SuperSummary Play Unit
“Romeo and Juliet” by William Shakespeare
TABLE OF CONTENTS
______________________________________________________________________________
How to use..................................................................................................................2
Pre-Reading Context ..................................................................................................3
Thought & Response Prompts ...................................................................................5
Reading Check, Multiple Choice & Short Answer Quizzes......................................6
Quizzes – Answer Key.............................................................................................15
Paired Texts & Other Resources ..............................................................................21
Activities ..................................................................................................................23
Essay Questions .......................................................................................................27
Worksheet: Text Processing ....................................................................................29
Part 1: CHAPTER ANALYSES .............................................................................................................29
Part 2: CHARACTER ANALYSIS .........................................................................................................32
Part 3: THEMES ................................................................................................................................35
Part 4: SYMBOLS & MOTIFS ............................................................................................................36
Worksheet: Important Quotes ..................................................................................37
1 ........................................................................................................................................................37
1
COPYRIGHT 2021
HOW TO USE
This resource can be used as supplemental teacher material or as a primary basis for literature
study to:
– Draw students into a text with pre-reading questions and warm-up prompts, maintain
engagement with in-class analysis through free-writing or discussion, and assess knowledge and
comprehension with quizzes.
– Ensure deeper understanding and enjoyment of the literature with activities for all learning
types.
– Stretch students’ critical thinking and writing skills with differentiated essay topics.
– Provide a structured framework in which to build analytical skills with optional character,
theme and other worksheets.
Note to Teachers: To support lesson-planning, connections to the work’s primary themes are
noted throughout this resource (love’s complexities, feuds and rivalries, young versus old, authority
and control, secrets, identity, gender relationships).
.
2
COPYRIGHT 2021
PRE-READING CONTEXT
Use these questions or activities to help gauge students’ familiarity with and spark their interest
in the context of the work, giving them an entry point into the text itself.
Short Answer
1. Brainstorm film and book titles in which an ongoing conflict exists as the story opens
(such as war, oppression, or disaster). Which of those titles involve realistic, historical
settings and conflicts?
Teaching Suggestion and Helpful Links: As students brainstorm popular titles of books and movies,
point out those in which a real-life conflict occurs in a real historical or contemporary setting
(Hidden Figures, The Book Thief, Casablanca, Out of the Dust, Number the Stars, etc.) Make the
connection to Shakespeare, who also drew from “real history” for inspiration.


A University of Calgary research group site explains the historical blood feud between
families that creates ongoing conflict in the streets of Verona at the start of the play.
A cultural site article describes the homes commonly attributed to the historical families
of Romeo and Juliet and offers photos of Verona’s architecture.
2. Can you guess at three or four of the biggest differences between daily life in the late
Middle Ages/early Renaissance and life today?
Teaching Suggestion and Helpful Links: Though Shakespeare did not specify the year in which it
takes place, Romeo and Juliet is frequently presented with a late medieval or early Renaissance
setting. To better understand the play, students should recognize that this time period means
messengers instead of cell phones, arranged marriages instead of dating, bubonic plague instead
of antibiotics, etc.

