fight him
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Tybalt hears none of it and begins to fight anyway
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Civilians even begin to
join in and fight with them
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Prince Escalus enters the scene and breaks the fight apart and threatens
the two houses, stating that if another riot breaks loose due to their feud they will pay
with their lives
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This
shows how law can force citizens to act in a civil manner
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This theme will continue throughout the theme
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(The scene shifts from a violence scene to a less tense one
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They asked Benvolio to go and check on Romeo and find out the reason
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He says that his sadness is
because of love
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Romeo is represented by
a lovesick teenage boy) The woman that he wants to be with, Rosaline, has devoted
herself to the Lord and doesn’t love him back
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Romeo claims that she is the most beautiful
person he has ever laid his eyes on and that he would never fall in love again
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Paris has requested to
marry Capulet's daughter
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) Capulet says that his daughter is too young for marriage
and that he wants to wait as she isn’t even fourteen years old yet
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Capulet isn’t sure, he says that
“Girls who marry so young grow up too soon”
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He talks about her
youth and how young she is to marry) He changes his mind and even proceeds to invite
Paris to his party so that he may woo his daughter
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Capulet hands his servant Peter a list of people he would like to invite to his party
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He bumps into Benvolio and
Romeo, who read the list out for him
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Benvolio tries convincing Romeo to go to the party so that he may get over Rosaline and
see that she isn’t as beautiful as he makes her out to be compared to other girls (The
scene looks at beauty and Love
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sees women as just beautiful and easily
disposable in the eyes of men
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(Romeo in this scene can be seen to be a devoted man to the girl he “Loves”
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Keep this in mind when comparing it to his love with Juliet)

SCENE 3:
Lady Capulet enters the scene looking for her daughter
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Juliet's mother wants to ask her important
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The nurse goes on and on reminiscing about Juliets childhood and how
she is 14 years old because she was about the age of her daughter
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(Juliet and the nurse’s
relationship can be seen to be stronger than that of her and her mothers
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)
Juliet eventually orders the nurse to stop
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And asked Juliet where she stands on the idea of
marriage
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Lady Capulet talks about how she married at a young age and how she must consider
it
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Paris is described as a
handsome bachelor who is “a flower”
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Juliet says that
she can try
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She is respectful
towards her elders and obeys instructions
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The theme of marriage and youth are put into perspective
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)
Peter walks in and tells
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SCENE 4:
Romeo, Benvolio, and Mercutio arrive at the party wearing masks
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(In this scene the youthfulness of the boys
can be seen
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He will sit this
one out
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As he talks more of Queen mab he is stopped
by Romeo who tells him to calm down
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Romeo still feels it is a bad idea to attend
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(While Romeo is young, he is more mature than his
friends and attends the party with caution
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)

SCENE 5:
In this scene the servants work tirelessly to make sure that the feast at the Capulet
House goes well
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He
reminisces on his youthful days and jokes around with his guests telling them to have
fun
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He talks about how she
stands out compared to all the other women
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Romeo says that
“For I ne’er saw true beauty till this night”
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The same girl who he said was more beautiful than any other girl)
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He tries to fight
Romeo, but his uncle Lord Capulet stops him
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) Lord Capulet says that Romeo carries himself like a
“portly gentleman”
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Lord Capulet will not allow
a fight to break out in his house for all his peers to see
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Tybalt sees this act as disrespect and will make Romeo
regret it
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Romeo describes
Juliet as a saint and himself as a pilgrim with sins that need to be washed away or more
notable with a kiss
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He moves in and kisses her
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He(Romeo) uses Christian metaphors in the scene to describe
Juliet)

After they kiss Juliet says that now she has taken his sins
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The nurse interrupts their moment telling Juliet that her
mother is calling her
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To his shock he
learns that she is a Capulet
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Juliet and the Nurse are now the only two in this part of the scene
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She says that “if he be married
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The nurse comes back and informs her that his name was
Romeo, and he is a Montague
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(The seed of their shared tragedy is planted during this scene

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