Original: Rebellious subjects, enemies to peace,
Modern: You rebels who are enemies of peace,

Original: Profaners of this neighbour-stained steel,–
Modern: You who dishonor weapons stained with your neighbors’ blood,

Original: Will they not hear? What, ho! you men, you beasts,
Modern: Won’t you listen? Hey there! You men, you animals,

Original: That quench the fire of your pernicious rage
Modern: You try to satisfy your destructive anger

Original: With purple fountains issuing from your veins,
Modern: By spilling blood that flows like fountains from your bodies,

Original: On pain of torture, from those bloody hands
Modern: Under threat of torture, drop from your bloody hands

Original: Throw your mistemper’d weapons to the ground,
Modern: Those badly-made weapons and throw them on the ground,

Original: And hear the sentence of your moved prince.
Modern: And listen to the judgment of your angry prince.

Original: Three civil brawls, bred of an airy word,
Modern: Three public fights, started by some meaningless insult,

Original: By thee, old Capulet, and Montague,
Modern: Caused by you, old Capulet, and you, Montague,

Original: Have thrice disturb’d the quiet of our streets,
Modern: Have three times disrupted the peace of our streets,

Original: And made Verona’s ancient citizens
Modern: And forced Verona’s elderly citizens

Original: Cast by their grave beseeming ornaments,
Modern: To put aside their dignified, proper clothing,

Original: To wield old partisans, in hands as old,
Modern: To pick up old weapons in their old hands,

Original: Canker’d with peace, to part your canker’d hate:
Modern: Hands weakened by years of peace, to break up your diseased hatred:

Original: If ever you disturb our streets again,
Modern: If you ever disturb our streets again,

Original: Your lives shall pay the forfeit of the peace.
Modern: You will pay with your lives as punishment for breaking the peace.

Original: For this time, all the rest depart away:
Modern: For now, everyone else leave:

Original: You Capulet; shall go along with me:
Modern: You, Capulet, will come with me:

Original: And, Montague, come you this afternoon,
Modern: And Montague, you come this afternoon,

Original: To know our further pleasure in this case,
Modern: To learn what else I decide about this matter,

Original: To old Free-town, our common judgment-place.
Modern: To old Free-town, our usual courthouse.

Original: Once more, on pain of death, all men depart.
Modern: Once again, under threat of death, everyone leave now.

Act I, Scene i of Romeo and Juliet opens on a street in Verona, where two servants of the Capulet household, Sampson and Gregory, enter and engage in crude wordplay before spotting servants of the rival Montague family. The encounter quickly escalates into a street brawl when Sampson bites his thumb at the Montagues — a gesture of contempt and insult. Benvolio, a Montague, arrives and attempts to break up the fighting, but Tybalt, a Capulet, enters and aggressively challenges him, deepening the conflict. Citizens of Verona rush in to stop the brawl, and soon the heads of both households — Lord Capulet and Lord Montague — arrive and attempt to join the fighting themselves, only to be restrained by their respective wives. Prince Escalus then enters and commands the fighting to cease, warning that anyone who disturbs the peace again will be put to death. He orders Capulet to accompany him and commands Montague to appear before him later.

After the Prince and the crowd disperse, Benvolio remains with Lord and Lady Montague, who express concern about their son Romeo, noting that he has been withdrawn and melancholy of late. Romeo then enters, and Benvolio speaks with him privately, drawing out the source of his sadness. Romeo confesses that he is deeply in love with a woman named Rosaline, who has sworn to remain chaste and does not return his affections. Benvolio advises Romeo to look upon other beauties to forget Rosaline, but Romeo insists that no one could compare to her and that his heartache cannot be so easily remedied.

“Romeo and Juliet” tells the story of two young lovers from feuding families in Verona. Romeo Montague attends a Capulet feast in disguise, where he meets and instantly falls in love with Juliet Capulet. They meet secretly that night on her balcony and decide to marry the next day. Friar Lawrence agrees to perform the ceremony, hoping their union might end the family feud.

After the secret wedding, Romeo encounters Juliet’s cousin Tybalt, who challenges him to a duel. When Romeo refuses to fight, his friend Mercutio accepts the challenge and is killed by Tybalt. In revenge, Romeo kills Tybalt and is banished from Verona by Prince Escalus. Meanwhile, Juliet’s parents, unaware of her secret marriage, arrange for her to wed Count Paris.

Desperate to avoid this second marriage, Juliet seeks help from Friar Lawrence, who gives her a potion that will make her appear dead. The plan is for Romeo to return and take her away when she awakens in the Capulet tomb. However, Romeo never receives the friar’s message explaining the scheme. Believing Juliet truly dead, he purchases poison and drinks it beside her tomb.

Juliet awakens to find Romeo’s lifeless body and, in despair, kills herself with his dagger. The tragic deaths of their children finally reconcile the Montague and Capulet families, who vow to end their ancient hatred. Prince Escalus concludes that all are punished by this sorrowful outcome of the families’ bitter feud.