Romeo and Juliet
Questions
Ø Write ALL responses in your Romeo and Juliet duotang. Be sure to write full answers (no jot notes!) and number your questions.
PROLOGUE
1. Who speaks the Prologue and what is the purpose?
2. Read lines 5 and 6. What themes are established?
ACT I SCENE I
3. Read lines 54-55. Our first introduction to Benvolio comes when he says these words. What do they reveal about his character?
4. Read lines 60-62. Our first impression of Tybalt occurs in these lines. What do we learn about his character?
6. Read lines 71-93. What is the tone of the Prince’s speech? In these lines he makes a new decree (rule). What is it, and why is it important?
ACT I SCENE II
7. Read lines 16-19. On what condition will Lord Capulet agree to Juliet’s marriage with Paris? What does this reveal about Lord Capulet’s love for his daughter?
8. What coincidence takes place in this scene? Explain how the theme of fate is being developed.
ACT I, SCENE III
9. Read lines 100-102. Explain Juliet’s answer to her mother when asked if she can love Paris. What does it reveal about her knowledge of being in love? What is her attitude toward love and marriage?
ACT I, SCENE IV
10. Read lines 112-114. Why does Romeo feel uneasy about going to the party? What decision does Romeo make in lines 118-119? What theme is being demonstrated?
ACT I, SCENE V
11. How does Romeo’s speech about his love for Juliet compare to his speeches about being in love with Rosaline?
12. Tybalt recognizes Romeo’s voice and tries to start a fight. What two reasons does Lord Capulet give for stopping him (lines 65-68)?
13. Dramatic Irony is when the audience knows something the characters do not. What is ironic about Juliet’s lines in 143-144?
ACT II, SCENE II
14. Juliet is on the balcony outside her bedroom but cannot hear the words that Romeo says to himself as he looks at her from the hiding place below. Answer the following questions about lines 2-25:
a. Romeo repeats the light and dark images he introduced when he saw Juliet for the first time. Why does Romeo compare Juliet to the sun?
b. Why does he compare Juliet’s eyes to the stars?
15. Read lines 33-40. Juliet is still unaware that Romeo is nearby. What does she say she is willing to do for her new-found love?
16. After Juliet asks some pertinent (important and sensible) questions (lines 62-69) she realizes that Romeo has overheard her intimate thoughts about him. How does her attitude change in lines 89-110? What is she worried about?
ACT II SCENE III
17. What is Friar Laurence’s reaction to hearing of Romeo’s new love (lines 66-81)?
18. Read lines 90-95. What reason does Friar Laurence give for agreeing to marry Romeo and Juliet?
ACT II SCENE V
19. Juliet is very impatient to hear news from Romeo (lines 1-17). What images does she use in her soliloquy to express this?
20. The theme of time is discussed in Juliet’s soliloquy. Quote three examples.
ACT III SCENE I
21. After Tybalt insults Romeo, Romeo responds with lines 56-59. Explain his lines. What is the “reason” Romeo has for ignoring the insult?
22. After Mercutio dies, why does Romeo kill Tybalt instead of accepting Mercutio’s death as an unfortunate accident? (Hint: His fatal flaw!)
23. What is the Prince’s decree, and what are the reasons he gives for making it (lines 185-196)?
ACT III SCENE II
24. Read line 73. When Juliet receives news of Tybalt’s death, what is her first reaction?
25. Read Juliet’s lines 90-92. When the nurse agrees with Juliet, Juliet has a different reaction to Romeo’s killing of Tybalt. Explain.
ACT III SCENE III
26. From the beginning of the play, Romeo acts impulsively. In what way is he still impulsive in this scene (lines 105-112)?
ACT III, SCENE IV
27. How does this scene add to the dramatic tension at this point in the play?
ACT III SCENE V
Questions begin with Lady Capulet’s entrance, line 68.
28. What is Juliet’s response when she is told the news that she is to marry Paris (lines 120-127)? How has she changed since Act I?
