Romeo & Juliet: Overview (AQA GCSE English Literature)

Romeo and Juliet

The Romeo and Juliet question is part of Paper 1, Section A of your GCSE. For this, you are required to write one essay-length answer to one set question. This can seem daunting at first, but this page contains some helpful information, and links to more detailed revision note pages, that will enable you to aim for the highest grade. This page includes:

• A summary of Romeo and Juliet

• A brief overview of what is required in the exam

• Romeo and Juliet characters

• Romeo and Juliet context

• Romeo and Juliet themes

• Romeo and Juliet quotes

• Top tips for the highest grade

Romeo and Juliet summary

Romeo and Juliet is a play written by English playwright William Shakespeare between 1591 and 1595, and first performed in 1597. It is a Shakespearean tragedy, meaning that it contains a tragic hero (in this case two - both Romeo and Juliet are seen as tragic heroes), a tragic ending (which often results in the death of tragic heroes), and an exploration of the themes of fate and conflict. It is also famous for its prologue: an introductory section of the text in which a character - much like a chorus in Ancient Greek tragedy - sets out what will happen in the play for the audience. For more on the conventions of tragedy, see our Romeo and Juliet: Writer’s Methods and Techniques page. 

The play itself involves two warring families in the ancient city of Verona, in modern-day Italy, and two young people from each of these families - the Capulets and the Montagues - who meet by chance and fall in love. The rest of the play involves these two lovers - Romeo, a 17-year old Montague, and Juliet, 13, a Capulet - seeking to be together in the (doomed) hope that their union will end the family feud and bring the two families together. For a more detailed summary, please see the Romeo and Juliet: Plot Summary page.

How is Romeo and Juliet assessed in the exam?

• Your GCSE Paper 1 requires you to answer two questions in 1hr 45min. That means you have approximately 52 minutes to plan, write and check your Romeo and Juliet essay

• Paper 1 is worth 64 marks and accounts for 40% of your overall GCSE grade

• The Romeo and Juliet essay is worth 34 marks in total, because it also includes 4 marks for spelling, punctuation and grammar

• Section A of Paper 1 contains the Romeo and Juliet question and you are required to answer the one available question on the play

• Your question will also include a printed extract of about 25 lines from the play

• It is a closed-book exam, which means you will not have access to a copy of the text (other than the printed extract) in your exam

• You will be asked a question that asks you to analyse and write in detail about an aspect of Romeo and Juliet

• Your answer will need to address both the extract from the play that you will be given, and the play as a whole

For a much more detailed guide on answering the Romeo and Juliet question, please see our revision notes on How to Answer the Shakespeare Essay Question.

Romeo and Juliet characters

Although Shakespeare plays often have a huge number of characters, the characters you should focus on when revising Romeo and Juliet are:

• Romeo

• Juliet

• Tybalt

• Benvolio

• Mercutio

• Friar Laurence

It is always vital to remember - when considering a Shakespeare play, or any text - that characters are deliberate constructions created by a writer for a purpose. These characters often represent ideas, or belief systems, and a writer, like Shakespeare, uses these characters to explore these ideas and beliefs through them. For more details on how Shakespeare uses his characters in Romeo and Juliet, please see the Romeo and Juliet: Characters revision notes page.

Romeo and Juliet context

Understanding what context actually is can be tricky at GCSE. Examiners understand context not as historical information, or biographical facts about a writer, but as the ideas and perspectives explored by a writer through their text. Therefore, the Romeo and Juliet context you should explore in your essay response is not information about medieval Italy, or facts about William Shakespeare, but ideas about:

• Love and marriage

• Gender roles

• Religion and the Great Chain of Being

• Elizabethan life

Lots of these ideas and perspectives are universal, so your own opinions of them are valid, and will be rewarded in an exam. For a detailed breakdown of the contextual topics listed above, see the Romeo and Juliet: Context page.

Romeo and Juliet themes

Understanding the themes that Shakespeare explores in Romeo and Juliet is one of the best approaches any student can take when revising the play. This is because to get the highest mark on your exam, you need to take what examiners call a “conceptualised approach”: a detailed and perceptive exploration of Shakespeare’s ideas and intentions. The main themes explored by Shakespeare in Romeo and Juliet are:

• Love

• Conflict 

• Honour

• Fate

There are of course more themes than just those listed above that are investigated by Shakespeare in Romeo and Juliet, and you are encouraged to explore these too. However, the above list makes a great place to start, and detailed breakdowns of each of these themes can be found on our Romeo and Juliet: Themes page.

Romeo and Juliet quotes

Although you are given credit for including quotations from Romeo and Juliet in your answer, it is not a requirement of the exam. In fact, examiners say that “references” to the rest of the play are just as valid as direct quotations: this is when students pinpoint individual moments in the play, rather than quoting what the characters say. In order to select references really successfully, it is extremely important that you know the play itself very well, including the order of the events that take place in the play. This detailed act-by-act breakdown of the plot will help you to revise the chronology of Romeo and Juliet.

However, it can also be useful to revise a few - very well selected - quotations from the play that can be used in a variety of essays on different themes and characters. Luckily, we have made that selection for you! For a ‘translation’ and detailed analysis of each of these quotations, see our Romeo and Juliet: Key Quotations page.

Top tips for the highest grade

Please see our revision pages on the Shakespeare exam for guides on:

• Structuring the Romeo and Juliet essay

• Romeo and Juliet methods and techniques

• How to include context in a Romeo and Juliet essay

• Understanding the Romeo and Juliet mark scheme

• A Shakespeare model answer