Romeo and Juliet Summary (Act 1 Scene 1) - Nerdstudy

Detailed summary of Act 1 Scene 1 of Romeo and Juliet.

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The famous story of Romeo and Juliet starts in Verona, Italy. In this setting, there are two families, the Capulets and the Montagues, who hold a nasty rivalry filled with violence. Their feuds have been causing the rest of the city many problems, but there doesn’t seem to be any end in sight.

Sampson and Gregory, two servants of the Capulet house are bad-mouthing the Montague family. While the two Capulets make sexually insulting remarks about the women of the Montague house, Gregory actually manages to spot out two montagues, on of them being Abram.

This triggering some tension in the streets. Sampson does something very unique here - he bites his thumb in front of Abram, which, in this story, is considered an insult.

Abram and Sampson continue to get worked up, comparing whose master is better, until Sampson dares the Montagues to pull out their swords, if they are men.

Benvolio, another Montague member, jumps into the scene and tries to get the fight to come to an end, but suddenly, Tybalt, another member of the Capulet house makes his entrance.

With all the commotion, Prince Escalus ends up in the scene.

The Prince successfully breaks up the brawl, but only by threatening to kill anyone who is caught breaking the peace. He exits the scene to have a word with Capulet, leaving only Montague, Lady Montague, and Benvolio in the scene.

Benvolio explains how the fight started to his Uncle, Montague. Lady Montague asks Benvolio if he’s seen Romeo, her son.

Apparently, early that morning Benvolio saw Romeo sulking around near the west end of the city. Montague comments on how his son has been seen there crying, many times, and only when the sun comes up, does he return home to get aw ay from the daylight.

Suddenly, they spot Romeo wandering around, and so Benvolio asks his uncle and aunt to give him some space, so he can try to find out what’s been causing Romeo’s recent negative behavior.

Romeo says that he’s been depressed lately because he has been having some love problems. Noticing some blood on the ground, he even attempts to say that love must be the reason for the fight that just erupted. And when Benvolio breaks up into tears because of how sad Romeo is, Romeo tries to blame Benvolio’s sadness on love as well. Romeo goes on for a bit longer describing what love is in a beautiful, but heartbreaking poem.

But Benvolio needs to know - who Romeo loves so much ?

And according to Romeo, it’s a girl who’s decided to stay a virgin forever, and will “not be hit With Cupid’s arrow.”

So, Benvolio does what any good friend (or cousin) would do and tells Romeo to forget about this girl. After all, there are so many other pretty girls out there! But Romeo says that looking at other girls will only remind him of the one he’s truly in love with, Rosaline. As the scene comes to a close, Benvolio promises that he’ll show Romeo how to forget about Rosaline.

[pm]

POV: u don’t actually want to read this but it’s for ur English class

[thenorthernplayer]

Man just explained act 1 scene 1 in five minutes better than my english teacher has in 5 weeks.

[angelicadino]

U SAVED ME FROM MY ENGLISH CLASS WHILE IN QUARANTINE

[dantedemondino]

Thank you sooo much you saved me so much time for school

[atomiccuber]

Who else is watching this the night before the exam ?

[Cwcscarlett]

tysm this is way easier to understand then a 500 pgs of RoMeo aNd JuLiet like what the thou shall is this useful for us in the future :-l

[tetris]

1. The servants’ fight: Benvolio’s reaction he tries to stop the fight vs. Tybalt’s reaction he hates peace and encourages the fight.

2. What threat does the Prince make to the houses of Capulet and Montague? He will kill anyone who disturbs the peace

3. How many times has the fighting disturbed the city? 3 times

4. Romeo’s parents are worried because he is acting depressed. Benvolio is Romeo’s cousin. The advice he gives to Romeo: He said to forget about the girl, and that there are many more out there.
Hope this helps y'all... godspeed

[enriquediaz]

Who else is watching this at home? When there’s no school of the disaster of corona virus....

[Komeadaz]

pov: you've been doing romeo and juliet in online english but youve just been on tiktok this whole time so now when you actually need to know what happens but dont know anything so you search for a summary

[WzrdX]

I ain't gonna read that whole book again for my term 4 exam bruh 🤣, Thats why I'm here, Plus the pictures actually make it easier to understand and remember

[cornpuffs]

Why is Tybalt the hulk, also why is benvolio 8?

[aidanbarnes]

Benvolio is an underrated yet very support and nice character. He is a great friend to Romeo and an even bigger cousin to him. He is a pacifist and always tries to break up the fights

[pamdelucia]

My students love these. Please make more for the other Acts!

[duinedubhmaurus]

I appreciate y’all so much without y’all I would’ ve failed my all three of my test

[boyochan]

DAMN! THESE PEOPLE MADE TYBALT TOO BUFF!

[laurahorn]

dude this is great thanks for posting. About to binge watch all of 'em

[Boo-mdwu]

My personal note:
(Summary) The Montague and Capulet family are introduced, as well as Romeo's love issues with Rosalie.
The introduction between the 2 families is a major event because it introduces the reason why Romeo and Juliet can't be together

[selma]

Thank you so much for this!!! You saved me a LOT of time from having to read the scenes from a book for school. This is wayy more fun & interactive--also, your voice is awesome. Thanks!

[emmaodo]

Thank you so much I’m just learning Romeo and Juliet and this is great 👍

[incineroar]

Why does the Prince look and sound like Waluigi.