Sites like these on fashion, inventions, and health and sickness can help to inform about
other facets of daily life in the late Middle Ages/early Renaissance for additional insight.
3
COPYRIGHT 2021
Short Activity
Shakespeare wrote plays, and acted, in Elizabethan England. Considering the absence of
technology at that time, what acting skills and theatrical approaches would have been especially
important on Shakespeare’s stage? As a playwright and actor, how might Shakespeare have held
the audience’s attention? Brainstorm and list your ideas. Then rearrange a presentation space in
your classroom so that desks and chairs of the “audience” are on three sides. Present your
responses from this three-quarter “stage.”
Teaching Suggestion and Helpful Links: Guide student responses regarding how a lack of
electricity, lighting, microphones, elaborate scenery, and modern special effects would prompt
Shakespeare to focus on storytelling methods (like announcing locations within lines) and
language (word choice and connotation that characterizes the speaker). Point out how
Shakespeare used the intimacy of three-quarter staging to hold audience attention
.
 The Royal Shakespeare Company sums up performance challenges of a play in
Elizabethan times.
 Students can see a three-quarter thrust stage in this image from DK Find Out.
 Staging layouts from Theatres Trust will inform comparisons to Shakespeare’s stage.
4
COPYRIGHT 2021
THOUGHT & RESPONSE PROMPTS
These prompts can be used for in-class discussion, exploratory free-writing, or reflection
homework before or after reading the play.
Pre-Reading “Icebreaker”
Imagine a person of authority (like a parent or teacher) expects you to complete an errand or
chore because they think it is in your best interest to do so, but you have what feels to you like a
valid and important reason for refusing the task. How do you convince the authority figure that
you should be excused? Now imagine you must keep your reason a secret—but your need to
refuse remains strong. How might your behavior and consequently the reaction of the authority
figure change?
Teaching Suggestion: Use this prompt to guide students to think about authority and control,
especially with regard to conflict that might result from dichotomies and misunderstandings
between young and old. After students write or discuss, connect to the play by alerting students
to the fact that marrying for love and not simply by parental arrangement was a novel,
somewhat shocking idea in Romeo’s and Juliet’s time.
Post-Reading Analysis
Despite their attempts to control, counsel, or help young Romeo and Juliet, what adult
characters sometimes behave or react in an immature, unhelpful way? What motivates their
childish behavior—jealousy, fear, anger, or some other emotion? When are Romeo’s and Juliet’s
lives impacted by these adults’ stubbornness, pride, or inability to empathize?
Teaching Suggestion: Guide students to make connections between situational ironies in the play
and the role reversals of young and old that become apparent as conflict over feuds and control
and authority deepen. This brief 2017 Psychology Today article lists signs of “emotional
childishness” students may find in characters like Lord Capulet, Friar Lawrence, and Juliet’s Nurse.
You might also extend your discussion to connect with present day: How do celebrities or other
public figures sometimes demonstrate immaturity in the public eye?
5
COPYRIGHT 2021
READING CHECK, MULTIPLE CHOICE & SHORT
ANSWER QUIZZES
Reading Check questions are designed for in-class review on key plot points or for quick verbal or
written assessments. Multiple Choice and Short Answer Quizzes create ideal summative
assessments, and collectively function to convey a sense of the work’s tone and themes.
Acts I-II
Reading Check
1. What longstanding conflict is present in Verona?
2. How old is Juliet at the start of the play?
3. At what event do Juliet and Romeo meet?
4. Who seeks to fight Romeo in the street?
5. What two characters know about Romeo and Juliet’s plan to marry (besides them)?
6. On what excuse does Juliet go to the church when she is secretly wed to Romeo?
Multiple Choice
1. Which of these descriptions best explains the goals of the Chorus’s Prologue of the play?
A) to establish guidelines for audience behavior, and to promote additional performances
B) to pose a question, invite discussion and debate, and reveal the unsolved mystery
C) to mention the conflict, reveal the ending, and prepare to present the whole story
D) to forewarn sensitive audience members, and to allow those who are squeamish to leave
2. Which line spoken by the Prince best conveys his strong desire to control the feud?
A) “Rebellious subjects, enemies to peace.”
B) “You, Capulet, shall go along with me;/And, Montague, come you this afternoon…”
C) “Profaners of this neighbor-stained steel—/Will they not hear?”
D) “If ever you disturb our streets again,/ Your lives shall pay the forfeit of the peace.”
6
COPYRIGHT 2021
3. Based on her words and actions, which set of character traits best describes Juliet’s Nurse in
Acts I and II?
A) talkative and enthusiastic
B) hardworking and careful
C) virtuous and caring
D) somber and preoccupied
4. When Lady Capulet first suggests Juliet’s marriage to Paris, what can be inferred about Juliet
based on her reaction?
A) She is eager to marry and grateful for such a noble match.
B) She wants to please her parents and will do as they ask.
C) She does not care about marriage; her true passion is learning.
D) She is rebellious and neither needs nor wants a husband.
5. Based on their words and actions once they meet in Acts I and II, how do Romeo and Juliet
compare in terms of characterization?
A) He is more sensible and practical than she is.
B) He is less sensible and practical than she is.
C) Both are sensible, practical, and wise.
D) Both are fearful, hesitant, and cautious.
6. Which of these summary sentences best describes what occurs when Nurse returns from
having found Romeo in the street?
A) She talks at length about her woeful health before revealing Romeo wants to marry.
B) She tells Juliet immediately that Romeo wants to marry but does not say where or when.
C) She calls several times for Peter, her servant, to tell Juliet the news, but he refuses.
D) She makes Juliet guess Romeo’s answer, but Juliet is too hesitant to do so.
7. Which of these series presents a correct sequence of events in Acts I-II?
A) Romeo and Juliet profess their love at her balcony, then learn each other’s family, then
marry.
B) Romeo and Juliet learn each other’s family, then profess their love at her balcony, then
marry.
C) Romeo and Juliet profess their love at her balcony, then marry, then learn each other’s
family.
D) Romeo and Juliet marry, then profess their love at her balcony, then learn each other’s
family.
7
COPYRIGHT 2021
Short-Answer Response
Answer each of the following questions in a complete sentence or sentences. Incorporate details
from the text to support your response.
1. When the audience first sees and hears from Romeo, what is his general demeanor? Why
is he feeling the way he does?
2. In Lord Capulet’s first conversation with Paris, what are his first thoughts about a
potential wedding? Name at least two suggestions he makes to Paris regarding this topic.
3. What “cure” does Benvolio suggest for Romeo? How does the Servant who cannot read
provide a convenient way for Benvolio’s “cure” to occur?
4. How does the tone of Mercutio’s “Queen Mab” monologue change by its end? What
does this reveal about Mercutio’s character?
5. How does Lord Capulet react when Tybalt discovers Romeo at the feast?
6. Besides saying it plainly, how do Romeo and Juliet show their love for one another in the
balcony scene?
7. What are Friar Lawrence’s concerns about the marriage of Romeo and Juliet? In the face
of his concerns, why does he perform the marriage ceremony?
8
COPYRIGHT 2021
Act III
Reading Check
1. Which character has the nickname Prince of Cats, and is referred to as a “ratcatcher”?
2. Whom does Tybalt kill, and who kills Tybalt?
3. What hastens Romeo’s departure from Juliet’s room in the Capulet residence?
4. What is Romeo’s punishment, by the Prince’s decree?
5. Why will the marriage celebration of Juliet and Paris have no more than a half dozen guests?
6. Where will Romeo flee at the end of the act?
Multiple Choice
1. Which of these lines spoken by Benvolio describes Romeo’s most lawful behavior?
A) “Tybalt, here slain, whom Romeo’s hand did slay”
B) “But by and by comes back to Romeo,/Who had but newly entertain’d revenge”
C) “[Romeo’s] agile arm beats down their fatal points./And ‘twixt them rushes;”
D) “for, ere I / Could draw to part them, was stout Tybalt slain;”
2. According to Nurse, where are Lord and Lady Capulet when Juliet hears about Tybalt’s death
and Romeo’s punishment?
A) mourning Tybalt’s death
B) meeting with the Prince
C) arranging services with Friar Lawrence
D) discussing the fight with Paris
3. In accordance with one of the themes of this act, what reaction does Friar Lawrence
discourage in Romeo after Romeo speaks about his punishment?
A) fear
B) ingratitude
C) anger
D) bitterness
9
COPYRIGHT 2021
4. How do the reactions of Romeo and Juliet to Romeo’s punishment compare?
A) Both mourn that it is a fate just as bad as execution or death.
B) Both are relieved that the sentence is not longer.
C) He is upset at the sentence, but she is relieved.
D) Both are penitent and feel their marriage is to blame.
5. What is the significance of Romeo’s and Juliet’s discussion about the larks and the nightingales
in the early dawn of Act III?
A) They are comparing their love to the beauty and sounds of nature.
B) The birds sing competing songs, symbolic of the strife between their families.
C) It is a coded conversation about the Nurse and Peter, who are keeping watch.
D) Depending on which bird it is they hear, they might have to part ways soon.
6. When Lady Capulet broaches the idea of obtaining poison to kill Romeo, what is she ironically
doing?
A) praying with Friar Lawrence
B) trying to comfort Juliet
C) arranging Juliet’s marriage with Paris
D) attending the funeral Mass for Tybalt
7. Why might Juliet feel particularly betrayed near the end of Act III?
A) Romeo left her to deal with a new conflict on her own.
B) Her mother seems to want her out of the house.
C) Nurse says that she should just marry Paris.
D) Friar Lawrence will not hear her confession.
10
COPYRIGHT 2021
Short-Answer Response
Answer each of the following questions in a complete sentence or sentences. Incorporate details
from the text to support your response.
1. How do Romeo’s actions and dialogue show his change in feeling over the course of the
street fight scene?
2. When she arrives at the cell of Friar Lawrence, how does Nurse describe Juliet’s behavior
and emotions in reaction to the street fight tragedy?
3. What message does Friar Lawrence convey to Romeo in his lengthy monologue in Scene
3 that begins “Hold thy desperate hand”?
4. How does Lord Capulet react to Juliet’s refusal to marry? What does he say about Juliet,
and about his role in her upbringing?
5. At the end of Act III, Juliet visits Friar Lawrence’s cell just as she did at the end of Act II.
How do her motivations and emotions for taking that action differ dramatically between
