I recently reread the oxford school Shakespeare version of Romeo and Juliet, and I learned a lot of stuff that I missed the first time I read the book.
At the beginning of the book, Romeo is depressed about his wife to be, Rosaline, not being able to marry or have kids as she became a nun. Benvolio, Romeo’s cousin, tries to cheer him up and convinces him to go to a ball and meet a new girl, “Compare her face with some that I shall show, And I will make thee think thy swan a crow” (Act 1 Scene 2). He was unsupportive of the idea at first, but then he eventually agreed to go. He fell in love with Juliet, and she did too with him. Her dad wanted her to marry someone called Paris, and this caused problems. Romeo was eventually banished because of the death of one of the characters related to Juliet, and pretends to kill himself to make Juliet come to him. He didn’t wake up in time, and Juliet killed herself. Romeo wakes up, sees what has had happened, and kills himself too.
For never was a story of more woe
Than this of Juliet and her Romeo.
(Act 5 Scene 3)
I sourced this quote because the narrator really shows how heavy and beautiful this love story is. The quote literally means, “there” is no love story as sad as this Romeo and Juliet.