Romeo and Juliet Summary & ending explained

It began, as it always did in Verona, with servants.

Two Capulet men were loitering in the market when a pair of Montague men came by. One of the Capulets put his thumb to his teeth and flicked it at them, an insult everyone understood. Words followed, then steel. Benvolio, a Montague nephew, ran in to beat the swords down, and Tybalt, a Capulet nephew with a temper like a lit fuse, ran in to raise them again. Soon old Capulet was calling for his sword, old Montague was straining against his wife's grip, and half the city was out with clubs.

Prince Escalus rode into the middle of it and silenced them all.

"Three times now," he said, "your quarrel has torn up these streets. The next man of either house who draws a blade in Verona pays for it with his life."

The crowd broke apart. Lady Montague asked the only question she cared about. "Where is Romeo? Was he in this?"

He wasn't. Romeo had been out before dawn, walking alone under the sycamores, then had shut himself in his room with the curtains drawn. Benvolio found him later, pale and dramatic. The reason was a girl named Rosaline, who had sworn off love for good and wanted nothing to do with him.

"Look at other women," Benvolio told him. "You'll see she's nothing special."

"Show me a beautiful woman," said Romeo, "and she'll only remind me of the one I can't have."

Across town, Capulet was having a calmer conversation. Count Paris, a young kinsman of the Prince, had asked for his daughter's hand.

"She's not yet fourteen," Capulet said. "Give it two more summers. Win her heart in the meantime. I'm giving a feast tonight. Come and look at her beside every other girl in Verona."

He handed a servant a list of guests to invite. The man couldn't read a word of it, so he stopped the first gentleman who looked educated and asked for help.

That gentleman was Romeo. Halfway down the list he found Rosaline's name.

"Go," Benvolio said. "Set her beside the other beauties there. I promise you'll come home wondering what you ever saw in her."

Romeo agreed, but only to see Rosaline. He had no idea who he would really find there.