Romeo & Juliet 2014-2015

● Tragedy: A narrative about serious and important actions that end unhappily, usually with the death of the main characters.
● The play is broken up into acts and the acts are broken up into scenes.
● Monologue: A long uninterrupted speech given by one character onstage to everyone.
● Soliloquy: A long uninterrupted speech given by one character alone on stage, inaudible to other characters.
● Aside: A short speech given by one character, traditionally the other characters cannot hear.

● Pun: A humorous play on words o After that poisonous snake struck at me in the Arizona
Desert I was really rattled. A gossip is someone with a great sense of rumor.
o A carpenter must have been here. I saw dust.
o Energizer Bunny arrested - charged with battery.
o Corduroy pillows are making headlines.
o The executioner decided to drop out of Executioner
School. It was just too cut throat for him.
o He who farts in church sits in his own pew.

Dramatic Foil: A pair of characters who are opposite in many ways and highlight or exaggerate each other’s differences.

Act II: Rising Action
A series of complications; conflict emerges
Act I: Exposition
Establishes setting, characters, background
Act III: Crisis & Turning point
A series of complications
Act IV: Falling Action
Results of the turning point; characters are locked into a deeper disaster
Act V: Climax/Resolution/Denoument
Death of the main characters & loose parts of the plot of tied up

Lord Montague
(Romeo’s Dad)
Lady Montague
(Romeo’s Mom)
Romeo Montague
Mercutio
B.F.F./Bro
Benvolio
Nephew/Cousin
Balthasar & Abraham
Servants
Friar Laurence, Priest of Family

Lord Capulet
(Juliet’s Dad)
Lady Capulet
(Juliet’s Mom)
Juliet Capulet
Tybalt
Nephew/Cousin
Nurse
Juliet’s other mom
Peter, Sampson, & Gregrory
Servants of the House of Capulet

● Please include textual evidence to support your ideas.
o What are the characters, Sampson & Gregory like?
o How would you describe Benvolio? What does he try to do during the fight?
o How is Tybalt described? What is he like as a character?
o What are the main points of the Prince’s speech?
o What is wrong with Romeo? What are his symptoms? How are his father and Benvolio trying to understand him?
o What are the contradictory terms (opposite) Romeo uses to describe love in lines 175-179?
o What advice does Benvolio give Romeo in order to rid himself of these obsessive feelings?

On a sheet of paper that you WILL hand in tomorrow at the beginning of the hour:
Tell me what Romeo’s definition of love is in lines 187-191? Translate them into modern English to make sense.