Romeo and Juliet Study Questions

Homework Question 1 Act 1, Scene 1 (I.i.) What suggests that Romeo is a man looking for someone to love? How would you describe his attitude?

Imagery: An image is a physical likeness or representation of a person or thing. Lilacs may suggest spring to you and all that spring as a season means. For someone else, lilacs may not have any special meaning. When people use images in their speech, they are trying to create a feeling or mood.

Group Study: What images of love does Romeo use in the first two scenes of Act 1 (e.g. love is….)? What mood does he create?

Journal Entry: What would you do if your parents told you that they had set up a date for you? Have your parents ever discussed marriage with you? Have they ever discussed the responsibilities of marriage and of having children? If so, how have you responded to their comments? Is there an age where it is too young to marry? Discuss your views.

Homework Question 2 Act 1, Scene 5 (I.v.) What is your impression of Capulet and of Tybalt within this scene? b) What is your impression of Romeo and Juliet’s first meeting?

Summative Assignment (End of Act 1 on…) 5 Journal Entries Start keeping the diary that either Romeo or Juliet might have kept from the time they met. Keep adding entries as the play progresses. You can write several entries but must submit 5 good ones (neatly rewritten/typed). You will be marked on how well you remain in character and demonstrate understanding of the personality, beliefs, speech, etc. of your character. Also, details, events from within the applicable scenes should be worked in to show understanding of readings. Each entry must be dated according to timelines within the play, and must be written within paragraphs (about a page for each entry). Pages must be numbered and applicable scenes should be written at the top of each page (with a creative title).

Film Viewing Questions: As you watch the film version of Romeo and Juliet by Franco Zeffirelli, note: What is true to the script version? What is different from the script? Does the film capture the essence of the script so far?

Homework Question 3: Act 2, Scene 2 (II.ii.) For questions 1 and 2 below, be sure to prove with quotations from the script. 1. What kinds of statements does Romeo make to Juliet about his love for her? Do you believe that he is sincere? 2. Do you believe that Juliet is sincere in her responses to Romeo, or do you think she is leading him on? In your own words, summarize what Juliet says to Romeo. 3. How many times is the word “love” used in this scene? Why do you think it is repeated so often here?

Language of Shakespeare Shakespeare uses three different writing styles in his plays: 1. Prose: -ordinary speech with no regular pattern of rhythm (stress pattern) -follows standard rules of capitalization and is left-justified as normal text 2. Blank Verse: unrhymed iambic pentameter 3. Rhymed Verse: usually pattern of rhyming couplets (aabbcc…) written in iambic pentameter *In verse, the first letter of each line is capitalized and the text appears as a column Capping Couplet: a rhyming couplet used at the end of blank verse to emphasize a key idea or feeling

Class Discussion Questions Act 2, Scene 4 1 a) What do we learn at the beginning of this scene, that Tybalt has done in regards to Romeo? b) Which of Tybalt’s qualities does Mercutio talk about? How does this description of Tybalt make you feel about him? 2. a)What instructions does Romeo give Juliet’s Nurse regarding the marriage (when and where is Juliet to meet him)? b) What could go wrong with these marriage plans (the nurse suggests one such worry)?

Model Answer for Homework Questions: 1. a) At the beginning of this scene we learn that Tybalt has challenged Romeo to a duel. We know because Benvolio tells Mercutio that “Tybalt, the kinsman of old Capulet, / Hath sent a letter to his father’s house” (II.iv.6-7). Mercutio responds, “A challenge, on my life” (8). b) Mercutio describes Tybalt as a proficient duellist who fights by the book, so accurate that he can cut off a button from a jacket, “the very butcher of a silk button” (23). He compares Tybalt’s fencing style to music as he, “rests me his minim rest, one, two, and the / third in your bosom” (22-23).

2. a) Romeo tells Nurse to pass on to Juliet that she must come this afternoon to confession at Friar Laurence’s cell to receive God’s absolution and then to be married, “Bid her devise / Some means to come to shrift this afternoon; / And there she shall at Friar Laurence’ cell / Be shrived and married” (II.iv.172-75). b) Nurse tells Romeo, “Is your man secret? Did you ne’er hear say, / ‘Two may keep counsel, putting one away’?” (188-89). When Romeo says that he will have a man waiting for Juliet and the Nurse with a rope ladder, Nurse is concerned that Romeo’s man will keep a secret, since the more people you involve in a secret, the greater the chance for the secret to told.

Homework Question #4 Act 2 Imagine yourself as a practising diagnostic physician. Romeo and/or Juliet’s love, or infatuation, is, in your opinion, a disease. What drug could you prescribe that might cure it or at least lessen its symptoms? How does this drug work? In what ways does the cured person differ from the sick one? If you were describing this disease in a medical journal, what name would you assign to it? What preventative measures would you advise others to use so that they could avoid contracting this disease?

Group Assignment In groups, you will use the description, information you wrote about the “disease of love/infatuation”. 1. Each person must read his/her description to the group. 2. Together, you will prepare a script for a segment of a newscast called “The Doctor Says” in which you have one minute to present the above information to your viewers. You will then present your script to the class. All people in the group must have a speaking role.

Homework Question #5 Act 3 Write a newspaper feature on the Montague-Capulet fight. A feature story in a newspaper emphasizes special human interest, something that appeals to some feeling we share. In your account you should include the following: -who is responsible for the fight (who provoked who) -how the confrontation could have been avoided -was Romeo responsible for the fight or deaths? -how has the law been broken and by who -motives? -consider what you are reporting, and also who, what, why, when (that relate directly to the what)

Act 3, Scene 2: Juliet’s Speech 1. Reread Juliet’s first speech at the beginning of this scene. On one side of a page, list all the references she makes to day, and on the other side of the page, list all the references to night. Include the qualities she associates with each. What is the purpose of this contrast? 2. Look up the word “banished” in a dictionary and list as many meanings as you can. In groups, decide why Juliet keeps repeating the word. How many of you listed definitions might apply to Juliet’s situation?

Homework Question #6: Act 3, Scene 3, Friar Lawrence’s Cell When Romeo hears about Juliet’s suffering, he pulls out his sword, about to kill himself. What arguments does Friar Lawrence use to convince Romeo to stop?