ROMEO AND JULIET
ACT 1
Prologue
1. Name the Italian city where the play is set.
2. What effect will the deaths of the star-crossed lovers have on the feud
between their parents?
3. What is a ‘prologue’?
4.1 What is the poetic form of this prologue?
4.2 What function does the poetic form serve?
Scene 1
1.1
What is your first impression of Benvolio?
1.2
What is your first impression of Tybalt?
2. What does the Prince threaten to do if Montague and Capulet threaten the
peace of Verona again?
3. What symptoms of a hopeless lover does Romeo exhibit?
4. Romeo is upset at the news of the fight. What does this reveal about his
character?
5. What kind of experience of love has Romeo had thus far?
6. What remedy does Benvolio prescribe for Romeo’s ‘love-sickness’?
7. Complete the table below showing the members of the households of Montague,
Capulet and Prince Escalus.
Montague
Capulet
Prince Escalus
Scene 2
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
How old is Juliet?
Describe her father’s attitude towards Juliet in his conversation with Paris.
How does Romeo come to know about he planned festivities at the Capulet’s?
Who is Romeo pining for?
How does Benvolio’s speech at the end of this scene prepare us for later events
in the play?
Scene 3
1. What do we learn about the Nurse from this scene?
2. Why are we again reminded of Juliet’s age?
3.1 How does Juliet respond to her mother’s talk of marriage?
3.2 Why does she react this way?
Scene 4& 5
1. What is your impression of Mercutio from this scene?
2. Capulet plays the genial host. Apart from his comedy of words, what other
information do we learn from his conversation with his cousin.
3. Compare Romeo’s speech ‘Oh she doth teach the torches…’ with his speeches
about Rosaline from Act1, Sc1.
3.1
Do you find him more convincing?
3.2
Why / Why not?
5.1
Why does Capulet refuse to allow Tybalt to attack Romeo at the feast?
5.2
How does this make Tybalt feel?
6. The first meeting between Romeo and Juliet is one of the most famous scenes in
the play.
6.1
What do you notice about the poetic structure of their shared speech?
6.2
Why does Shakespeare choose this structure?
6.3
Explain the complex metaphor which forms the basis of their flirtation.
6.4
Are you convinced that the love-at-first-sight of these two is genuine? Why
/ Why not?
7. How do Romeo and Juliet react when they learn that they are from feuding
families?
ACT 2
Prologue
1. Who are the objects of:
(a) ‘old desire’ and
(b) ‘young affection’
2. Explain why Juliet is said to ‘steal love’s sweet bait from fearful looks’.
Scene 1
1. Romeo passes Capulet’s orchard. Why can he not stop himself from going in?
2. Why does Romeo not wish to be found by his friends?
Scene 2
1.1 Who ‘jests at scars that hath never felt a wound’?
1.2 What is Romeo saying about this person’s character?
2. Romeo’s speech to Juliet from below the balcony is structured in blank verse as opposed
to the rhyming couplets he earlier used in reference to Rosaline. What impression does
this make on the audience?
3.1 What images are mostly used in this speech?
3.2 Why does Shakespeare choose to make use of this imagery?
4. ‘O Romeo, Romeo! Wherefore art thou Romeo?’ These words have so often been quoted
and misunderstood. What exactly is Juliet asking?
5. Why is Juliet upset that Romeo has overheard her?
6. Juliet makes a vow to Romeo. What does this reveal about her character?
7. What agreement do the lover’s reach at the end of their conversation?
Scene 3
1. Why is the Friar given such a long speech when we first meet him?
2.1 What is the Friar doing as he speaks?
2.2 What moral lessons does he learn from this?
3. How does the Friar react to Romeo’s news that he wants to marry Juliet?
4. Why does Friar Laurence agree to help the young lovers?
5.1 What advice does the Friar give to Romeo at the end of this scene?
5.2 Do you think the young lovers are likely to listen?
6. What impression of the Friar do you get from this scene?
Scene 4
1. What news concerning Tybalt do Mercutio and Benvolio discuss?
2.1 How do we know that Romeo is back to his normal self?
2.2 What does this tell us about his love for Juliet?
3. Why is the Nurse looking for Romeo?
4. What message does Romeo give to the Nurse for Juliet?
Scene 5
1. How is Juliet feeling at the beginning of this scene?
2. Why does the Nurse take so long to deliver her message?
Scene 6
1. Compare Romeo’s attitude to love to that of the Friar.
2. How do you know the lover’s are happy?
ACT 3
Scene 1
1. Is Mercutio’s characterization of Benvolio accurate? Explain our view.
2. What is the meaning of Benvolio’s warning to Mercutio (‘An I…/…and a quarter.’)?
3.1 Quote Tybalt’s insult to Romeo.
3.2 Honour demands that such an insult be answered (by a duel) even though fighting is
against the law. How does Romeo respond and why?
