Juliet is the only daughter of Capulet and Lady Capulet, not yet fourteen when the play begins. She loves Romeo, marries him in secret, and, to escape marriage to Paris, drinks a potion that makes her appear dead.
In Act I, scene 3, her mother asks her about marriage, and Juliet replies, regarding Paris: "I'll look to like, if looking liking move." At the ball (scene 5), she talks with a stranger, exchanges verses of pilgrim and saint with him, and, on learning from the Nurse that he is a Montague, concludes: "My only love sprung from my only hate!" In the garden (Act II, scene 2), she laments that he bears that name, fears the pact is too quick, and agrees that if he thinks of marriage, he should reply the next day, through the messenger she will send at nine.
In Act III, scene 2, on learning that Romeo killed Tybalt and was banished, she curses her husband, regrets it at once, and concludes that the word "banished" weighs more than the death of her cousin. In scene 5, she refuses the marriage to Paris, her father threatens to disinherit her, her mother abandons her, and the Nurse advises her to marry him. Juliet goes to the friar, shows a knife, and accepts the potion (Act IV, scene 1), feigns obedience to her father (scene 2), and drinks it alone: "Romeo, Romeo, Romeo, here is the drink! I drink to you." (scene 3).
In Act V, scene 3, she wakes in the tomb, refuses to flee with the friar, finds Romeo dead with the cup in his hand, and kills herself with his dagger.