Romeo and Juliet

Text Guide

Name:

Teacher:

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AO1 Meaning: The Simplified Story
(circle and look up any words that you do not understand).
Verona is home to two feuding noble houses, the Montagues and the Capulets. In response to the constant
brawling between members of these families, the Prince of Verona has issued an edict that will impose a
death sentence on anyone caught duelling. Against this backdrop, young Romeo of the house of Montague
has recently been infatuated with Rosaline, a niece of Capulet. Rosaline is quickly forgotten, however,
when Romeo and his friends disguise themselves and slip into a masque ball at Capulet's house. During the
festivities, Romeo catches his first glimpse of Juliet, Capulet's daughter. In one of Shakespeare's most
memorable scenes, Romeo steals into the garden and professes his love to Juliet, who stands above on her
balcony. The two young lovers, with the aid of Friar Laurence, make plans to be married in secret.

Tybalt, Juliet's cousin, later discovers that Romeo has attended the ball, and he sets out to teach the young
Montague a lesson at the point of his sword. Romeo is challenged by Tybalt, but tries to avoid a duel
between them since he is now married to Juliet (making Tybalt a kinsman). Mercutio, Romeo's best friend,
takes up Tybalt's challenge and is killed in the ensuing fight. Enraged, Romeo slays Tybalt in turn. As a
result of this bloodshed, the Prince proclaims that Romeo is to be banished from Verona for his actions.
Romeo has time to consummate the marriage and bid farewell to Juliet, though he hopes to be reunited
with her once the Capulets learn that they are man and wife.

The Capulets, meanwhile, press for Juliet to marry Paris, a cousin to the Prince. Juliet, relying again on Friar
Laurence, devises a desperate plan to avoid her parent's wishes. She obtains a drug that will make her
seem dead for forty-two hours; while she is in this state, Friar Laurence will send word to Romeo of the
situation so that he can rescue her from her tomb. Unfortunately, fate will not be so kind; the letter from
Friar Laurence is delayed. Romeo instead hears second-hand news that Juliet has died. Grief-stricken,
Romeo purchases poison and hastens to Juliet's tomb to die at her side. Meanwhile, Friar Laurence has
discovered to his horror that his letter did not arrive, and he means to take Juliet away until he can set
things right.

At the tomb, Romeo encounters Paris, who mourns for Juliet. Romeo slays Paris, then enters the tomb and
downs his poison. As Friar Laurence comes upon the scene, Juliet awakens only to find the lifeless body of
her beloved Romeo laying beside her. Juliet takes the dagger from Romeo's belt and plunges it into her
heart. Upon this scene, the Prince arrives—along with the Montague and Capulet parents—demanding to
know what has happened. Friar Laurence relates to all the tragic tale of Romeo and Juliet's secret marriage
and their senseless suicides. The Montagues and Capulets, when faced with the terrible price that their
feud has exacted, vow to put an end to the enmity between their two houses. The play closes with the
Prince reflecting upon the tragedy of the two young lovers’ deaths.

On the next page, produce a list of ten bullet-points

which tell the story of Romeo and Juliet…

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AO3: Context
Even though you are not assessed for context for the Shakespeare section of the
exam, you need to have an understanding of what was happening at the time
that the play was set. This information will support your understanding of key
characters and events within the play and why characters’ behaviour is
somewhat controversial in parts.
Government
The reigning monarch of England was Queen Elizabeth I. She governed the nation from London, even
though fewer than half a million people of the total country population of six million that lived in the
country. The average man had no vote and women had no rights whatsoever.
Religion
England was a Christian country. All children were baptized, soon after they were born. They were taught
the value of the Christian faith and instructed to their duty to God. Marriages were conducted only by
licensed clergy and according to the Christian rites of tradition. In Elizabethan times, people got married
much earlier than they do today. It would be common practice to get married at 13 years of age. Normally,
parents would choose their child's partner and this would be based on wealth, potential titles and family
ties.
Drama and the Theatre
At the beginning of the Elizabethan era, plays were performed by groups of actors. These were all-male
characters (boys acted the female roles) who travelled from town to town, performing in open spaces with
the permission of the landowner. In 1576, the Theatre (imaginatively named) was constructed for
performances to take place within. This was met with disapproval; theatres brought huge crowds together
which resulted in fast spreading disease and dangerously, new ideas. The Puritans tried to close down the
theatres as they were concerned that rules of behaviour were not as strict as they would prefer.
Shakespeare and Tragedy
Shakespeare’s purpose when writing the play was to explore the validity of true love. The basic story
would have already been familiar to his audience; Shakespeare’s aim was to produce an interesting
variation on the theme of forbidden love.

A tragedy is a drama which traces the career and downfall of an individual. The ingredients of tragedy are:
*The tragic hero should be of high, but not perfect, worth or standing.
*A tragic flaw, weakness or excess of arrogant ambition (hubris) leads to downfall.

‘Romeo and Juliet’ is viewed as a tragedy because it is generally accepted that responsibility for their
downfall lies outside the characters- in the workings of so-called Fate. It is the family feud rather than any
moral weakness that leads to the deaths of the lovers.

