| “ | Did my heart love 'til now? Forswear its sight - for I never saw true beauty 'til this night. | „ |
| ~ Romeo falling in love with Juliet. |
Romeo Montague is the titular anti-heroic protagonist in the well-known play, Romeo and Juliet, and its various adaptations.
Romeo is born to a noble family of House Montague, the arch-rivals of the House Capulet. In the beginning of the play, he is depressed because his crush on a young woman named Rosaline is unrequited. He later meets Juliet, a girl from the House Capulet, and they he develops an obsession with her (although how genuine his feelings are are up to interpretation). They secretly marry despite the conflict between their households, as well as the fact that Juliet's parents have promised her to a nobleman named Paris. After killing Juliet's cousin Tybalt in a blind rage after he killed his friend Mercutio, Romeo is banished from Verona. After hearing rumors Juliet has died, he kills himself in her tomb mere seconds before she wakes up; she then commits suicide as well.
Personality and Traits[]
Romeo was lovesick, impulsive, smart, and brave. At the beginning of the play, Romeo was upset and moody because Rosaline, the girl he had a crush on with did not like him back. Romeo was moody always and said he hopes his eyes would burn if he saw a girl prettier than Rosaline. Romeo eventually went to a masked ball hosted by Lord Capulet and fell in love with a girl named Juliet, the daughter of Lord Capulet. Since the Montagues and Capulets were rival households, Romeo was not supposed to be in love with Juliet and they fell in love but kept it a secret. Romeo and Juliet married later in the book. Romeo shows he is brave because when Tybalt, a talented swordsman from House Capulet and a cousin of Juliet killed Mercutio; a loyal friend to Romeo. Romeo despite facing a better fighter than him was able to defeat Tybalt because he was angry and brave to face such a dangerous opponent. After this, the Prince banished Romeo from Verona, since all he wanted was to be with Juliet he planned to run away with her. Juliet was planned to marry Paris, a cousin of the Prince and rich nobleman. To avoid this, Juliet planned to fake her death. After hearing Juliet died, Romeo went to find her and faced Paris in a duel and killed him before killing himself and Juliet woke up from her coma and killed herself after.
Synopsis[]
Act I[]
At the beginning of the play, after the huge brawl between members of the Montague house and members of the Capulet member was stopped by Prince Escalus; Benvolio, Lord Montague, and Lady Montague discuss Romeo, who has fallen under a depression. Lord Montague asks Benvolio why Romeo is sad, to which Benvolio replies that he does not know the reason. Romeo then comes along to meet up with Benvolio. After Lord Montague and Lady Montague leave the scene, Benvolio asks Romeo why he is sad. Romeo reveals that it is because his crush, later revealed to be Rosaline, does not love Romeo and prefers to remain "chaste". Benvolio recommends to Romeo to forget about Rosaline and look for other women, which Romeo agrees to.
Romeo and Benvolio walk along the street and find a servant of the Capulet House struggling to read a note. Romeo helps the servant read the note, which contains all the people coming to a feast being held by Lord Capulet. One of the people is Rosaline. When the servant leaves, Benvolio recommends to Romeo to go to the feast in order to compare other women to Rosaline.
That night, Romeo, Benvolio, Mercutio, and other maskers and torchers all walk to the feast held by the Capulet house. In the feast, Romeo sees Juliet for the first time and falls in love with her. Tybalt recognizes Romeo's voice and wants to kill him, but Lord Capulet stops him in order to prevent another brawl. Romeo and Juliet meet each other and Juliet falls in love with Romeo. Romeo and Juliet kiss. The Nurse comes and reveals to Romeo that Juliet is the daughter of Lord Capulet and takes her away. Romeo is dismayed that Juliet is from an enemy house and leaves the feast with Benvolio.
Act II[]
Romeo is unable to be found by Mercutio and Benvolio. Romeo climbs up a garden wall in order to see Juliet, who is sitting at a balcony. Romeo hides as Juliet is contemplating the purpose of names. Romeo eventually reveals himself to Juliet. Juliet is worried that if Romeo is spotted where he is at currently, he will be killed, but Romeo does not care. Juliet and Romeo flirt for a little bit, before the Nurse starts calling for Juliet. Romeo and Juliet discuss marriage plans. They agree to have Juliet send a message to Romeo by the hour of 9 the next day. By then, Romeo will have planned the wedding. They both leave the balcony.
Romeo goes to Friar Laurence and reveals to him that Romeo is now in love with Juliet instead of Rosaline and wants Laurence to marry Romeo and Juliet together. Laurence is reluctant as he believes that Romeo and Juliet's love is not true love. He does agree to do it reluctantly, believing it could stop the rivalry between the two houses. At the hour of 9, the Nurse meets up with Romeo in order to receive Romeo's plans for the wedding. Romeo has the Nurse tell Juliet to meet Romeo at Laurence's cell at afternoon. That afternoon, Romeo and Juliet officially marry under the priesthood of Laurence.
