Romeo and Juliet
FILM STUDY GUIDE
Opening the Film
1. How does the director open the film? What is the purpose? _________________________________________
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2. What do we see in the title sequence at the beginning? How does this help the audience?__________________
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3. What is the cause of the first disagreement?_______________________________________________________
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Actors
4. Describe the character of Romeo as portrayed by Leonard Whiting . ___________________________________
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5. Describe the character of Juliet as portrayed by Olivia Hussey_________________________________________
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6. Describe the character of Mercutio as portrayed by the actor. ________________________________________
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7. Tybalt appears much earlier in the film than he does in the play. How is he portrayed? ____________________
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8. What does Tybalt do and say? __________________________________________________________________
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9. How is Tybalt’s presence important to the early action of the film?____________________________________
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10. How is Friar Laurence portrayed in the film?______________________________________________________
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11. What is the role of the Nurse in Juliet's upbringing_________________________________________________
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12. Who is Paris? What is his position in the film? ____________________________________________________
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13. Do you believe in Juliet's response to her father's insistence that she marry Paris?_______________________
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14. What do you think of arranged marriages in Elizabethan society and some current day societies? ___________
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15. Who is Prince of Verona? What is his position in the film?___________________________________________
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Scene Analysis
16. Do you agree with the way Zeffirelli stages the scene where Romeo and Juliet meet? Why or why not? _____
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17. What do you think of the costuming? Does this give you a better idea of the time period and the characters?
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18. Why does Zeffirelli include the long love-song segment? ____________________________________________
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19. This long love-song scene contains foreshadowing. What might this be foreshadowing? ___________________
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20. Do you find Zeffirelli’s film version convincing in terms of Romeo and Juliet's attraction to one another?
Explain .___________________________________________________________________________________
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21. The fight scene resulting in the death of Mercutio is particularly well handled in the movie. How does this set
up one of the conflicts in the play? Name the type of conflict that it is and explain._______________________
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The Fatal Last Meeting
22. Where does the final meeting of Juliet and Romeo take place in the film?______________________________________
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23. How did Zeffirelli's final scene affect you?________________________________________________________
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Compare and Contrast
24. How does the movie’s use of music provide the director with options not available in the play ?___________
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25. Is Zeffirelli's setting (the historical and geographic locations) of Romeo and Juliet the same or different from
the play. Explain.____________________________________________________________________________
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26. The Shakespearean audience was used to listening rather than viewing. In fact, before the audience settled,
many may not have been able to see the chorus delivering the prologue. What information is provided by
Zeffirelli's title sequence which is not available in the prologue of the play?________________________________
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27. Compare the actors playing the characters in the movie with the characters in the play. How are they the
same? How are they different?
Romeo - _____________________________________________________________________________________
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Juliet- _______________________________________________________________________________________
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Tybalt- _______________________________________________________________________________________
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Mercutio- ____________________________________________________________________________________
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Friar Lawrence - _______________________________________________________________________________
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28. What is cut from Act IV in the play? _____________________________________________________________
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29. What is cut from Act V in the play?______________________________________________________________
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30. Is anything lost by cutting these events from the play? _____________________________________________
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31. Is anything gained by cutting these events from the play?___________________________________________
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32. How is the final scene in the play different from that in the movie?___________________________________