Characters in Romeo and Juliet - Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is a list of characters in William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet.

Escalus (Prince) is the political ruler of Verona. He is the cousin of Mercutio and Paris.
Count Paris is a Count, he is trying to marry Juliet.
Lord Montague is a powerful nobleman of Verona and the head of the Montague family. He is Romeo's father.
Lady Montague is Montague's wife and Romeo's mother.
Romeo Montague is the son of Lord and Lady Montague. Romeo falls in love with Juliet Capulet, and secretly marries her. Juliet fakes her death to rid herself of a parental marriage arrangement with Count Paris. Romeo is not aware of the fake death. He believes Juliet is truly dead and kills himself. Leonardo DiCaprio, Leonard Whiting, Douglas Booth and Leslie Howard have played Romeo in movie adaptations of the play. Romeo is also a character in opera and ballet adaptions of the play.
Benvolio is a member of House Montague and ROMEO's cousin.
Lord Capulet is a powerful nobleman of Verona and the head of the Capulet family. He is Juliet's father.
Lady Capulet is Lord Capulet's wife and Juliet's mother.
Juliet Capulet is barely a young adult when she meets and falls in love with a family enemy, Romeo Montague. The two marry secretly. When Juliet's parents arrange a marriage for Juliet with Count Paris, she takes a potion that will make her appear to be dead. Her body is taken to a crypt. She later comes back to life. When she discovers Romeo has killed himself, she kills herself. Claire Danes, Norma Shearer, Hailee Steinfeld and Olivia Hussey have played Juliet in the movies. The play was adapted to opera and ballet. Rudolph Nureyev and Margot Fonteyn have danced the "star-crossed lovers" in the ballet adaptation.
Friar Lawrence is an old clergyman who secretly marries Romeo and Juliet. Juliet's fake death is his idea. He is unable to prevent Romeo from killing himself.
Juliet's Nurse is about 28 years old. She has a well known speech in which she recalls Juliet's babyhood. She is part of the Capulet family.
Tybalt is a hot-headed young man always looking for a fight. He is Juliet Capulet's cousin. He kills Mercutio in a duel and is later killed by Romeo. Basil Rathbone and Michael York have played Tybalt in the 1936 and 1968 movie adaptations.
Mercutio is a young man and friend to Romeo. When Romeo declines to participate in a duel with a family enemy, Mercutio takes Romeo's place and is killed as Romeo tries to end the duel. Mercutio is a talkative young man. His most famous speech is the Queen Mab speech.
Balthasar is ROMEO's personal servant in House Montague.
Abraham is a servant in House Capulet.
Samson is a servant of House Capulet.
Gregory is a servant of House Capulet.
Peter is the NURSE's personal servant in House Capulet.
Apothacary is a pharmacist who sells Romeo the poison that he uses to kill himself.
Friar John is a a clergyman in the same group as FRIAR LAURENCE whom he uses to try and send a message to ROMEO.
Rosaline is the gorgeous and aloof woman Romeo crushes on until he meets the love of his life, Juliet. But, um, don't get excited, because we never see her, she has no speaking part, and she isn't even listed in the dramatis personae (the cast list). So, why the heck are we talking about Rosaline in our "Character Analysis"? Well, we may not hear directly from Rosaline (or even see her unless we watch, say, Zeffirelli's 1968 film adaptation of the play), but we do hear a lot about her from one of the play's major characters, Romeo.
capulet Surname of the heroine Juliet's family in Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet.
Friar John We know very little of Friar John's personality. Certainly he is willing to help Friar Lawrence so we might say that he is obedient or kind. He is caught up in a quarantine so we know that his inability to deliver the letter wasn't because of cowardice or bad intent. All we can say for sure is that Friar John tries to help Friar Lawrence. He has no idea what is in that letter. We know that he does make the attempt but that is about all we know. It is difficult to draw conclusions about Friar John's personality from our limited contact with him in the story.

In addition, the script contains a number of minor characters such as Pages, Musicians, Citizens of Verona, male and female Kinsfolk to both Houses, Masquers, Guards, Watchmen, Officers, and Attendants.