Act III[]
The next day, Tybalt confronts Mercutio and demands to know if Mercutio has talked with Romeo, which Mercutio refuses to answer. Romeo appears, prompting Tybalt to call Romeo a "villain" for attending the Capulet feast, thereby insulting the Capulet name. Tybalt challenges Romeo to a duel, but Romeo does not want to duel. Feeling offended by Tybalt's insults and Romeo's cowardice, Mercutio fights Tybalt instead. Romeo tries to break up the duel between Tybalt and Mercutio, but Tybalt ends up stabbing Mercutio and leaves. Mercutio is carried to a house by Benvolio to be attended to. Mercutio dies and Benvolio comes to Romeo to give him the news.
Tybalt comes back and Romeo, as revenge for the death of Mercutio, duels and kills Tybalt. Benvolio convinces Romeo to run away or else, he will be executed. Escalus, Lord Montague, Lady Montague, Lord Capulet, and Lady Capulet come along to Tybalt's corpse. Benvolio and Lord Montague convince Escalus to not kill Romeo for killing Tybalt as Tybalt would've likely been executed for the death of Mercutio. Escalus instead decides to exile Romeo from Verona and to kill him if he ever comes back.
In Laurence's cell, Laurence reveals to Romeo that rather than being executed, Romeo will be exiled. This makes Romeo become depressed because now, he will never be able to see Juliet again. The Nurse comes to the cell and tells Romeo that Juliet is also depressed but won't say why. Laurence tells Romeo to go to Juliet to comfort her for sometime, then go to the city of Mantua to await further instructions. Romeo sleeps with Juliet all night. When it becomes morning and the Nurse announces to Juliet that Lady Capulet is coming. Romeo exits the room through the window.
Act IV[]
Romeo Montague does not appear in Act IV, though does have an impact on it. Juliet, desparate to hang out with Romeo forever, asks Friar Laurence for help. Friar Laurence gives Juliet a sleeping potion and tells her a plan. The plan would be that Juliet drinks the sleeping potion and is pronounced dead by the house of Capulet. She will be put in the Capulet tomb where Romeo will meet Juliet as she wakes up. Romeo and Juliet would then travel to Mantua where there would live happily ever after in. Juliet goes along with the plan and in her bedroom, while no one else is inside, she drinks the potion and falls unconsious. She is discovered by the Nurse and is buried in the Capulet tomb.
Act V[]
Balthasar, Romeo's servant, goes to Romeo in Mantua and tells Romeo about Juliet's supposed death. Romeo goes to the Apothecary to buy a vial of poison with intent to commit suicide in order to be with Juliet forever. The Apothecary only agrees to sell the poison because the Apothecary is poor. Romeo never got the message Laurence was trying to send telling him of the plan as the messenger, Friar John, was accused of having pestilence when he got to Mantua.
Romeo goes to the Capulet tomb to find Juliet's tomb. He finds the tomb and starts to open, but is spotted by a grieving Paris, who was the one arranged to be Juliet's wife before Juliet met Romeo. Paris accuses Romeo of killing Juliet and fights him. Romeo ends up winning the fight with Paris slain. Before dying, Paris tells Romeo to bury Paris's body with Juliet's, which Romeo fulfills after Paris's death. Romeo looks at Juliet and notices how beautiful she looks even after death. Romeo drinks the poison vial and kisses Juliet before dying.
Laurence comes to the tomb and notices Romeo's corpse and Juliet waking up. Laurence tries to persuade Juliet to escape the tomb with Laurence as he hears people coming, but Juliet refuses. Juliet examines Romeo's corpse and discovers the vial. Juliet tries to drink the vial, but Romeo already drank the entire vial. Juliet kisses Romeo's lips to extract poison droplets from Romeo's lips, but no droplets can be found Romeo's lips. Juliet grabs Romeo's dagger and stabs herself, killing her. The Prince and many others come to the tomb and through accounts of Friar Laurence, Balthasar, Paris's page, and the letter that John was supposed to send Romeo, the Prince, Lord Montague, and Lord Capulet discover the Romeo and Juliet's secret relationship and their history with each other. The Prince scolds Lord Montague and Lord Capulet for their scourge bringing about the death of Romeo and Juliet. Afterwards, Lord Capulet and Lord Montague reconciles with each other and end their feud.
Portrayals[]
Romeo has been portrayed by many actors over the years, including:
- Leonardo DiCaprio, who played Calvin Candie in Django Unchained, King Louis XIV in The Man in the Iron Mask, Frank Abagnale Jr. in Catch Me If You Can, Jay Gatsby in The Great Gatsby, Jordan Belfort in The Wolf of Wall Street and Ernest Burkhart in Killers of the Flower Moon.
- Orlando Bloom.
- In Warm Bodies, a loose adaptation of Romeo and Juliet set during a zombie apocalypse, R, a zombie character modeled on Romeo, was portrayed by Nicholas Hoult, who also portrayed the title character in Renfield,
- In the animated comedy Gnomeo and Juliet, Gnomeo, a gnome character modeled on Romeo, was voiced by James McAvoy, who and also portrayed Wesley Gibson in Wanted, David Percival in Atomic Blonde, Kevin Wendell Crumb in Split and Glass, Bruce Robertson in Filth, and God Emperor Leto Atreides in the TV miniseries adaptation of Dune.
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| “ | 'Tis the east, and Juliet is the sun. | „ |
| ~ Romeo's infamous quote |