ROMEO AND JULIET: CHARACTERS

(Part 1)
A. ROMEO:
1.The son and heir of Montague and Lady Montague
2.A young man of about sixteen, Romeo is handsome,
intelligent, and sensitive. Though impulsive and
immature, his idealism and passion make him an
extremely likable character.
3.He lives in the middle of a violent feud between his
family and the Capulets, but he is not at all
interested in violence.
4.His only interest is love. At the beginning of the
play he is madly in love with a woman named
Rosaline, but the instant he lays eyes on Juliet, he
falls in love with her and forgets Rosaline.
5.He secretly marries Juliet, the daughter of his
father’s worst enemy; he happily takes abuse from
Tybalt; and he would rather die than live without
his beloved.
6. Romeo is also an affectionate and devoted friend
to his relative Benvolio, Mercutio, and Friar
Lawrence.
B. JULIET:
1.The daughter of Capulet and Lady Capulet.
2.A beautiful thirteen-year-old girl, Juliet begins the
play as a naïve child who has thought little about
love and marriage, but she grows up quickly upon
falling in love with Romeo, the son of her family’s
great enemy.
3. Because she is a girl in an aristocratic family, she
has none of the freedom Romeo has to roam
around the city, climb over walls in the middle of
the night, or get into swordfights.
4. Nevertheless, she shows amazing courage in
trusting her entire life and future to Romeo, even
refusing to believe the worst reports about him
after he gets involved in a fight with her cousin.
5.Juliet’s closest friend and confidant is her nurse,
though she’s willing to shut the Nurse out of her
life the moment the Nurse turns against Romeo.
C. FRIAR LAWRENCE:
1. A Franciscan friar, friend to both Romeo and
Juliet. Kind, civic-minded, a proponent of
moderation, and always ready with a plan, Friar
Lawrence secretly marries the impassioned lovers
in hopes that the union might eventually bring
peace to Verona.
2. As well as being a Catholic holy man, Friar
Lawrence is also an expert in the use of seemingly
mystical potions and herbs.
D.MERCUTIO
1.A kinsman to the Prince, and Romeo’s close
friend.
2. One of the most extraordinary characters in all of
Shakespeare’s plays, Mercutio overflows with
imagination, wit, and, at times, a strange, biting
satire and brooding fervor. Mercutio loves
wordplay, especially sexual double entendres.
3.He can be quite hotheaded, and hates people who
are affected, pretentious, or obsessed with the
latest fashions.
4. He finds Romeo’s romanticized ideas about love
tiresome, and tries to convince Romeo to view love
as a simple matter of sexual appetite.
E. TYBALT:
1.A Capulet, Juliet’s cousin on her mother’s side.
Vain, fashionable, supremely aware of courtesy
and the lack of it, he becomes aggressive, violent,
and quick to draw his sword when he feels his
pride has been injured.
2.Once drawn, his sword is something to be feared.
3.He loathes Montagues.
 ROMEO AND JULIET: CHARACTERS
(Part 2)
A. THE NURSE:
1. Juliet’s nurse, the woman who breast-fed Juliet when
she was a baby and has cared for Juliet her entire
life.
2. A vulgar, long-winded, and sentimental character, the
Nurse provides comic relief with her frequently
inappropriate remarks and speeches.
3. But, until a disagreement near the play’s end, the
Nurse is Juliet’s faithful confidante and loyal
intermediary in Juliet’s affair with Romeo.
4. She provides a contrast with Juliet, given that her
view of love is earthy and sexual, whereas Juliet is
idealistic and intense.
5. The Nurse believes in love and wants Juliet to have a
nice-looking husband, but the idea that Juliet would
want to sacrifice herself for love is incomprehensible
to her.
B. CAPULET:
1.The patriarch of the Capulet family, father of
Juliet, husband of Lady Capulet, and enemy, for
unexplained reasons, of Montague.
2. He truly loves his daughter, though he is not well
acquainted with Juliet’s thoughts or feelings, and
seems to think that what is best for her is a “good”
match with Paris.
3.Often prudent, he commands respect and
propriety, but he is liable to fly into a rage when
either is lacking.
C. LADY CAPULET:
1.Juliet’s mother, Capulet’s wife.
2.A woman who herself married young (by her own
estimation she gave birth to Juliet at close to the
age of fourteen), she is eager to see her daughter
marry Paris.
3.She is an ineffectual mother, relying on the Nurse
for moral and pragmatic support.
D. MONTAGUE:
1. Romeo’s father, the patriarch of the Montague
clan and bitter enemy of Capulet.
2.At the beginning of the play, he is chiefly
concerned about Romeo’s melancholy.
E. LADY MONTAGUE:
1.Romeo’s mother, Montague’s wife.
2.She dies of grief after Romeo is exiled from
Verona.
F. PARIS:
1.A kinsman of the Prince, and the suitor of Juliet
most preferred by Capulet.
2.Once Capulet has promised him he can marry
Juliet, he behaves very presumptuous toward
her, acting as if they are already married.
G.BENVOLIO:
1.Montague’s nephew, Romeo’s cousin and
thoughtful friend,
2.He makes a genuine effort to defuse violent
scenes in public places, though Mercutio accuses
him of having a nasty temper in private.
3.He spends most of the play trying to help Romeo
get his mind off Rosaline, even after Romeo has
fallen in love with Juliet.
H. PRINCE ESCALUS:
1.The Prince of Verona and kinsman of Mercutio
and Paris
2.As the seat of political power in Verona, he is
concerned about maintaining the public peace at
all costs.
I. FRIAR JOHN
1.A Franciscan friar charged by Friar Lawrence
with taking the news of Juliet’s false death to
Romeo in Mantua.
2. Friar John is held up in a quarantined house,
and the message never reaches Romeo.
 ROMEO AND JULIET: CHARACTERS
(PART 3)
A. BALTHASAR:
1.Romeo’s dedicated servant
2. He is the one who brings Romeo the news of
Juliet’s death, unaware that her death is a
ruse.
B. SAMPSON & GREGORY:
1. Two servants of the house of Capulet, who,
like their master, hate the Montagues.
2.At the outset of the play, they successfully
provoke some Montague men into a fight.
C. ABRAM:
1.Montague’s servant, who fights with Sampson
and Gregory in the first scene of the play.
D.THE APOTHECARY:
1.An apothecary in Mantua.
2.Had he been wealthier, he might have been able
to afford to value his morals more than money,
and refused to sell poison to Romeo.
E. PETER:
1.A Capulet servant who invites guests to
Capulet’s feast and escorts the Nurse to meet
with Romeo.
2.He is illiterate, and a bad singer.
F. ROSALINE:
1.The woman with whom Romeo is infatuated at
the beginning of the play.
2.Rosaline never appears onstage, but it is said
by other characters that she is very beautiful
and has sworn to live a life of chastity.
G. The CHORUS:
1.The Chorus is a single character who, as
developed in Greek drama, functions as a
narrator offering commentary on the play’s
plot and themes.