Romeo and Juliet Mini-Essays
These mini essays allow you to express your own, original ideas. They should be a page to a page and a half,
double space and in MLA format. Let your creativity run free, but make sure your wisdom is school
appropriate. Be prepared to share your ideas in class!
1. Are love and violence connected? Romeo says in Act 1, “Here’s much to do with hate, but more with love. Why
then, O brawling love, O loving hate, O anything of nothing first create!” Are the two separate entities or are
they more closely related?
2. Define adulthood in your own words. Based on your definition, do you think Romeo and Juliet are adults? How
about yourself? Why do you think you’re an adult or what do you believe is holding you back from being one?
3. In his soliloquy in Act 2, Friar Laurence compares man to plants, focusing on the common trait they hold of
having two contrasting components in their being. Throughout history, there has always been a conflict with the
view of goodness and evilness in man. Discuss your ideas about the duality in man. Does evil prevail in our
society and is it something we can control within ourselves?
4. Is it possible to “love thy enemy as yourself”? Why is loving your enemy considered a virtue?
5. Discuss your ideal mate. What do you look for in someone you want to date? Would your parents agree with
the characteristics that you look for in someone else, or would they expect something different?