Act II and Act III?
6. Out of the play’s cast of characters, who proves to be most the lovers’ most supportive
advocate in Act III? Justify your answer with evidence from the text.
11
COPYRIGHT 2021
Acts IV-V
Reading Check
1. Whom does Juliet meet when she arrives at Friar Lawrence’s cell?
2. Juliet tells Nurse she wants privacy for prayer the night before the marriage to Paris, but why
does she actually wish to be alone?
3. By what method does Romeo plan to kill himself, and where?
4. How and where does Paris die? Why is he there?
5. What does Friar Lawrence intend to do with Juliet as she wakes in the tomb, now that Romeo
is dead?
6. According to the Prince, what evidence supports Friar Lawrence’s version of events?
Multiple Choice
1. Based on her reaction, how does Juliet feel about Friar Lawrence’s plan that would allow Juliet
and Romeo to be together?
A) She is willing to go along with the plan, but afraid.
B) She is unwilling and must be talked into the plan.
C) She is not hesitant and not fearful about the plan
D) She finds one problem with the plan but solves it.
2. Which of these lines spoken by Lord Capulet most directly states his feelings when Juliet
agrees to the marriage to Paris?
A) “…go tell him of this;/I’ll have this knot knit up tomorrow morning.”
B) “Now afore God, this reverend holy friar/All our whole city is much bound to him.”
C) “…let me alone;/I’ll play the housewife for this once.”
D) “…my heart is wondrous light/Since this same wayward girl is so reclaim’d.”
12
COPYRIGHT 2021
3. Which is the most likely reason Shakespeare wrote lines for Lord Capulet joyfully directing
wedding preparations and Nurse excitedly calling out to wake Juliet?
A) He wanted to juxtapose the extreme grief they feel about Juliet’s “death” against extreme
joy.
B) He wanted to symbolize the peace and prosperity sought by the Capulets in making the
match.
C) He wanted to foreshadow eventual good tidings and a title of nobility for Count Paris.
D) He wanted to depict the scenes with dramatic imagery full of color, sights, sounds, and
smells.
4. Considering the manner in which he arrives on the morning of the wedding, what can be
inferred about Paris?
A) He heard a rumor from servants the Juliet is dead but does not believe it.
B) He received the message sent by the Capulets and knows that Juliet is dead.
C) He had a strange sense of foreboding that morning and is now worried about Juliet.
D) He does not have any idea that Juliet is dead and believes this will be a happy day.
5. Which of these statements best paraphrases Romeo’s line: “Death, that hath suck’d the honey
of thy breath,/Hath had no power yet upon thy beauty:/ Thou are not conquer’d,; beauty’s
ensign yet/Is crimson in thy lips and in thy cheeks/And death’s pale flag is not advanced there.”
(5.3.92-96)?
A) Juliet’s face is just as beautiful in death as it was when she was alive.
B) Juliet appears to be sleeping, and she looks peacefully relaxed.
C) Death has started to advance across Juliet’s face but has not fully conquered it yet.
D) Juliet has been dead just a short time but she has already lost her beauty.
6. Judging by his word choice, which of these traits best describes the tone of Friar Lawrence’s
speech in which he reveals events to the Prince, the Montagues, and the Capulets?
A) curt and rude
B) direct and straightforward
C) bitter and resentful
D) apologetic and remorseful
13
COPYRIGHT 2021
7. On what factor does the Prince lay blame for the tragic deaths?
A) the hostility between the families
B) the passion and recklessness of youth
C) Friar Lawrence’s misguided involvement
D) the Nurse’s choice to keep secrets
Short-Answer Response
Answer each of the following questions in a complete sentence or sentences. Incorporate details
from the text to support your response.
1. What are at least three things that must happen if Friar Lawrence’s elaborate plan is to
succeed?
2. Which specific details about Juliet’s appearance convince her parents and Nurse that she
is dead?
3. What does Lord Capulet order to be done with all the wedding preparations?
4. Balthasar is a new character in Act V. What is the significance of his role?
5. How does the apothecary feel about selling the poison that Romeo wants? Why is the
apothecary motivated to sell it to him?
6. What was Friar John’s task, and why was he unsuccessful in it?
7. Based on his actions and haste, what can you assume Friar Lawrence intends to do when
he discovers that Friar John was unsuccessful?
8. Dramatic irony occurs when the audience’s awareness of plot events is not the same as a
character’s awareness—i.e., the audience knows something a character does not. How is
dramatic irony evident in Act V?
14
COPYRIGHT 2021
QUIZZES – ANSWER KEY
Acts I-II
Reading Check
1. a feud between families (the Montagues and the Capulets) (1.Prologue)
2. 13 (1.2)
3. the Capulet feast (1.5)
4. Tybalt (2.4)
5. Nurse and Friar Lawrence (2.3, 2.4, 2.5, 2.6)
6. She is allowed to go to Shrift (Confession). (2.6)
Multiple Choice
1. C (1.Prologue)
2. D (1.Prologue)
3. A (1.3, 2.5)
4. B (1.3)
5. B (2.2) Both fall quickly for each other and want to rush to marry, so neither is cautious.
Juliet is slightly more practical and sensible in that she retreats to her room after
discovering his family name while he sneaks close to her balcony; she warns of the
danger if he is found, but he says that danger means nothing compared to a fond look
from her, and stays.
6. A (2.5)
7. B (1.5, 2.2, 2.6)
Short-Answer Response
1. Romeo is forlorn, moping, and depressed. He is hopelessly infatuated with Rosaline, a girl
who does not love him. (1.1)
2. Lord Capulet tells Paris that he thinks Juliet is too young for marriage. He suggests that
they should wait a few years; that Paris go ahead and “woo” Juliet to get her to like him;
15
COPYRIGHT 2021
and to come to the feast and feel free to consider other young women for a match if he
cannot wait. (1.2)
3. Benvolio wants Romeo to stop feeling so heartbroken for Rosaline by distracting himself
with the sight of other pretty girls. The Servant bears an invitation to the Capulet feast;
Benvolio sees that Rosaline is invited and thinks it will be the perfect chance for Romeo
to realize other girls are better choices for him. (1.2)
4. The tone turns from light and fanciful to dark, murderous, and somber. This represents a
much deeper and complex characterization with Mercutio than his clownish, jokester
façade might indicate.
5. Tybalt tells Lord Capulet that Romeo is present, but Lord Capulet allows Romeo to stay
and tells Tybalt to let it go. This might suggest that he seeks peace, that he can judge
Montagues individually instead of solely as a group, or that he is taking the Prince’s edict
seriously. (1.5)
6. Answers may include: They speak metaphorically, with language full of imagery; they do
not want morning to come; she tries to leave several times but keeps returning; he does
not want to leave at all; they craft a plan regarding marriage. (2.2)
7. He believes they act in terrible haste, but he hopes their marriage might promote peace
between the families. (2.3, 2.6)
16
COPYRIGHT 2021
Act III
Reading Check
1. Tybalt (3.1)
2. Tybalt kills Mercutio; Romeo kills Tybalt. (3.1)
3. Juliet’s mother is on her way to Juliet’s chambers. (3.5)
4. banishment (3.1)
5. With Tybalt so recently killed, a celebration of more guests would be in bad form. (3.4)
6. Mantua (3.5)
Multiple Choice
1. C (3.1)
2. A (3.2)
3. B (3.3)
4. A (3.2, 3.3)
5. D (3.5)
6. B (3.5)
7. C (3.5)
Short-Answer Response
1. At first he verbally and physically attempts to calm Tybalt and restrain Mercutio. He tries
to get between the two as they draw weapons. Once Mercutio is killed, Romeo
demonstrates rage and vengeance by drawing on and fighting Tybalt, killing him. (3.1)
2. Answers may vary but might include the way Juliet goes back and forth from mourning
Tybalt to mourning Romeo’s banishment, then returns to mourning Tybalt, and so on.
(3.3)
3. Answers may vary here but should address the fact that Friar Lawrence wants Romeo to
feel some gratitude that he has escaped with his life. Because he was not executed, he
should have some hope and appreciation that not all is lost. (3.3)
4. Lord Capulet is in a rage at Juliet’s ungrateful and dismissive behavior. He wants to throw
her out of the house; calls her names; complains that he has done his part in raising her,
so she should comply with the perfectly good marriage he has arranged. (3.5)
17
COPYRIGHT 2021
5. In Act II, she went to Friar Lawrence’s cell to be wed to Romeo; she was joyous,
celebratory, and looking forward to a life of happiness. At the end of Act III, she goes to
Friar Lawrence out of desperation, horrified at the turn of events and facing a life of woe
and misery without being able to see her banished husband. (3.5)
6. Answers may vary with evidence as rationale, but students will likely choose Friar
Lawrence; he tries to convince Romeo that all is not lost as long as he has his life. Juliet
feels she has no one else and turns to Lawrence as well.
18
COPYRIGHT 2021
Acts IV-V
Reading Check
1. Paris (4.1)
2. to drink the drug that will induce the death-like coma (4.3)
3. poison; in Juliet’s tomb (5.1)
4. Romeo kills Paris; in front of Juliet’s tomb; to mourn her. (5.3)
5. take her to a nunnery (convent) (5.3)
6. the note from Romeo to his father (5.3.201)
Multiple Choice
1. C (4.1)
2. D (4.2)
3. A (4.4, 4.5)
4. D (4.5)
5. C (5.3)
6. B (5.3) Friar Lawrence reveals the story in a direct, relatively emotionless way; he does
not indicate he is sorry.
7. A (5.3.207-208)
Short-Answer Response
1. Students can list others, but their answers might include one or more of these: Romeo
must receive the letter, make it back to Verona safely, and get inside the tomb; Juliet
must be alone to drink the drug; the drug must not kill her; they have to entomb her
instead of burial; they must keep their plan a secret; no one can find out.
2. They do not see or feel her breathing; she is cold to the touch; she is stiff. (4.5)
3. He orders that everything be changed into funeral preparations: the flowers, the
musicians, the feast. (4.5)
4. Balthasar travels to Mantua to tell his master Romeo that Juliet is dead. He inadvertently
sets off the chain of events that leads Romeo to kill Paris and himself. (5.1)
5. The poison is so deadly that the apothecary is hesitant to sell it because it is illegal to do
so. The apothecary needs the money, so he sells it to Romeo anyway.
19
COPYRIGHT 2021
6. Friar John was given the written message from Friar Lawrence to Romeo telling Romeo
that Juliet is entombed but not dead. Due to the plague, Friar John was not permitted
passage to Mantua, and the letter went undelivered. (5.2)
7. Friar Lawrence must intend to free Juliet himself, as he has his fellow friar fetch him a
crowbar. He is the only one who knows that she is about to wake. (5.2)
8. The audience knows that Juliet is not really dead, but Romeo does not.
20
COPYRIGHT 2021
PAIRED TEXTS & OTHER RESOURCES
Use these links to supplement and complement students’ reading of the work and to increase
their overall enjoyment of literature. Challenge them to discern parallel themes, engage through
visual and aural stimuli, and delve deeper into the thematic possibilities presented by the title.
Recommended Texts for Pairing
“I loved you first: but afterwards your love”


