Romeo and Juliet Coloring Pages
Romeo and Juliet is probably the most famous love story ever written, and it all happens in about five days in the Italian city of Verona. It's sad in the end, but a lot of it is sweet and funny along the way. These pages follow the story from the street fights to the secret wedding.
Jump to: The Feud | The Ball | Secret Wedding | Street Fight | Sleeping Potion | Peace
Two Families Who Couldn't Remember Why
Verona has two rich families, the Montagues and the Capulets, who've been enemies for so long that nobody can say how it started. Their servants squabble in the market and their young men are always looking for a fight. Romeo is a Montague, but he isn't interested in fighting because he's too busy sulking over a girl named Rosaline who doesn't like him back. His cousin Benvolio spends his days trying to keep the peace, and he tells Romeo to go and look at some other girls. Romeo's friend Mercutio has a different cure, which is to make jokes until Romeo gives in and laughs. Neither plan works until a party gives Romeo something new to think about.
A Party Where Everyone Wore a Mask
The Capulets are throwing a grand party, and Romeo and his friends sneak in wearing masks so nobody will know they're Montagues. Romeo forgets all about Rosaline the minute he sees a girl across the room. She's Juliet, the Capulets' daughter, and she likes him right back. They talk for a few minutes and share a kiss, and by the time they find out who the other one really is it's much too late to stop. Juliet's cousin Tybalt hears Romeo's voice and wants to throw him out, but old Lord Capulet tells him to leave the guest alone. Tybalt doesn't forget it.
A Balcony and a Secret Wedding
That night Romeo can't stay away, so he climbs into the Capulets' orchard and finds Juliet alone on her balcony, thinking out loud about him. She says a name is only a name and a rose would smell just as sweet if it were called something else, and before the night is over they've promised to marry. Romeo hurries to Friar Laurence, a kind friar who grows herbs and makes medicines from them, and the friar agrees to marry them in secret because he hopes it might finally end the feud. Juliet's nurse has looked after her since she was a baby, and she carries the messages between the two of them and keeps the secret.
The Afternoon Everything Went Wrong
The very next afternoon Tybalt is still angry about the party, and he goes looking for Romeo in the street. Romeo has just married Tybalt's cousin, so he doesn't want to fight and tries to talk his way out of it. Mercutio can't bear to watch Romeo be pushed around and steps in himself, and he doesn't come out of it. Romeo is so upset that he ends up in a fight with Tybalt that Tybalt doesn't walk away from either. The prince of Verona has had enough of the feud, but he's kind to Romeo and sends him away from the city instead of anything worse. Juliet cries when she hears, and the two of them say a sad goodbye at dawn.
A Little Bottle and a Big Plan
With Romeo gone, Juliet's father decides she'll marry Paris, a polite young nobleman who's a cousin of the prince, and the wedding is only days away. Juliet is already married, so she runs to Friar Laurence for help. He gives her a small bottle of a potion that will make her sleep so deeply that everyone will think she has died, and she'll wake up in her family's tomb two days later. The friar promises to send word to Romeo so he can be waiting there when she opens her eyes, and then the two of them can slip away together. Juliet takes a deep breath and drinks it.
The Feud Finally Ends
The friar's message never reaches Romeo, and the news that Juliet has died gets to him first. He hurries back to Verona, and the story ends sadly for both of them. When the two families see what their quarrel has cost, they shake hands at last and promise to put the feud behind them. People have been telling this story for over four hundred years, and visitors to Verona still stand under a balcony said to be Juliet's and tuck letters to her into the wall.