Handout # 15
Romeo and Juliet
Due A Day and 1st – 4/17
Due B Day – 4/18
Prologue Paraphrase – The prologue is a preview to the play and what is going to happen. Rewrite the prologue
from page 1037, line-by-line, in your own words. You should keep the meaning as true as possible.
Prologue
Paraphrase
Chorus: Two households, both alike in dignity,
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In fair Verona, where we lay our scene,
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From ancient grudge break to new mutiny,
Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean,
From forth the fatal loins of these two foes
A pair of star-crossed lovers take their life;
Whose misadventured piteous overthrows
Doth with their death bury their parents' strife.
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;
The which if you with patient ears attend,
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What here shall miss, our toil shall strive to mend. _________________________________________
Romeo and Juliet
Act 1 Scene 1 Study Questions – Read Act 1 Scene 1 (pages 1038-1046 in your textbook) and answer the
following questions. Line numbers to support your claims are necessary. You can answer on this handout or on
your own paper and staple your answers to this handout.
1. This scene opens with two of Capulet’s servants walking through town and talking about being insulted by
Montague’s servants. How does Sampson intend to respond to these insults?
2. Sampson and Gregory see two of Montague’s servants. What is Sampson’s response then and what does his
answer show about his character?
Handout # 15
3. Sampson makes an obscene gesture to pick a fight with Abram and Balthasar. Who starts the actual fight?
4. During the first introduction of Benvolio, what impression do we have of him? Why?
5. During the first introduction of Tybalt, what impression do we have of him? Why?
6. The Prince’s speech is reprinted below, and several parts are underlined. In the margins, write commentary
and observations about the underlined sections.
“Rebellious subjects, enemies to peace,
Profaners of this neighbor-stained steel-Will they not hear?—What, ho! You men, you beasts,
That quench the fire of your pernicious rage
With purple fountains issuing from your veins,
On pain of torture, from those bloody hands
Throw your mistempered weapons to the grounds,
And hear the sentence of your moved prince.
Three civil brawls, born of an airy word,
By thee, old Capulet, and Montague,
Have thrice disturbed the quiet of our streets,
And made Verona’s ancient citizens
Cast by their grave beseeming ornaments
To wield old partisans, in hands as old,
Cankered with peace, to part your cankered hate;
If ever you disturb our streets again
Your lives shall pay the forfeit of the peace.
For this time, all the rest depart away.
You, Capulet, shall go along with me;
And, Montague, come you this afternoon,
To know our farther pleasure in this case,
To old Freetown, our common judgement place.
Once more, on pain of death, all men depart.
7. At line 105, Lord and Lady Montague and Benvolio are left on stage. Benvolio reports what happened in the
fight. He also says he saw their son Romeo walking that morning but that Romeo “stole into the covert of the
wood.” What do we learn about Romeo from Benvolio’s lines? What do we learn about Romeo from this
conversation?
8. Who is Cupid in line 202? Why does Romeo allude to him?
9. Who is Dian in line 202? Why does Romeo allude to her?