a 14-line sonnet by Christina Rossetti (1830-1894)
a love poem; a traditional, classic example of iambic pentameter
“A Short Story of Falling”


a contemporary example of iambic pentameter by Alice Oswald
compare and contrast with Shakespeare’s use of iambic pentameter (See Paired Text
Extension for Activity 1)
Beneatha’s monologue



from A Raisin the Sun, a 1959 play by Lorraine Hansberry
connects to themes of identity and gender relationships
compare and contrast with Juliet’s monologues (See Paired Text Extension for Activity 2)
“Six Reasons Shakespeare Remains Relevant 400 Years After His Death”

A USC professor offers insights on Shakespeare’s timelessness and reach.
The Lines We Cross by Randa Abdel-Fattah


YA novel in which Mina, a teen refugee girl from Afghanistan, and Michael, son of
staunch members of an anti-immigrant group, try to withstand the outside forces trying
to prevent their romance
connects to the themes of feuds and rivalries, secrets, love’s complexities, young versus
old
21
COPYRIGHT 2021
Other Student Resources
West Side Story scene


5-minute YouTube clip of the “balcony scene” parallel in the 1961 film West Side Story in
which Tony visits Maria on her fire escape
They exchange dialogue about the differences in their backgrounds in conflict, potential
feuds and rivalries, and the danger therein; they also sing “Tonight, Tonight.”
Romeo+Juliet scene


2-minute YouTube clip from Baz Luhrmann’s 1996 film Romeo+Juliet in which Romeo and
Juliet first see each other at the Capulet feast
Their “love at first sight” invites discussion of love’s complexities.
“Romeo & Juliet Love Theme”

2-minute cutting from Pyotr Ilich Tchaikovsky’s classical orchestral composition Romeo
and Juliet (instrumental; still image of Tchaikovsky)
Teacher Resources
“A Modern Perspective: Romeo and Juliet” by Gail Kern Paster


essay by American scholar of Shakespeare and former Director of the Folger Shakespeare
Library
considers a view of Romeo and Juliet in light of new theories on late-Middle Ages cultural
change and shifts in gender relationships and individual identity
“The Violence of Romeo and Juliet” by Andrew Dickson


British Library article from 2016
discusses a variety of productions of the play in which the violence of feuds and rivalries
in the play compares to modern-day conflicts between groups
22
COPYRIGHT 2021
ACTIVITIES
Use these activities to engage all types of learners, while requiring that they refer to and
incorporate details from the text over the course of the activity.
ACTIVITY 1: “Rap Shakespeare”
Iambic pentameter is a poetry meter that closely mimics the natural cadence or pattern of
everyday speech.
Watch this 5-minute TED-Ed animation that sums up meter, line stress, and iambic pentameter
for review.
Then hear from the Hip Hop Shakespeare Company for a 2-minute how-to on rapping the Bard.
Part A: Find two lines of dialogue in the play that represent pure or close-to-pure iambic
pentameter by reading them aloud.

Write the lines with gaps between each syllable.

Analyze the meter of these lines and provide scansion marks over each syllable. Do this
by drawing a / over each syllable that gets vocal emphasis (stress) and a U over each
syllable that is not emphasized. You should see this pattern evolve:
U / U / U / U / U /
Now, consider the use of emphasis in modern, everyday speech. Read the following line aloud to
hear the natural stress pattern:
Today for lunch we’re having taco bowls.
With scansion marks, it looks like this:
U
/
U
/
U
/
U / U
/
To day for lunch we’re hav ing ta co bowls.

Try switching the syntax (order) of the words slightly. Read aloud, then rewrite with
scansion marks:
For lunch today we’re having taco bowls.
We’re having taco bowls for lunch today.
23
COPYRIGHT 2021

For practice, try scanning these lines:
I missed the quiz because my bus was late.
My sister wants to be an astronaut.
Part B: Craft original writing in iambic pentameter and present it aloud.

Write an 8- to 10-line mini-scene in which Person A tries to convince Person B that
Person’s B’s preoccupation over some event or person is not worth the stress (paralleling
Benvolio’s counsel to Romeo about Rosalind). Use modern language and everyday
conversation in your original scene—but write it in iambic pentameter. Scan the lines
with scansion marks.

If time permits, coach two peers to deliver the lines to the class.

Your actors may rap the lines, as well, Hip Hop Shakespeare-style.
Teaching Suggestion: Analyzing Shakespeare’s use of iambic pentameter by reading it aloud can
help students to understand his imagery, his meaning, and the passions of his characters. Have
willing students slow or speed up the pace of the line, exaggerate the stressed syllables, or
experiment with the expression of the line.
Paired Text Extension:
Poets utilize iambic pentameter today as well. Read Alice Oswald’s “A Short Story of Falling,” a
contemporary poem in iambic pentameter.