4. Who is to blame for starting the fight between Benvolio and Mercutio?
5. What personality traits does Mercutio display at his death? Are we impressed?
6. Does Romeo do the right thing by revenging his friend’s death? Why / Why not?
7. How accurate is Benvolio’s account of the fight?
8. Why is the Prince particularly concerned by Mercutio’s death?
9. What are the immediate consequences of Tybalt’s death for Romeo?
Scene 2
1. What impression do you get of Juliet in her opening speech?
2. How does Romeo plan to gain access to Juliet’s chamber?
3. Juliet becomes angry and loses faith in her new husband when she hears that he has
killed Tybalt. Why does she respond this way?
4. How does Juliet react when she realises that Romeo is to be banished?
5. Why does the Nurse go to Friar Laurence’s cell?
Scene 3
1. Romeo takes to hiding in the Friar’s cell.
1.1 What news does the Friar bring him?
1.2 How does Romeo take this news?
2. What comfort does the Friar offer Romeo?
3. Where does Romeo plan to go to wait out his exile?
Scene 4
1. Suggest a reason for Capulet’s unseemly haste in arranging he marriage between Juliet
and Paris?
Scene 5
1. Juliet has a similar foreboding of doom similar to that expressed by Romeo in Act 1,Sc5.
How does it presage the tragedy to follow?
2. How does Juliet respond to her mother’s news that her father has arranged a marriage
with Paris?
3.1 What does the Nurse suggest when Juliet asks for her help?
3.2 What does this tell us about the Nurse’s character?
4. What does Juliet decide to do at the end of this scene?
ACT 4
Scene 1
1. What reason does Paris give the Friar for the hasty wedding?
2. How do you know that Juliet is close to despair when she comes to the Friar?
3. Explain the action of the potion the Friar gives to Juliet.
4. How does the Friar plan to reunite the lovers?
Scene 2
1. How does Capulet describe his daughter?
2. How does Capulet react when he seems to getting his own way? What does this tell us
about his character?
Scene 3
1. Why does Juliet refuse to have the Nurse or her mother to attend her on her on the
night before the wedding?
2. 1 What dangers does Juliet foresee when she takes the potion?
2.2 What gives her the strength to do it?
Scene 4
Shakespeare creates an atmosphere of bustling goodwill and excitement in this scene.
What is his purpose in doing so?
Scene 5
1. What is the dramatic effect of the Nurse’s slowness in approaching Juliet’s bed and her
bawdy jokes?
2. How do the Nurse and Lady Capulet react to Juliet’s death?
3. How does the Friar try to comfort the family?
4. What is the purpose of the clown scene between Peter and the musicians at the end of
this act?
ACT 5
Scene 1
1. Why is Romeo’s dream ironic?
2. Why does he so readily believe Balthazar that Juliet is dead?
3.1 How does Romeo obtain poison, even though it is illegal to sell it in Mantua?
3.2 What is the deeper significance of this scene with the apothecary?
Scene 2
1. Explain why Friar John was prevented from delivering Laurence’s message to Romeo.
Scene 3
1. Why has Paris come to Juliet’s tomb?
2. Explain Romeo’s anger at Balthazar.
3. Explain the metaphor that Shakespeare uses here?
4.1 Why does Paris try to stop Romeo from entering the tomb?
4.2 What is the outcome of this situation?
5. Why is Juliet’s grave ‘a lantern’ in Romeo’s eyes?
6. “Though art not conquered; beauty’s ensign yet
Is crimson in thy lips and in thy cheeks…”
Explain the bitter irony in these words.
7. Do you agree with the Friar that the spectacle he sees is the outcome of a malignant
fate? Why / Why not?
8. Why does the Friar leave the tomb with such haste that he does not ensure that Juliet
follows behind him?
9. Why is Juliet’s discovery that her dead husband’s lips are still warm particularly terrible?
10. Many modern performances of this play end the play right here, with Juliet’s suicide.
10.1 Suggest a reason for this.
10.2 What important message in the play is lost if this done?
11.1 What symbolic gesture do Capulet and Montague decide to make to prove the end of
their feud?
11.2 Is there choice of symbol appropriate?