Romeo and Juliet is the world's most famous drama of tragic young love, ending with their suicides, against the backdrop of a vicious family feud. It has been praised for its language and dramatic effect.

Shakespeare set the scene of the play in Verona, Italy. Juliet, a Capulet, and Romeo, a Montague, fall in love at a masked ball. Because the two noble families are enemies, the couple is married secretly by Friar Laurence. After Tybalt, a Capulet, kills Romeo's friend Mercutio in a quarrel, Romeo kills Tybalt and is banished to Mantua. Juliet's father then demands that she marry Count Paris. When Juliet goes to Friar Laurence for advice, he gives her a potion that makes a person appear to be dead. He suggests that she take it and that Romeo rescue her; she agrees. Not knowing about the Friar's scheme, Romeo hears of Juliet's apparent death and returns to Verona. After killing Count Paris, he finds Juliet in a burial vault. He gives her a last kiss and kills himself with poison. Juliet awakens, sees the dead Romeo, and kills herself.