Whereas Shakespeare might have used iambic pentameter to represent the passions of
the human heart, to what kind of tone or mood does the meter of this poem contribute?
Discuss your ideas and rationale in a piece of free-writing.
Teaching Suggestion: Generally, the iambic pentameter of “A Short Story of Falling” can represent
the cyclical, rhythmical, natural balance of water in the environment, and offers a tone that is
soothing, steady, and consistent. This contrasts with Shakespeare’s use of the meter, who often
uses it to represent a variety of emotions, characterizations, and changes of pace and expression.
24
COPYRIGHT 2021
ACTIVITY 2: “Who, Want, When, Where, Why”
Actors of all historical time periods use words, actions, and expression to pursue a character’s
objective (goal). A character’s objective can change from line to line or scene to scene.
Part A: Reread Act I, Scene 5, Lines 54-95 with a partner. Discuss together and prepare
responses:

Reflect on and then create a T-chart on Lord Capulet’s and Tybalt’s objectives:
o What is each man trying to do? What tactics does he use to try to get what he
wants?

Even though Lord Capulet and Tybalt pursue opposite objectives, what is similar about
their actions or tactics in this scene?
Part B: Choose a scene from the play in which there is clear conflict between two characters.
Obtain or produce a printed copy of the scene on which you can highlight lines and handwrite
notations.

Determine each character’s objective in the scene; note goals and tactics the characters
use to get what they want in the margin space near appropriate lines.

As time permits, rehearse the lines of the scene with a scene partner. Prepare a simple
performance of the scene with staging, movement, and expression. After you have given
your lines to the class, share the objective you pursued and the tactics you used.
Teaching Suggestion: Clarify to students that objectives are often stated as infinitive action verbs
in terms of someone or something: “to convince Tybalt to keep the peace.” Gerunds can handily
name a character’s tactics: e.g., persuading, reprimanding, insulting, coercing, pleading. Try
Theatrefolk for simple staging tutorials on stage directions and blocking notations for the
classroom.
25
COPYRIGHT 2021
Paired Text Extension:
A monologue is a lengthy speech by one character; a soliloquy is a monologue spoken by one
character alone on stage (or when no other characters can hear).

Reread one of Juliet’s monologues in the play, such as Act III, Scene 2, Lines 101-131 or
Act IV, Scene 3, Lines 15-59. Then read Beneatha’s monologue from A Raisin the Sun, a
1959 play by Lorraine Hansberry. Create a T-chart comparing the two characters, and
including reflections on the language and tone of the monologues themselves.
Teaching Suggestion: A 2018 journalistic essay provides background on the plot and origins of
Hansberry’s play, and provides a helpful summary of Beneatha’s monologue that will aid students
in comparing and contrasting her dreams, disappointments, identity, and gender relationships
with Juliet’s. Guide students to address the contrasts in the speeches themselves (tone, language,
style, and voice) that result from differences in time period and playwright.
26
COPYRIGHT 2021
ESSAY QUESTIONS
Use these essay questions as writing and critical thinking exercises for all levels of writers, and to
build their literary analysis skills by requiring textual references throughout the essay.
Scaffolded/Short-Answer Essay Questions
Student Prompt: Write a short (1-3 paragraph) response using one of the below bulleted
outlines. Cite details from the play over the course of your response that serve as examples and
support.
1. Mercutio has many clever and joking lines. He often wants to cheer up Romeo
and make others laugh.
 How does the tone of the play change when Mercutio is killed? (topic
sentence)
 How do events in the rest of the play show that Mercutio’s death is an
important turning point in the plot? Name at least three events and use
details from the text to support your ideas.
 Finally, discuss in your concluding sentence or sentences how Mercutio’s
death connects to the theme of feuds and rivalry.
2. Consider the setting of the famous balcony scene and the placement and
movement of the characters throughout it.
 What might Shakespeare have been suggesting with the use of the balcony,
symbolically? (topic sentence)
 What are three ways that the imagery of this scene relates to the theme of
love’s complexities? Cite details from the scene for each imagery idea.
 Finally, describe in your concluding sentence or sentences how the overall
setting and scene contribute to the emotions that spark between Romeo
and Juliet at the Capulet feast.
3. The Nurse is a “comic relief” character in much of the play, as well as a caretaker
who shows genuine love for and devotion to Juliet.
 Why does the Nurse’s attempt to persuade Juliet to marry Paris surprise
many readers? (topic sentence)
27
COPYRIGHT 2021
 What are two or three conclusions that Juliet seem to draw once the Nurse
offers this counsel? Cite actions or lines to support your ideas.
 Finally, discuss in your concluding sentences how the Nurse is meaningful
beyond her comic relief role—and beyond what Juliet might understand. In
other words, what might the Nurse represent about love’s complexities?
Full Essay Assignments
Student Prompt: Write a structured and well-developed essay. Include a thesis statement, at
least three main points supported by text details, and a conclusion.
1. Choose one of the play’s major recurring images (e.g., the moon, stars, and sun;
light and darkness; plants and flowers; birds). Then trace the appearance of your
chosen motif throughout the play. (Use the “Find” feature within an online text for
help.) How does Shakespeare’s use of the image change as the play goes on? How
do his choices in the way he uses the image affect the tone and atmosphere of the
surrounding moments? How does word choice and connotation in the language
that accompanies the image contribute to or mirror the unfolding of events?
Ultimately, what might Shakespeare be suggesting about the symbolic value of
that changing, recurring image?
2. Consider Friar Lawrence’s monologue on the properties of herbs at the start of
Act II, Scene iii. What might readers infer indirectly about his traits and qualities,
based on this speech? How do his ideas about moderation play out in his own
behavior—and how does the play seem to support or undermine those ideas? How
might this monologue connect to a theme or themes in the play? As you compose
your essay, incorporate at least three quoted lines or phrases from the speech that
strengthen your points of discussion. Cite your quotations with act, scene, and line
number.
3. Many of the play’s characters seem skeptical or cynical about romantic love.
How does the play explore the theme of love’s complexities—its power, its
silliness, its beauty, its dangers? Ultimately, what message about romantic love is
most strongly conveyed? What motifs support this message, and what examples of
character actions and reactions contribute to it? Is Shakespeare’s message valid
today? Why or why not?
28
COPYRIGHT 2021
WORKSHEET: TEXT PROCESSING
Part 1: CHAPTER ANALYSES
For each section of the text listed below:



Identify the key developments in plot and characterization.
Identify notable literary techniques and effects used.
Write a brief paragraph of analysis that explains the significance of both the chapter’s
developments and the language used to convey them.
Note: Include page numbers when citing specific sections of the text.
Section 1
Key Developments
Acts I - II
Literary Techniques
Analysis
Section 2
Key Developments
Act III
29
COPYRIGHT 2021
Literary Techniques
Analysis
Section 3
Key Developments
Acts IV - V
Literary Techniques
30
COPYRIGHT 2021
Analysis
31
COPYRIGHT 2021
Part 2: CHARACTER ANALYSIS
For each of the characters listed below:


Identify the major developments in plot and characterization that affect that character.
Write a brief paragraph of analysis that explains the significance of both the character’s
development and how that development serves the overall narrative.
Note: Include page numbers when citing specific sections of the text.
Character 1
Key Developments
Juliet
Analysis
Character 2
Key Developments
Romeo
Analysis
32
COPYRIGHT 2021
Character 3
Key Developments
Mercutio
Analysis
Character 4
Key Developments
Nurse
Analysis
Character 5
Key Developments
Benvolio
33
COPYRIGHT 2021
Analysis
Character 6
Key Developments
Tybalt
Analysis
Character 7
Key Developments
Friar Lawrence
Analysis
34
COPYRIGHT 2021
Part 3: THEMES
For each of the themes listed below:

