Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet: Drama Log
A,s.
Scene summary
Characters
What do I see/hear
(your mental image)?
Striking language
items
Questions/comments
Pr.
Chorus informs us of setting, background and
ending
- Servants of the Capulet (C) and Montague
(M) households quarrel
- Benvolio (M) tries to stop them but Tybalt
(C) increases tension. A fight starts.
- Prince Escales stops the fight, threatens
death penalty for further fighting.
- Benvolio and the Montagues discuss
Romeo’s melancholic mood.
- Romeo (M) tells Benvolio about his
unanswered love.
Chorus
One man alone on stage
talking to the audience
Two ‘gangs’ in violent
street fight
Two families confront each
other, Escales comes
between; stands in the
middle with a strong
authoritarian voice
‘fatal loins’, star-crossed
lovers’, death-marked love
“Do you bite your thumb
at us?”(40)
The Chorus gives away the
story’s end
What’s the feud about?
I, 1
I, 2
I, 3
I, 4
Sampson,
Gregory
Benvolio, Tybalt,
Capulet and
Lady Capulet,
Montague and
Lady Monatgue,
Prince Escales
Romeo, Benvolio
Romeo’s pose: leaning
against a wall/tree, no quick
movements, whining voice
Benvolio and Tybalt
contrastes: Tybalt very
aggressive
“Here’s much to do with
hate, but more with love”
(168) (topic of the play)
“brawling love”-loving
hate – heavy lightness –
serious vanity – cold fire –
sick health – still-waking
sleep (168-174)
oxymorons
Definitions od love (183f.)
Paris asks Capulet for Juliet’s hand in marriage,
but Capulet tells him to wait until after the feast
at their house that evening.
An illiterate servant sent out to invite the guests
asks Romeo to read the list out to him. When
Romeo sees Rosaline (his loved one) on the list
he decides to gatecrash the party with his
friends.
Capulet, Paris
Two noblemen talking in a
street.
Romeo,
Benvolio
Romeo and Benvolio make
fun of servant. The servant is
a clownlike figure, clumsy,
servile.
‘God gi’ god-den’ (57)
Lady Capulet informs Juliet that Paris wants to
marry her and advises her to pay attention to
him at the feast to find out whether she would
like to marry him. Juliet’s Nurse is all for the
marriage.
Lady Capulet,
Juliet, Nurse
Nurse gets on Lady Capulet’s
nerves by talking too much.
Juliet says little in this scene;
perhaps looking innocently at
her mother, maybe irritable
with the Nurse, maybe
amused.
‘Go, girl, seek happy nights
to happy days.’ (107)
Romeo and his friends arrive at the Capulets’
house.
Romeo,
Benvolio,
Young men talking, making
fun of Romeo, trying to
lots of sexual allusions!
Romeo not part of the feud;
seems to be preoccupied
with his personal love
matters only
In love with whom?
Will Romeo actually compare
Rosaline and Juliet?
Juliet is not yet 14 and
supposed to get married soon
to someone she hasn’t met yet.
Paris described as a book
lacking a cover (83ff.):
Strange metaphor – but
somehow interesting
Dream: Premonitions of bad
luck; foreshadowing Romeo’s
Romeo has had a bad dream and does not want
to enter, but Mercutio makes fun of his belief in
dreams and tries to cheer him up.
I,5
Tybalt wants to start a fight with Romeo when
he recognizes him but Capulet stops him
characterizing Romeo as an honourable
gentleman. Tybalt swears to take revenge on
Romeo.
Romeo and Juliet meet and fall in love.
Mercutio
Romeo,
Benvolio,
Mercutio
Tybalt, Capulet,
Juliet, Nurse
persuade him to come with
them.
Mercutio fond of talking and
gesticulating, moves around a
lot, maybe talking to R from
different sides.
A great hall with a party
going on. Musicians, servants
waiting on people; lots of
guests; dancing. Romeo and
Juliet flirting with each other:
J looks furtively at R while
dancing with another man; R
tries to catch her eye, walks
around the dancers always
with his eye on her. They
step aside in the middle of a
lively dance to speak to each
other.
II,
Pro.
Chorus comments on the love of Romeo and
Juliet
Chorus
II,1
Romeo’s friends make fun of his passion and
try to find him to take him home with them.
near the wall of the Capulet’s
garden.
II,2
Romeo is in the Capulet garden and overhears
Juliet talking about her feelings for him as she
stands on her balcony overlooking the garden.
They talk to each other of their love and arrange
to get married as soon as possible.
Romeo persuades Friar Laurence to marry him
and Juliet.
Romeo,
Benvolio,
Mercutio
Romeo, Juliet
Nurse (within)
Friar Laurence,
Romeo
Friar Lawrence’s cell
Mercutio,
Benvolio,
Romeo Nurse
a street in Verona
II,3
II,4
Tybalt has sent a challenge to Romeo.
Juliet’s Nurse comes to tell Romeo of Juliet’s
plans.
fatal love and death before
even meeting Juliet.
Long Queen Mab story
difficult
ll. 92–106: sonnet (followed
by a quatrain) spoken by
Romeo and Juliet on first
meeting.
Love at first sight
‘You kiss by the book’
(109): good or bad?
Why is Capulet so tolerant
towards Romeo, the son of his
arch-enemy Montague?
The Chorus reflects on how
quickly R has forgotten
Rosaline; this is echoed by
Friar Laurence (II, iii, 65–79).
Capulet’s garden in front of
Juliet’s balcony.
J’s words (40–42) are echoed
by R later (III, iii, 105–107).
Romeo calls J ‘dear saint’
(55): recalls his words in I, v,
102.
Friar L. is an expert on poison
and medicines.
His words (91–92) do come
true, as the families’ feud is
ended by the ‘alliance’.
M mocks Tybalt’s
swordmanship (19–35).
M’s list of ladies (41–42) is
ominous, as all their stories
ended in death (especially
suicide).
II,5
II,6
Juliet waits impatiently for the Nurse to return,
but when the latter does return, she takes her
time telling Juliet what Romeo’s reaction was.
Friar Laurence is to marry the two young lovers.
Juliet; Nurse
Capulet’s house: Juliet’s
room
Friar Laurence,
Romeo, Juliet
Friar Laurence’s cell
J’s impatience with Nurse as
go-between is echoed later, in
a different mood (cf. III, ii).