Benvolio discovers that it stems from unrequited infatuation for a girl named Rosaline, one of Capulet's nieces. Meanwhile, Benvolio talks with his cousin Romeo, Montague's son, about Romeo's recent depression. Lady Capulet and Juliet's nurse try to persuade Juliet to accept Paris's courtship.
Later, Count Paris talks to Capulet about marrying his daughter, but Capulet asks Paris to wait another two years and invites him to attend a planned Capulet ball. The Prince of Verona intervenes and declares that further breach of the peace will be punishable by death. The play, set in Verona, begins with a street brawl between Montague and Capulet supporters who are sworn enemies.
During the Restoration, it was revived and heavily revised by William Davenant. Romeo and Juliet has been adapted numerous times for stage, film, musical and opera. Romeo, for example, grows more adept at the sonnet over the course of the play. The play ascribes different poetic forms to different characters, sometimes changing the form as the character develops. Shakespeare's use of dramatic structure, especially effects such as switching between comedy and tragedy to heighten tension, his expansion of minor characters, and his use of sub-plots to embellish the story, has been praised as an early sign of his dramatic skill. This text was of poor quality, and later editions corrected it, bringing it more in line with Shakespeare's original. Believed written between 15, the play was first published in a quarto version in 1597. Shakespeare borrowed heavily from both but, to expand the plot, developed supporting characters, particularly Mercutio and Paris. Its plot is based on an Italian tale, translated into verse as The Tragical History of Romeus and Juliet by Arthur Brooke in 1562 and retold in prose in Palace of Pleasure by William Painter in 1582. Romeo and Juliet belongs to a tradition of tragic romances stretching back to antiquity. Today, the title characters are regarded as archetypal young lovers. It was among Shakespeare's most popular plays during his lifetime and, along with Hamlet, is one of his most frequently performed plays. Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy written early in the career of playwright William Shakespeare about two young star-crossed lovers whose deaths ultimately unite their feuding families.