Write a brief paragraph of analysis that explains the significance of the theme’s
development throughout the text.
Note: Include page numbers when citing specific sections of the text.
Theme 1
Analysis
The Beauty and Danger of Love
Theme 2
Analysis
Dreams and Illusions
Theme 3
Analysis
Rivalry and Feud
35
COPYRIGHT 2021
Part 4: SYMBOLS & MOTIFS
For each of symbol or motif listed below:

Write a brief paragraph of analysis that explains the significance of the symbol’s or
motif’s development throughout the text.
Note: Include page numbers when citing specific sections of the text.
Symbol/Motif 1
Analysis
Celestial Bodies
Symbol/Motif 2
Analysis
Medicines and Poisons
Symbol/Motif 3
Analysis
Fate
36
COPYRIGHT 2021
WORKSHEET: IMPORTANT QUOTES
Write a brief paragraph of analysis that explains the significance of each quote. Be sure to
address, as relevant, the character speaking, to whom the words are spoken, the underlying
meaning of the words, and the language used.
Quote
1
“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.
From forth the fatal loins of these two
foes
A pair of star-cross'd lovers take their
life;
Whose misadventured piteous
overthrows
Do with their death bury their parents'
strife.
The fearful passage of their deathmark'd love,
And the continuance of their parents'
rage,
Which, but their children's end,
nought could remove,
Is now the two hours' traffic of our
stage;
The which if you with patient ears
attend,
What here shall miss, our toil shall
strive to mend.”
(Prologue, Lines 1-14)
2
“GREGORY
To move is to stir; and to be valiant is
to stand:
therefore, if thou art moved, thou
runn'st away.
SAMPSON
Analysis
37
COPYRIGHT 2021
A dog of that house shall move me to
stand: I will
take the wall of any man or maid of
Montague's.
GREGORY
That shows thee a weak slave; for the
weakest goes
to the wall.
SAMPSON
True; and therefore women, being the
weaker vessels,
are ever thrust to the wall: therefore I
will push
Montague's men from the wall, and
thrust his maids
to the wall.
GREGORY
The quarrel is between our masters
and us their men.
SAMPSON
’Tis all one, I will show myself a tyrant:
when I
have fought with the men, I will be
cruel with the
maids, and cut off their heads.
GREGORY
The heads of the maids?
SAMPSON
Ay, the heads of the maids, or their
maidenheads;
take it in what sense thou wilt.
GREGORY
They must take it in sense that feel it.
SAMPSON
Me they shall feel while I am able to
stand: and
’tis known I am a pretty piece of flesh.
GREGORY
’Tis well thou art not fish; if thou
hadst, thou
38
COPYRIGHT 2021
3
4
hadst been poor John. Draw thy tool!
here comes
two of the house of the Montagues.
SAMPSON
My naked weapon is out: quarrel, I will
back thee.”
(Act I, Scene 1, Lines 9-35
“Here’s much to do with hate, though
more with love.
Why then, O brawling love, O loving
hate,
O anything of nothing first create!
O heavy lightness, serious vanity,
Misshapen chaos of well-seeming
forms,
Feather of lead, bright smoke, cold
fire, sick health,
Still-waking sleep that is not what it is!
This love feel I, that feel no love in
this.
Dost thou not laugh?”
(Act I, Scene 1, Lines 180-188)
“And she was wean’d,—I never shall
forget it,—
Of all the days of the year, upon that
day:
For I had then laid wormwood to my
dug,
Sitting in the sun under the dovehouse wall;
My lord and you were then at
Mantua:—
Nay, I do bear a brain:—but, as I said,
When it did taste the wormwood on
the nipple
Of my dug and felt it bitter, pretty
fool,
To see it tetchy and fall out with the
dug!
Shake quoth the dove-house: ’twas no
need, I trow,
To bid me trudge:
And since that time it is eleven years;
39
COPYRIGHT 2021
5
For then she could stand alone; nay,
by the rood,
She could have run and waddled all
about;
For even the day before, she broke her
brow:
And then my husband—God be with
his soul!
A’ was a merry man—took up the
child:
‘Yea,’ quoth he, ‘dost thou fall upon
thy face?
Thou wilt fall backward when thou
hast more wit;
Wilt thou not, Jule?’ and, by my
holidame,
The pretty wretch left crying and said
‘Ay.’
To see, now, how a jest shall come
about!
I warrant, an I should live a thousand
years,
I never should forget it: ‘Wilt thou not,
Jule?’ quoth he;
And, pretty fool, it stinted and said
‘Ay.’”
(Act I, Scene 3, Lines 26-52)
“O, then, I see Queen Mab hath been
with you.
She is the fairies’ midwife, and she
comes
In shape no bigger than an agatestone
On the fore-finger of an alderman,
Drawn with a team of little atomies
Athwart men’s noses as they lie
asleep;
Her wagon-spokes made of long
spiders’ legs,
The cover of the wings of
grasshoppers,
The traces of the smallest spider’s
web,
40
COPYRIGHT 2021
The collars of the moonshine’s watery
beams,
Her whip of cricket’s bone, the lash of
film,
Her wagoner a small grey-coated gnat,
Not so big as a round little worm
Prick’d from the lazy finger of a maid;
Her chariot is an empty hazel-nut
Made by the joiner squirrel or old
grub,
Time out o’ mind the fairies’
coachmakers.
And in this state she gallops night by
night
Through lovers’ brains, and then they
dream of love;
O’er courtiers’ knees, that dream on
court’sies straight,
O’er lawyers’ fingers, who straight
dream on fees,
O’er ladies’ lips, who straight on kisses
dream,
Which oft the angry Mab with blisters
plagues,
Because their breaths with
sweetmeats tainted are:
Sometime she gallops o’er a courtier’s
nose,
And then dreams he of smelling out a
suit;
And sometime comes she with a tithepig’s tail
Tickling a parson’s nose as a’ lies
asleep,
Then dreams, he of another benefice:
Sometime she driveth o’er a soldier’s
neck,
And then dreams he of cutting foreign
throats,
Of breaches, ambuscadoes, Spanish
blades,
Of healths five-fathom deep; and then
anon
41
COPYRIGHT 2021
6
Drums in his ear, at which he starts
and wakes,
And being thus frighted swears a
prayer or two
And sleeps again. This is that very Mab
That plats the manes of horses in the
night,
And bakes the elflocks in foul sluttish
hairs,
Which once untangled, much
misfortune bodes:
This is the hag, when maids lie on their
backs,
That presses them and learns them
first to bear,
Making them women of good carriage:
This is she—”
(Act I, Scene 4, Lines 58-100)
“ROMEO
If I profane with my unworthiest hand
This holy shrine, the gentle fine is this:
My lips, two blushing pilgrims, ready
stand
To smooth that rough touch with a
tender kiss.
JULIET
Good pilgrim, you do wrong your hand
too much,
Which mannerly devotion shows in
this;
For saints have hands that pilgrims’
hands do touch,
And palm to palm is holy palmers’ kiss.
ROMEO
Have not saints lips, and holy palmers
too?
JULIET
Ay, pilgrim, lips that they must use in
prayer.
ROMEO
O, then, dear saint, let lips do what
hands do;
42
COPYRIGHT 2021
7
They pray, grant thou, lest faith turn
to despair.
JULIET
Saints do not move, though grant for
prayers’ sake.
ROMEO
Then move not, while my prayer’s
effect I take.
Thus from my lips, by yours, my sin is
purged.
JULIET
Then have my lips the sin that they
have took.
ROMEO
Sin from thy lips? O trespass sweetly
