What happens in Act 1 of Romeo and Juliet?

A street brawl between Capulet and Montague servants escalates until Prince Escalus threatens death for any further fighting. Romeo is lovesick over Rosaline. Count Paris asks for Juliet's hand, and her mother urges her to consider him at the family's party that night. Romeo and his friends crash the party in masks; Mercutio delivers the Queen Mab speech on the way. At the feast Romeo sees Juliet and they fall instantly in love, sharing a sonnet and a kiss — only afterwards discovering they belong to enemy families.

What is the Queen Mab speech about?

Mercutio's Queen Mab speech mocks Romeo's belief in dreams by describing a tiny fairy, no bigger than a gemstone in a ring, who rides a hazelnut chariot across sleepers' faces and gives them dreams matching their desires — lovers dream of love, lawyers of fees, soldiers of battle. The speech starts as dazzling comic fantasy and grows darker and cruder until Romeo cuts him off, revealing Mercutio's cynicism about love and imagination.

How old is Juliet in Romeo and Juliet?

Juliet is thirteen. In Act 1 Scene 3 her mother says she is 'not fourteen,' and the Nurse specifies she will turn fourteen on Lammas Eve, roughly two weeks away. Her father tells Paris to wait two more summers before considering her ready for marriage, though her mother notes she herself was already a mother at Juliet's age.

Why is Romeo and Juliet's first conversation a sonnet?

When Romeo and Juliet first speak at the Capulet feast, their alternating lines form a complete fourteen-line sonnet with a shared rhyme scheme, ending in their kiss. By having them unconsciously co-write a love poem, Shakespeare shows they are instantly in perfect harmony — a piece of stagecraft that conveys their connection more powerfully than any declaration could.

Shakespeare in Plain English

Romeo & Juliet · Tragedy · c. 1595

Act One

A street brawl, a masked party, and two teenagers who fall in love in about ninety seconds — while every adult in Verona is busy planning something else for them. All five scenes, original beside plain modern English.

Romeo & Juliet

The Original · First Folio

Plain Modern English

Hover or tap any line — its translation glows across the gutter.