The characters in the play
==========================
-  Montague
        head of a Veronese family at feud with the Capulets
-  Romeo
        son of Montague
-  Capulet
        head of a Veronese family at feud with the Montagues
-  Juliet
        daughter of Capulet
-  Sampson
        of the Capulet household
-  Gregory
        of the Capulet household


The prologue
============                                                   
                                                            Commentary

        Enter Chorus
Chorus
        Two households, both alike in dignity                   
         In fair Verona, where we lay our scene,                P 2
        From ancient grudge break to new mutiny,                P 3
         Where civil blood make civil hands unclean.            P 4
        From forth the fatal loins of these two foes            
         A pair of star-crossed lovers take their life;         P 6
        Whose misadventured piteous overthrows                 
         Dots with their death bury their parents's strife.     P 8
        The fearful passage of their death-marked love          P 9
         And the continuance of their parents'rage,
        Which, but their children's end, naught could remove,
         Is now the two hours' traffic of our stage            
        The which if you with patient ears attend,
        What here shall miss, our toil shall strive to mend.    
Exit

I.1
===

Enter Sampson and Gregory, with swords and bucklers,            
of the house of Capulet

  SAMPSON Gregory, on my word, we'll not carry coals.           
  GREGORY No. for then we should be colliers.                   
  SAMPSON I mean, and we be in choler, we'll draw.              
  GREGORY Ay, while you live, draw your neck out of collar.
  SAMPSON I strike quickly, being moved.                        
  GREGORY But thou art not quickly moved to strike.
  SAMPSON A dog on the house of Montague moves me
  GREGORY To move is to stir, and to be valiant is to stand.
    Therefore,if thou art moved, thou runnest away.
  SAMPSON A Dog of that house shall meove me to stand. I 
    will take the wall of any man or maid of Montague's.        
  GREGORY That shows thee a weak slave. For the weakest 
    goes to the wall.
  SAMPSON 'Tis true; and therefore women, being the 
    weaker vessels, are ever thrust to the wall. Therefore I    
    will push Montague's men from the wall, and thrust his
    maids to the wall.
  GREGORY The quarrel is between our masters, and us 
    their men.
  SAMPSON 'Tis all one. I will show myself a tyrant. When
    I have fought with the men, I will be civil with the        
    maids - I will cut off their heads.
  GREGORY The heads of the maids ?
  SAMPSON Ay, the heads of the maids, or their maiden-
    heads. Take it in what sense thou wilt.                     
  GREGORY They must take it in sense that feel it.

Commentary
==========

- P 2
        Verona. This famous Italian city had already appeared in 
Shakespeare's plays. The Two Gentlement of Verona has its early scenes set
there. Petruchio in The Taming of the Shrew is a gentleman of Verona and
comes thence to Padua. The whole of Romeo and Juliet (apart from V.1, which
is in Mantua) is set in Verona : in the streets (I.1,‚, and 4, II, 4, III,1),
in the Capulet hiouse and garden (I.3 and 5, II.1, 2, and 5, III.2, 4, and 5,
IV.2, 3, 4, 5), in Friar Laurence's cell (II.3 and 6, III.3, IV.1, V.2), or
in the churchyard by the Capulet monument (V.3). The changes of scene are
indicated to the audience by the words of the speakers, by simple change of 
costume (such as chairs for indoor scenes).

- P 3
        "ancient grudge". The origin of the feud between the two families
is not explained. The sympathies of the audience are not therefore engaged
on one side or the other.
        "mutiny" outburst of violence

- P 4
        "civil blood makes civil hands". In the first "civil" does not 
merely mean (as in the second) 'belonging to citizens' but has behind it 
such phrase as 'civil war', 'civil strife'.

- P 6
        "star-crossed" destined by the stars to be thwarted. There are 
numerous references to the fateful influence ot the stars in this play.

- P 8
        "Doth" (plural)