urged!
Give me my sin again.
JULIET
You kiss by the book.”
(Act I, Scene 5, Lines 104-122)
“He jests at scars that never felt a
wound.
But, soft! what light through yonder
window breaks?
It is the east, and Juliet is the sun.
Arise, fair sun, and kill the envious
moon,
Who is already sick and pale with grief,
That thou her maid art far more fair
than she:
Be not her maid, since she is envious;
Her vestal livery is but sick and green
And none but fools do wear it; cast it
off.
It is my lady, O, it is my love!
O, that she knew she were!
She speaks yet she says nothing: what
of that?
Her eye discourses; I will answer it.
I am too bold, ’tis not to me she
speaks:
Two of the fairest stars in all the
heaven,
43
COPYRIGHT 2021
8
9
Having some business, do entreat her
eyes
To twinkle in their spheres till they
return.
What if her eyes were there, they in
her head?
The brightness of her cheek would
shame those stars,
As daylight doth a lamp; her eyes in
heaven
Would through the airy region stream
so bright
That birds would sing and think it were
not night.
See, how she leans her cheek upon
her hand!
O, that I were a glove upon that hand,
That I might touch that cheek!”
(Act II, Scene 2, Lines 1-26)
“What’s in a name? That which we call
a rose
By any other word would smell as
sweet.”
(Act II, Scene 2, Lines 46-47)
“Well, do not swear: although I joy in
thee,
I have no joy of this contract to-night:
It is too rash, too unadvised, too
sudden;
Too like the lightning, which doth
cease to be
Ere one can say ‘It lightens.’ Sweet,
good night!
This bud of love, by summer’s ripening
breath,
May prove a beauteous flower when
next we meet.
Good night, good night! as sweet
repose and rest
Come to thy heart as that within my
breast!”
(Act II, Scene 2, Lines 123-131)
44
COPYRIGHT 2021
10
11
“O, mickle is the powerful grace that
lies
In herbs, plants, stones, and their true
qualities:
For nought so vile that on the earth
doth live
But to the earth some special good
doth give,
Nor aught so good but strain’d from
that fair use
Revolts from true birth, stumbling on
abuse:
Virtue itself turns vice, being
misapplied;
And vice sometimes by action
dignified.
Within the infant rind of this small
flower
Poison hath residence and medicine
power:
For this, being smelt, with that part
cheers each part;
Being tasted, slays all senses with the
heart.
Two such opposed kings encamp them
still
In man as well as herbs, grace and
rude will;
And where the worser is predominant,
Full soon the canker death eats up
that plant.”
(Act II, Scene 3, Lines 15-22)
“JULIET
I’ faith, I am sorry that thou art not
well.
Sweet, sweet, sweet nurse, tell me,
what says my love?
NURSE
Your love says, like an honest
gentleman, and a
courteous, and a kind, and a
handsome, and, I
45
COPYRIGHT 2021
12
warrant, a virtuous,—Where is your
mother?
JULIET
Where is my mother! why, she is
within;
Where should she be? How oddly thou
repliest!
‘Your love says, like an honest
gentleman,
Where is your mother?’”
(Act II, Scene 5, Lines 56-65)
“ROMEO
Courage, man; the hurt cannot be
much.
MERCUTIO
No, ’tis not so deep as a well, nor so
wide as a
church-door; but ’tis enough, ’twill
serve: ask for
me to-morrow, and you shall find me a
grave man. I
am peppered, I warrant, for this world.
A plague o’
both your houses! ’Zounds, a dog, a
rat, a mouse, a
cat, to scratch a man to death! a
braggart, a
rogue, a villain, that fights by the book
of
arithmetic! Why the devil came you
between us? I
was hurt under your arm.
ROMEO
I thought all for the best.
MERCUTIO
Help me into some house, Benvolio,
Or I shall faint. A plague o’ both your
houses!
They have made worms’ meat of me: I
have it,
And soundly too: your houses!”
(Act III, Scene 1, Lines 99-113)
46
COPYRIGHT 2021
13
“Gallop apace, you fiery-footed steeds,
Towards Phoebus’ lodging: such a
wagoner
As Phaethon would whip you to the
west,
And bring in cloudy night immediately.
Spread thy close curtain, loveperforming night,
That runaway’s eyes may wink and
Romeo
Leap to these arms, untalk’d of and
unseen.
Lovers can see to do their amorous
rites
By their own beauties; or, if love be
blind,
It best agrees with night. Come, civil
night,
Thou sober-suited matron, all in black,
And learn me how to lose a winning
match,
Play’d for a pair of stainless
maidenhoods:
Hood my unmann’d blood, bating in
my cheeks,
With thy black mantle; till strange
love, grown bold,
Think true love acted simple modesty.
Come, night; come, Romeo; come,
thou day in night;
For thou wilt lie upon the wings of
night
Whiter than new snow on a raven’s
back.
Come, gentle night, come, loving,
black-brow’d night,
Give me my Romeo; and, when he
shall die,
Take him and cut him out in little
stars,
And he will make the face of heaven
so fine
47
COPYRIGHT 2021
14
15
That all the world will be in love with
night
And pay no worship to the garish sun.
O, I have bought the mansion of a
love,
But not possess’d it, and, though I am
sold,
Not yet enjoy’d: so tedious is this day
As is the night before some festival
To an impatient child that hath new
robes
And may not wear them.”
(Act III, Scene 2, Lines 1-33)
“O serpent heart hid with a flow’ring
face!
Did ever dragon keep so fair a cave?
Beautiful tyrant, fiend angelical!
Dove-feathered raven, wolvishravening lamb!
Despisèd substance of divinest show!
Just opposite to what thou justly
seem’st,
A damnèd saint, an honorable villain.
O nature, what hadst thou to do in hell
When thou didst bower the spirit of a
fiend
In mortal paradise of such sweet
flesh?
Was ever book containing such vile
matter
So fairly bound? O, that deceit should
dwell
In such a gorgeous palace!”
(Act III, Scene 2, Lines 79-91)
“JULIET
Wilt thou be gone? it is not yet near
day:
It was the nightingale, and not the
lark,
That pierced the fearful hollow of
thine ear;
Nightly she sings on yon pomegranatetree:
48
COPYRIGHT 2021
16
17
Believe me, love, it was the
nightingale.
ROMEO
It was the lark, the herald of the morn,
No nightingale: look, love, what
envious streaks
Do lace the severing clouds in yonder
east:
Night’s candles are burnt out, and
jocund day
Stands tiptoe on the misty mountain
tops.
I must be gone and live, or stay and
die.”
(Act III, Scene 5, Lines 1-11)
“JULIET
O think’st thou we shall ever meet
again?
ROMEO
I doubt it not; and all these woes shall
serve
For sweet discourses in our time to
come.
JULIET
O God, I have an ill-divining soul!
Methinks I see thee, now thou art
below,
As one dead in the bottom of a tomb:
Either my eyesight fails, or thou look’st
pale.”
(Act III, Scene 5, Lines 51-57)
“LADY CAPULET
Marry, my child, early next Thursday
morn,
The gallant, young and noble
gentleman,
The County Paris, at Saint Peter’s
Church,
Shall happily make thee there a joyful
bride.
JULIET
Now, by Saint Peter’s Church and
Peter too,
49
COPYRIGHT 2021
18
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.
I pray you, tell my lord and father,
madam,
I will not marry yet; and, when I do, I
swear,
It shall be Romeo, whom you know I
hate,
Rather than Paris. These are news