Comprehension Questions (AO1)

Answer in full sentences that make sense on their own.
1. What rights did women have in Elizabethan times?
2. Which religion was predominant within England at the time?
3. Why was the construction of the Theatre met with disapproval?
4. What are the ingredients of a tragedy and how does Romeo and Juliet fit these?
5. Why did Shakespeare write the play?
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AO2 The Features of a Shakespearean Text
Feature Definition Example
Tragedy A drama that tracks the downfall of a flawed
hero

The heroic lead within a play, text or film

Protagonist
Prologue The introductory section of a play or text

Foil A foil character is one that has traits that are

opposite of another character

A hint of an event that will take place at a

later point
Foreshadowing
Speaking aloud alone on stage, usually about
personal thoughts or feelings
Soliloquy
Reference to someone in a direct or indirect
way, usually a biblical or mythological
Allusion reference within literature

Sonnet form A lyric poem consisting of fourteen lines in

iambic pentameter, typically used to show
particularly strong emotions
a line of verse with five metrical feet, each
consisting of one short (or unstressed)
Iambic syllable followed by one long (or stressed)
pentameter syllable.
When the audience knows more than the
characters. Dramatic irony gives power to
Dramatic Irony the audience. Shakespeare uses it to
highlight the cruel nature of fate.
Prose Also known as free or blank verse, written
text in ordinary form

Oxymoron A type of antithesis with two contradicting

terms that relate to the same idea.

Religious Figurative language that creates religious

connotations for the audience
imagery
Pun Word play for humour, using a word that has
several meanings.

Juxtaposition
Two things placed together for contrasting
effect.

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 How to use this booklet

This is your Romeo and Juliet bible! Once we complete the unit, this will be your go-to
guide for revision. As you complete each section, you will see the following icons that
give you analysis of characters or themes explored within the play:

Nature, Love vs Hate and Violence, Spiritual love and Religious imagery, Fate vs Free will:
unfortunate turn of events, family/youth vs age and light vs darkness

FIRST IMPRESSIONS:
Juliet Romeo Lord Capulet

Lady Capulet Nurse Friar Lawrence

Mercutio Benvolio Tybalt

Use this page to add adjectives to each character as we are introduced to

them to give you a developed understanding of their personality; later in this
booklet, we will revisit each character and consider how their experiences
reveal other aspects of their character.

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 Exam Practice AO1, AO2: What does the Prologue Reveal?

Two households, both alike in dignity,

In fair Verona, where we lay our scene,
From ancient grudge break to new mutiny,
Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean.
From forth the fatal loins of these two foes
A pair of star-cross'd lovers take their life;
Whose misadventured piteous overthrows
Do with their death bury their parents' strife.
The fearful passage of their death-mark'd love,
And the continuance of their parents' rage,
Which, but their children's end, nought could remove,
Is now the two hours' traffic of our stage;
The which if you with patient ears attend,
What here shall miss, our toil shall strive to mend.

Do with their death bury their parents' strife.

How does the writer Why is it effective?

 Link to the actual words used
achieve it?  What does it make you feel/do?
 Identify a technique/ use of language  What are the connotations?
 Use a quotation  Does it have an emotional impact?

What does the prologue reveal to us about the play?

 Choose two micro-quotations from the text.
 Re-phrase the question as a statement, using your two micro-quotations in it.
 On the surface the simile ‘…’ means...
 Yet, on a deeper level we can infer…
 Here, Shakespeare employs the word/phrase ‘...’ to imply…
 Perhaps, the chorus was hinting that…
Useful vocabulary: figurative, foreshadowing, juxtaposition, sonnet

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Example One
The prologue reveals the events with the play to us.
On the surface, the quote, ‘Do with their death bury their parents' strife’ means that the Capulets and Montagues
have been fighting with each other.
Yet on a deeper level, the word, ‘bury’ shows the death of their children ends the feud in a tragic state of events.
Shakespeare employs the word, ‘bury’ to suggest the extreme lengths that were needed to bring the conflict to an
end.
Perhaps Shakespeare is hinting at the fact that the feud was both pointless and unjustified.
How good is this answer? Why?

Example Two
The prologue reveals the tragic qualities of the play to us before we watch the story unfold, foreshadowing the tragic
elements of the play itself.
On the surface, the quote, ‘Do with their death bury their parents’ strife’ presents the ongoing feud between the
Capulets and the Montagues.
Yet on a deeper level, the word, ‘strife,’ demonstrates the anguish that both the feud and the deaths of their
children have cost both families on an emotional level.
Shakespeare employs the word, ‘bury’ to convey both the literal meaning of Romeo and Juliet’s death but also the
metaphorical meaning, the need to bring conflict between both families to an end.
Perhaps Shakespeare is foreshadowing the end of the play to ensure that we understand the moral element of the
plot.
Why is this answer better than Example One?