29. Read lines 185-205. What is Lord Capulet’s response to Juliet’s refusal to marry Paris?
30. After the Nurse leaves and Juliet is alone, what does Juliet decide to do (lines 246-254)?
*All questions to this point should be completed in preparation of your content/quote analysis quiz on April 24th! These questions will come in for a grade.*
ACT IV SCENE 1
31. How is the dialogue between Paris and Juliet an example of dramatic irony? Give two examples from Paris’ conversation.
32. How is “death” personified in this scene? Provide examples from both the Friar and Juliet to show your understanding. (*You may do this in point form*)
33. What is Juliet’s answer to the Friar in her effort to convince him that she will do anything to avoid the marriage with Paris (lines 78-89)?
ACT IV, SCENE IV
34. What dramatic purpose is served by this scene?
ACT V SCENE I
35. What premonition does Romeo have at the beginning of this scene (lines 1-11)?
36. What news does Balthasar bring? How does this disrupt the Friar’s plan?
37. What does Romeo decide to do after he hears Balthasar’s story (lines 36-59)?
38. What is an apothecary? What is his role in this scene? What does he provide Romeo with?
ACT V SCENE III
39. Read lines 91-96. What does Romeo notice about Juliet? Explain the dramatic irony.
40. How is the feud finally resolved?
Romeo and Juliet Quotations
Acts I, II, and III
Note the following for each quotation:
- Speaker (Who is talking)
- Context (What is happening in the scene)
- Meaning (The Literal Translation of what is being said)
- Significance (How the quote is important – may demonstrate character development, character traits, literary device(s), contribution to atmosphere, etc…)
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“Two households, both alike in dignity,
In fair Verona, where we lay our scene,
From ancient grudge break to new mutiny,
Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean.”
(Prologue, Lines 1-4)
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“The fearful passage of their death-marked love
And the continuance of their parents’ rage,
Which, but their children’s end, naught could remove,
Is now the two hours’ traffic of our stage;”
(Prologue, Lines 10-14)
“What, drawn, and talk of peace? I hate the word
As I hate hell, all Montagues, and thee.
Have at thee, coward.”
(Act I, Scene I, Lines 60-62)
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“If ever you disturb our streets again,
Your lives shall pay the forfeit of the peace.”
(Act I, Scene I, Lines 86-87)
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“My child is yet a stranger in the world
She hath not seen the change of fourteen years
Let two more summers wither in their pride
Ere we may think her ripe to be a bride.”
(Act I, Scene II, Lines 9-12)
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“My master is the great rich Capulet,
And if you be not of the house of Montagues,
I pray come and crush a cup of wine...”
(Act I, Scene II, Lines 82-84)
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“I’ll look to like, if looking liking move,
But no more deep will I endart mine eye,
Than your consent gives strength to make it fly.”
(Act I, Scene III, Lines 100-102)
Did my heart love till now? Forswear it, sight.
For I never saw true beauty till this night.”
(Act I, Scene V, Lines 51-52)
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“I will withdraw, but this intrusion shall,
Now seeming sweet, convert to bitterest gall.”
(Act I, Scene V, Lines 92-94)
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“If he be married,
My grave is like to be my wedding bed.”
(Act I, Scene V, Line 142-143)
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“What’s in a name? That which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet.”
(Act II, Scene II, Lines 45-46)
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“Good night, Good night! Parting is such sweet sorrow,
That I shall say good night till it be morrow.”
(Act II, Scene II, Lines 198-199)
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“Wisely and slow. They stumble that run fast.”
(Act II, Scene III, Line 97)
“I do protest I never injured thee,
But love thee better than thou canst devise…”
(Act III, Scene I, Lines 62-63)
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“O calm, dishonourable, vile submission.
Alla stoccata carries it away”
(Act III, Scene I, Lines 68-69)
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“O, I am fortune’s fool.”
(Act III, Scene I, Line 132)
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“O serpent heart, hid with a flowering face!
Did ever dragon keep so fair a cave?
Beautiful tyrant, fiend angelical…”
(Act III, Scene II, Lines 75-77)
------“Now by St. Peter’s church, and Peter too,
He shall not make me there a joyful bride!
I wonder at this haste, that I must wed
Ere he that should be husband comes to woo.”
(Act III, Scene V, Lines 120-124)