Name: _____________
Period: _______
Romeo & Juliet Study Guide
Act 2, Prologue, Scene 1 & 2
Pre-reading - Journal:
What attracted Romeo and Juliet to each other? Cite examples from the text.
What do you think Romeo does after the party? Explain.
Summarize Act 2, Prologue and Scene 1:
Explain your reaction:
Post-reading Questions:
1. According to the prologue, what are problems that Romeo and Juliet now face?
2. While Mercutio makes fun of Romeo, Benvolio says, “An if he hear thee, thou wilt
anger him.” What contrast does this show between Mercutio and Benvolio? Whose
approach do you think is more likely to be helpful to Romeo?
3. His friends still believe that Romeo is in love with Rosaline. Would they feel
differently toward him if they knew the truth? Why or why not?
Summarize Act 2, Scene 2:
Explain your reaction:
Post-reading Questions:
1. If Romeo and Juliet were in the same situation today, would their responses be
similar or different? Explain.
2. Act II, Scene ii is full of beautiful poetry. Copy your favorite lines in this famous
scene and not only interpret its meaning, but explain why it is your favorite.
Romeo and Juliet
Textual Analysis
By the following excerpts (which appear in order from text), tell what you think the lines mean. Identify any
examples of metaphor, simile, or personification that you come across as well.
Metaphor—A comparison between unlike objects that does not use like or as.
Example: She is a flower too delicate for the summer heat.
Simile—A comparison between unlike objects that uses like or as.
Example: He panted like a dog in the sun who’s wearing a sweater.
Personification—Giving human characteristics to nonhuman objects.
Example: The blank page beckoned me to spill ink across its white surface.
But, soft! What light through yonder window breaks?__________________________________
It is the east, and Juliet is the sun.__________________________________________________
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:_____________________________________________
O Romeo, Romeo! Wherefore art thou Romeo?_______________________________________
Deny thy father and refuse thy name;_______________________________________________
Or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love,___________________________________________
And I’ll no longer be a Capulet.___________________________________________________
What’s in a name? that which we call a rose _________________________________________
By any other name would smell as sweet;___________________________________________
So Romeo would, were he not Romeo call’d,_________________________________________
Retain that dear perfection which he owes___________________________________________
Without that title… ____________________________________________________________
My ears have not yet drunk a hundred words_________________________________________
Of that tongue’s utterance, yet I know the sound:_____________________________________
Art thou not Romeo and a Montague?______________________________________________
Alack, there lies more peril in thine eye_____________________________________________
Than twenty of their swords: look thou but sweet,_____________________________________
And I am proof against their enmity._______________________________________________
O, swear not by the moon, the inconstant moon,______________________________________
That monthly changes in her circled orb,____________________________________________
Lest that thy love prove likewise variable.___________________________________________
Love goes toward love, as schoolboys from their books, _______________________________
But love from love, toward school with heavy looks.__________________________________
Describe your impressions of Romeo and Juliet. Using the Venn diagram below,
how are they alike and different? (Besides the obvious gender difference!)
Romeo’s
Differences
Juliet’s
How they
are alike
Differences
Juliet’s
Differences
Juliet’s
Differences
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aIn this scene both Romeo and Juliet experience the overwhelming emotions
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Use the Venn diagram below to chart how their responses to each other and their
csituations are alike and different.
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s Juliet’s
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Romeo’s
Differences
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Differences
Juliet’s
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Differences
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