Romeo and Juliet

Characters

Character Map

Who is who, and who belongs to whom. Click a name to open the character page.

Romeo Romeo is Montague's son, and he arrives at the play far from the lover the title promises. His father says he spends his mornings in the woods, among tears and sighs, and that at daybreak he locks himself in his room, shuts the windows and makes a night of... Juliet Juliet is Capulet and Lady Capulet's only daughter, not yet fourteen when the play begins. The Nurse, who nursed her, swears in Scene 3 of Act I that her birthday falls on the eve of Lammas-tide, a little more than two weeks away. She already has a chosen... Friar Laurence Friar Laurence is a Franciscan friar of Verona, Romeo's confessor (whom he calls his spiritual father) and Juliet's. He gathers herbs at dawn and knows that the same plant can be poison or remedy. He is the one who marries the two, who sets up the potion plan... The Nurse The Nurse is the one who nursed Juliet. She tells in Scene 3 of Act I that she weaned her on the day of the earthquake, eleven years before, and calls the girl her little lamb and her ladybug. She is the confidante of the secret marriage and the go-between... Mercutio Mercutio is Romeo's friend and a kinsman of Prince Escalus and of Paris, but he is neither Montague nor Capulet, although he is on the Capulets' guest list in Act I, Scene 2, and his curse falls on both houses. He is the most mocking voice of the group: he... Tybalt Tybalt is the nephew of Lady Capulet, calls Capulet uncle and is Juliet's cousin. He is the house's duelist: Mercutio describes him as the captain of courtesies, who fights as one sings, keeping time, and calls him the king of cats. He says he hates the word... Capulet Capulet is the head of the Capulet house, Juliet's father and Tybalt's uncle. He is the patriarch who protects his daughter's will in one scene and threatens her in another, and the play shows him ordering his daughter to be silent at the very moment she asks... Paris Paris is the count who asks for Juliet's hand, a kinsman of Mercutio and of Prince Escalus, whom the Prince counts at the end among the kinsmen he has lost. He arrives with Capulet's approval and with his haste, and behaves as the suitor the rules require:... Benvolio Benvolio is Montague's nephew and Romeo's cousin. He is the one who tries to separate the fights and the cousin to whom Romeo ends up confessing what he suffers over Rosaline. The play also uses him as a witness: he is the voice that tells the Prince what...

Other characters

The Chorus: a character who speaks to the audience from outside the action and belongs to neither of the two houses. It opens the play with a prologue of fourteen lines that tells in advance that the pair of lovers will die and that their death will end the feud of their parents, in Prologue to Act I, and returns before Act II to explain that Romeo's old desire for Rosaline has died and that he and Juliet now love each other, in Prologue to Act II.
Sampson and Gregory: Capulet servants who open the play in the square of Verona, armed with swords and shields. Sampson wants to provoke the Montague servants without being the one who starts it, so as to have the law on his side, and bites his thumb at Abram; Gregory tells him that the law would not be on their side if he admitted the provocation. The exchange of insults becomes the brawl that the Prince represses in scene 1 of Act I.
Abram: a Montague servant who, in the square of Verona, asks Sampson twice whether he bites his thumb at him, says that the Montague master is no worse than Sampson's, and, when Sampson insists that his own is the better, answers "you lie," which starts the fight, in scene 1 of Act I.
Lady Capulet: Capulet's wife and Tybalt's aunt. In scene 3 of Act I, she asks Juliet what she thinks of marrying and introduces Paris to her as a suitor; in scene 1 of Act III, she weeps for her dead nephew and asks the Prince that Romeo pay with his life; in scene 5 of Act III, she announces the marriage to Paris and, faced with Juliet's refusal, says she is done with her.
Montague: Romeo's father and head of the house rival to the Capulets. In scene 1 of Act I, he wants to join the brawl and is restrained by his wife, and afterward he describes to Benvolio how his son weeps at dawn and shuts himself in his room without saying why; in scene 1 of Act III, he asks the Prince to spare Romeo, who only did what the law would do in killing Tybalt; in scene 3 of Act V, he promises a golden statue of Juliet.
Lady Montague: Montague's wife. In scene 1 of Act I, she prevents her husband from going after the enemy and, relieved that Romeo was not in the brawl, asks Benvolio about him; in scene 3 of Act V, Montague tells the Prince that she died that night of grief over their son's exile.
Prince Escalus: ruler of Verona and kin to Mercutio and Paris. In scene 1 of Act I, he threatens death to anyone who again disturbs the peace; in scene 1 of Act III, he hears Benvolio, banishes Romeo instead of condemning him to death, and fines both houses; in scene 3 of Act V, he reads Romeo's letter, tells the parents that heaven has killed their joy with love, and admits that he lost two relatives for having closed his eyes to the brawls.
Rosaline: the girl for whom Romeo suffers at the start of the play. She has sworn chastity, does not accept his love, and never appears on stage: she is mentioned only in the speeches of others, when Romeo describes her to Benvolio in scene 1 of Act I and when he reads her name on the guest list of the ball, in scene 2 of Act I. The Chorus gives this love as dead in the prologue to Act II, and Romeo tells the friar that he has forgotten her name, in scene 3 of Act II.
Petruchio: a guest at the Capulets' ball. After her first meeting with Romeo, Juliet asks the Nurse who the three men leaving the feast are, and the Nurse says the second must be young Petruchio, before Juliet learns Romeo's name, in scene 5 of Act I.
Peter: the Nurse's servant. He accompanies her through the city when she looks for Romeo and, when she complains about Mercutio, says he would have drawn his sword had he seen someone abusing her, with the law on his side, in scene 4 of Act II. After the lament for the bride given up for dead, he demands a song from the musicians and provokes them with questions about the "sound of silver," in a farce that cuts through the mourning, in scene 5 of Act IV.
Balthasar: Romeo's servant. He comes from Verona to Mantua to tell that Juliet has died and that he saw her laid in the Capulet tomb, but brings no letter from the friar, as Romeo asks twice, in scene 1 of Act V. He accompanies Romeo to the cemetery, receives a letter for Romeo's father, and, sent away under threat, hides out of fear, in scene 3 of Act V.
The Apothecary: a poor man of Mantua whom Romeo recalls having seen, in torn clothes, in the nearly empty shop. He knows that Mantua's law gives death to whoever sells poison and, even so, yields to need and hands Romeo the dose for forty ducats, saying that his poverty consents, not his will, in scene 1 of Act V.
Friar John: a friar of the same order as Friar Laurence, sent to Mantua with the letter that explains the potion plan to Romeo. Because of suspicion of plague, he was locked in a house in Verona and could neither continue his journey nor find anyone to carry the letter, which he returns to his friend in scene 2 of Act V.