Synopsis

The story of Romeo and Juliet (1594 ?), was first told in a novello (1554) by the Italian Matteo Bandello, dramatized in Adriana, 1578, by Luigi Groto (Italian, 1541-1595) and put into English poetry in 1562 by Arthur Broke, whose nine months for its events are compressed by Shakespeare into five days. In Verona Romeo, a Montagu, and Juliet, a Capulet, fall in love; the enmity between their families leads them to marry in secret. Romeo tries to stop a brawl in the families' feud, but his friend Mercutio is killed, whereupon Romeo kills the fiery Tybalt and flees to Mantua. The Capulets wish to marry Juliet to Paris; on the advice of Friar Laurence, she takes a sleeping potion and seems to die. Word of this device is delayed, and does not reach Romeo; at Juliet's tomb he kills first Paris then himself. The waking Juliet, seeing her beloved dead, takes her own life. In the shock of the tragedy the feuding houses are reconciled.

--Joseph T. Shipley from "The Crown Guide to the World's Greatest Plays"