page_title: Characters in Romeo and Juliet
section_title: Romeo
hierarchical_section_title: Characters in Romeo and Juliet / House of Montague / Romeo
context_page_description: William Shakespeare's play Romeo and Juliet contains a relatively distinctive cast of characters. In addition to the play's eponymous protagonists, Romeo Montague and Juliet Capulet, the play contains roles for members of their respective families and households; Prince Escalus, the city's ruler, and his kinsman, Count Paris; and various unaffiliated characters such as Friar Laurence and the Chorus. In addition the play contains two ghost characters and an unseen character.
context_section_description: In the beginning of the play, Romeo, the main protagonist, pines for an unrequited love, Rosaline. To cheer him up, his cousin and friend Benvolio and Mercutio take him to the Capulets' celebration in disguise, where he meets and falls in love with the Capulets' only daughter, Juliet. Later that night, he and Juliet meet secretly and pledge to marry, despite their families' long-standing feud. They marry the following day, but their union is soon thrown into chaos by their families; Juliet's cousin Tybalt duels and kills Romeo's friend Mercutio, throwing Romeo into such a rage that he kills Tybalt, and the Prince of Verona subsequently banishes him. Meanwhile, Juliet's father plans to marry her off to Paris, a local aristocrat, within the next few days, threatening to turn her out on the streets if she doesn't follow through. Desperate, Juliet begs Romeo's confidant, Friar Laurence, to help her to escape the forced marriage. Laurence does so by giving her a potion that puts her in a deathlike coma. The plan works, but too soon for Romeo to learn of it; he genuinely believes Juliet to be dead, and so resolves to commit suicide, by drinking the bottle of poison (illegally bought from the Apothecary upon hearing the news of Juliet's "death"). Romeo's final words were "Thus with a kiss I die". He kills himself at Juliet's grave, moments before she awakes; she kills herself in turn shortly thereafter.
caption: An 1870 oil painting by Ford Madox Brown depicting Romeo and Juliet's famous balcony scene
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