What do we learn about the personalities of the
following characters in Act I, Scene I of Romeo
and Juliet?
Benvolio
Tybalt
The Prince
Romeo
A foil is a person who contrasts with another character in
order to make various traits in each character more
apparent. They complement each other.
Act I, scene iii
Act I, scene iii
Lady Capulet
Nurse
 “This is the matter –
Nurse, give us leave
awhile, / We must talk
in secret. Nurse, come
back again.
 “Enough of this. I pray
thee hold thy peace.”
 “Speak briefly, can you
like of Paris’ love?”
 “I have but four [teeth]”
 “I remember it well…I
never shall forget it.”
 “Thou was the prettiest
babe that e’er I nursed.
An I might live to see
thee married once, I
have my wish.”
 “Go, girl, seek happy
nights to happy days.”
Character Foil
Lady Capulet
 Formal
 Refined
 Detached from Juliet
Nurse
 Earthy (course and
unrefined)
 Crude-humored
 Warm and loving
Act I, scene iv
Act I, scene iv
Mercutio
Romeo
 “Nay, gentle Romeo, we
must have you dance.”
 “You are a lover.”
 “And so did I. / That
dreamers often lie.”
 Queen Mab speech
 “True, I talk of dreams; /
Which are the children of
an idle brain, / begot of
nothing but vain fantasy”
 “You have dancing shoes
/ With nimble soles; I
have a soul of lead / So
stakes me to the ground I
cannot move.”
 “I dreamt a dream to
night.”
 “In bed asleep, while they
do dream things true.”
 “for my mind misgives /
Some consequence, yet
hanging in the stars”
Character Foil
Mercutio
 Realist
 Jokester
 Believes you should
enjoy life
Romeo
 Dreamer
 Usually more serious
 Believes in the ideals of
passionate love
• Tybalt (hates peace) and Benvolio (peacemaker)
• Mrs. Capulet (uninvolved) and the nurse (motherly)
• Mercutio (realist) and Romeo (dreamer)
• Paris (“head” choice) and Romeo (“heart” choice)
HW: My Personal Foil
Create a character profile for your personal foil.
Think about the personality traits that you
possess and write about a fictional character
who would be the opposite of you.
Capulet
Servant
Romeo
Tybalt
Juliet
Nurse
Benvolio
If I profane with my unworthiest hand
This holy shrine, the gentle sin is this:
My lips, two blushing pilgrims, ready stand
To smooth that rough touch with a tender kiss.
Good pilgrim, you do wrong your hand too much,
Which mannerly devotion shows in this,
For saints have hands that pilgrims' hands do touch,
And palm to palm is holy palmers' kiss
Have not saints lips, and holy palmers too?
Ay, pilgrim, lips that they must use in prayer.
O, then, dear saint, let lips do what hands do.
They pray; grant thou, lest faith turn to despair.
Saints do not move, though grant for prayers' sake.
Then move not, while my prayer’s effect I take.
Explain the change that happens in Romeo
between the beginning and end of Act I.
What does this reveal about his character?
ACT II, SCENE I
Having left the feast, Romeo decides that he cannot go home. He
must instead try to find Juliet. He climbs a wall bordering the
Capulet property and leaps down into the Capulet orchard.
Benvolio and Mercutio enter, calling out for Romeo. They are sure
he is nearby, but Romeo does not answer. Exasperated and amused,
Mercutio mocks Romeo’s feelings for Rosaline in an obscene
speech. Mercutio and Benvolio exit under the assumption that
Romeo does not want to be found. In the orchard, Romeo hears
Mercutio’s teasing. He says to himself, “He jests at scars that never
felt a wound” (2.1.43).
Romeo
Juliet
Nurse