indeed!”
(Act III, Scene 5, Lines 118-128)
“NURSE
Faith, here it is.
Romeo is banish’d; and all the world to
nothing,
That he dares ne’er come back to
challenge you;
Or, if he do, it needs must be by
stealth.
Then, since the case so stands as now
it doth,
I think it best you married with the
county.
O, he’s a lovely gentleman!
Romeo’s a dishclout to him: an eagle,
madam,
Hath not so green, so quick, so fair an
eye
As Paris hath. Beshrew my very heart,
I think you are happy in this second
match,
For it excels your first: or if it did not,
Your first is dead; or ’twere as good he
were,
As living here and you no use of him.
JULIET
Speakest thou from thy heart?
Nurse
And from my soul too;
Or else beshrew them both.
50
COPYRIGHT 2021
JULIET
Amen!”
(Act III, Scene 5, Lines 225-241)
19
“Give me, give me! O, tell not me of
fear!”
(Act IV, Scene 2, Line 123)
20
"Farewell! God knows when we shall
meet again.
I have a faint cold fear thrills through
my veins,
That almost freezes up the heat of life:
I’ll call them back again to comfort me:
Nurse! What should she do here?
My dismal scene I needs must act
alone.
Come, vial.
What if this mixture do not work at
all?
Shall I be married then to-morrow
morning?
No, no: this shall forbid it: lie thou
there.
What if it be a poison, which the friar
Subtly hath minister’d to have me
dead,
Lest in this marriage he should be
dishonour’d,
Because he married me before to
Romeo?
I fear it is: and yet, methinks, it should
not,
For he hath still been tried a holy man.
How if, when I am laid into the tomb,
I wake before the time that Romeo
Come to redeem me? there’s a fearful
point!
Shall I not, then, be stifled in the vault,
To whose foul mouth no healthsome
air breathes in,
51
COPYRIGHT 2021
And there die strangled ere my Romeo
comes?
Or, if I live, is it not very like,
The horrible conceit of death and
night,
Together with the terror of the
place,—
As in a vault, an ancient receptacle,
Where, for these many hundred years,
the bones
Of all my buried ancestors are packed:
Where bloody Tybalt, yet but green in
earth,
Lies festering in his shroud; where, as
they say,
At some hours in the night spirits
resort;—
Alack, alack, is it not like that I,
So early waking, what with loathsome
smells,
And shrieks like mandrakes’ torn out
of the earth,
That living mortals, hearing them, run
mad:—
O, if I wake, shall I not be distraught,
Environed with all these hideous
fears?
And madly play with my forefather’s
joints?
And pluck the mangled Tybalt from his
shroud?
And, in this rage, with some great
kinsman’s bone,
As with a club, dash out my desperate
brains?
O, look! methinks I see my cousin’s
ghost
Seeking out Romeo, that did spit his
body
Upon a rapier’s point: stay, Tybalt,
stay!
Romeo, Romeo, Romeo! Here’s drink. I
drink to thee.”
52
COPYRIGHT 2021
(Act IV, Scene 3, Lines 15-60)
21
22
“If I may trust the flattering truth of
sleep,
My dreams presage some joyful news
at hand:
My bosom’s lord sits lightly in his
throne;
And all this day an unaccustom’d spirit
Lifts me above the ground with
cheerful thoughts.
I dreamt my lady came and found me
dead—
Strange dream, that gives a dead man
leave to think!—
And breathed such life with kisses in
my lips,
That I revived, and was an emperor.
Ah me! how sweet is love itself
possess’d,
When but love’s shadows are so rich in
joy!”
(Act V, Scene 1, Lines 1-12)
“ROMEO
Come hither, man. I see that thou art
poor:
Hold, there is forty ducats: let me have
A dram of poison, such soon-speeding
gear
As will disperse itself through all the
veins
That the life-weary taker may fall dead
And that the trunk may be discharged
of breath
As violently as hasty powder fired
Doth hurry from the fatal cannon’s
womb.
Apothecary
Such mortal drugs I have; but
Mantua’s law
Is death to any he that utters them.
53
COPYRIGHT 2021
23
ROMEO
Art thou so bare and full of
wretchedness,
And fear’st to die? famine is in thy
cheeks,
Need and oppression starveth in thine
eyes,
Contempt and beggary hangs upon thy
back;
The world is not thy friend nor the
world’s law;
The world affords no law to make thee
rich;
Then be not poor, but break it, and
take this.
Apothecary
My poverty, but not my will, consents.
ROMEO
I pay thy poverty, and not thy will.”
(Act V, Scene 1, Lines 62-80)
“How oft when men are at the point of
death
Have they been merry! which their
keepers call
A lightning before death: O, how may I
Call this a lightning? O my love! my
wife!
Death, that hath suck’d the honey of
thy breath,
Hath had no power yet upon thy
beauty:
Thou art not conquer’d; beauty’s
ensign yet
Is crimson in thy lips and in thy cheeks,
And death’s pale flag is not advanced
there.
Tybalt, liest thou there in thy bloody
sheet?
O, what more favour can I do to thee,
Than with that hand that cut thy youth
in twain
To sunder his that was thine enemy?
Forgive me, cousin! Ah, dear Juliet,
54
COPYRIGHT 2021
24
25
Why art thou yet so fair? shall I believe
That unsubstantial death is amorous,
And that the lean abhorred monster
keeps
Thee here in dark to be his paramour?
For fear of that, I still will stay with
thee;
And never from this palace of dim
night
Depart again: here, here will I remain
With worms that are thy chambermaids; O, here
Will I set up my everlasting rest,
And shake the yoke of inauspicious
stars
From this world-wearied flesh. Eyes,
look your last!
Arms, take your last embrace! and,
lips, O you
The doors of breath, seal with a
righteous kiss
A dateless bargain to engrossing
death!
Come, bitter conduct, come,
unsavoury guide!
Thou desperate pilot, now at once run
on
The dashing rocks thy sea-sick weary
bark!
Here’s to my love! O true apothecary,
Thy drugs are quick. Thus with a kiss I
die.”
(Act V, Scene 3, Lines 88-120)
“Yea, noise? then I'll be brief. O happy
dagger!
This is thy sheath. There rust, and let
me die.”
(Act V, Scene 3, Lines 174-175)
“A glooming peace this morning with it
brings;
The sun, for sorrow, will not show his
head:
55
COPYRIGHT 2021
Go hence, to have more talk of these
sad things;
Some shall be pardon’d, and some
punished:
For never was a story of more woe
Than this of Juliet and her Romeo.”
(Act V, Scene 3, Lines 316-321)
56
COPYRIGHT 2021
Please review your TPT
purchase!
Thanks so much for your purchase. Did our product give you ideas, or save
you time? Any thoughts on how we could make it better?
Remember, you receive TPT Credits for every dollar spent on a product you
review which can be used for future purchases.
Follow these simple steps to leave your
feedback:
1. Click on the arrow next to your Username at the top right of
the TPT homepage.
2. Choose “My Purchases” in the drop-down menu.
3. Use the search bar to search for the product name, or sort
your purchases by most recent or alphabetically.
4. Click the blue “Leave a Review” button next to
the product.
5. Select how you used the product, fill in the
fields and choose the number of stars.
Don’t forget to come back and visit our ever-expanding TPT store, too! Thanks for helping better support teachers!
57
COPYRIGHT 2021