Example Three
The prologue reveals the tragic features of the play to the audience but also reveals the ongoing idea that death is
necessary to change within a society wrapped in conflict like the Verona described to us within the play.
On the surface, the quote, ‘Do with their death bury their parents’ strife,’ presents both the feud continued by both
families but also hints at the fact the both the Montagues and Capulets have ultimately lost people of huge value as
a result.
On a deeper level, we can infer that ‘strife’ hints at the idea that the feud was hurtful and painful for both families
involved. The word, ‘bury’ is used figuratively to show that death was a tragic but somewhat essential step to end
the conflict between the Montagues and the Capulets.
Perhaps Shakespeare is foreshadowing the end of the story, when The two lovers’ deaths are the pivotal point that
high society within Verona realise that their grudge has been futile.
Why is this the best of all?

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 Act One Comprehension: Summary of Act One (AO1)
A1S1: Sampson and Gregory, servants to the Capulets and Abraham and Balthasar, servants to the
Montague family start a _____________, which is joined by Benvolio (Montague) and Tybalt (Capulet).
Escalus, the Prince of ______________who angrily learns of this fight, declares a death penalty for further
________ between the two families. Romeo we learn is ________; Rosaline, the object of his affections will
not requite his love. His friend Benvolio tells Romeo to look at other girls to stop Romeo lingering over
thoughts of her.

A1S2: Meanwhile Capulet is _____ for Paris to marry his daughter Juliet and plans a party to be held later
that night. Capulet discusses Juliet with Paris, and shows concern that she is still too young but then closes
the discussion by stating that he hopes Paris can win her ______.

A1S3: Lady Capulet discusses the idea of marriage to Paris with Juliet. The Lady asks the Nurse to stay
whilst she discusses marriage with Juliet. Lady Capulet asks Juliet what she thinks about getting married.
Juliet replies that she has not given it any thought. Lady Capulet observes that she gave _______to Juliet
when she was almost Juliet’s current age. She excitedly continues that Juliet must begin to think about
marriage because the “valiant Paris” has expressed an interest in her. Juliet dutifully replies that she will
look upon Paris at the feast to see if she might ______him.

A1S4: Romeo explains that in a dream he learned that going to the feast was a bad idea. Mercutio
responds with a long speech about ________ of the fairies, who visits people’s dreams. The speech begins
as a joke, but Mercutio becomes almost _________by it, and the moment becomes tense. Romeo steps in
to stop the speech and calm Mercutio down, at which point Mercutio admits that he has been talking of
nothing. Romeo has a feeling that the night’s activities will set in motion the action of fate, resulting in
untimely ________.

Romeo and friends decide to turn up uninvited, Romeo hoping to see _________ whom he still pines for.

A1S5: At the Capulet's party, Romeo who is disguised by a ______, becomes transfixed by Juliet and falls in
love with her on sight. Capulet stops Tybalt from attacking Romeo at his party, telling him there will be
other opportunities, but also that he is being __________ by attempting to start a fight in the Lord’s home.
Meanwhile, Romeo has approached Juliet and touched her hand. In a dialogue laced with religious
metaphors that figure Juliet as a saint and Romeo as a pilgrim who wishes to erase his _______, he tries to
convince her to kiss him and Juliet agrees to remain still as Romeo kisses her.

Both Romeo and Juliet learn that they are each enemies of the other's family. A Prologue sung by a choir
dramatizes the conflict both Romeo and Juliet feel between their love for one another and their ________
to their respective families.

Use the vocabulary below to fill in the gaps

Street fight Birth Mask

Verona Queen Mab Disrespectful
Feuding Death Sin
Lovesick Entranced Loyalty
Keen Rosaline love

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Comprehension Questions (AO1)
1. Choose three adjectives to describe Romeo. Is he our typical hero? Why/why not?
2. How does Shakespeare ensure that the audience understand the severity of the feud?
3. What do we learn about Juliet at this stage?
4. How does Shakespeare want Capulet to appear to the audience? Why?
5. What phrase shows Juliet’s shock when she finds out Romeo is a Montague?
6. Where are later events of death or misfortune foreshadowed within this act?

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(AO2) Act One Vocabulary – find the full quote/example in the
play.
brawling Well-seeming transgression
(verb) (adjective) (noun)
Fighting, usually in a public Apparently beautiful. An act that goes against a rule.
place so that others can pass
judgment as they watch on.

Marr’d hoodwinked fleer

(verb) (verb) (noun)
Spoiled, ruined, damaged. Blindfolded, to hide or Sneer to show disgust.
deceived

Saucy Mannerly forswear

(adjective) (adjective) (verb)
Insolent or disobedient. Polite. To deny or reject.
.

Perforce Prodigious Foe

(verb) (adjective) (noun)
Compelled to do something. Ominous, abnormal or Enemy.
predicting evil.

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 Act 1, Scene 1 Exam Practice AO1, AO2: How is Romeo presented within the
extract?
ROMEO
Alas, that love, whose view is muffled still,
Should, without eyes, see pathways to his will!
Where shall we dine? O me! What fray was here?
Yet tell me not, for I have heard it all.
Here's much to do with hate, but more with love.
Why, then, O brawling love! O loving hate!
O any thing, of nothing first create!
O heavy lightness! serious vanity!
Mis-shapen chaos of well-seeming forms!
Feather of lead, bright smoke, cold fire,
sick health!
Still-waking sleep, that is not what it is!
This love feel I, that feel no love in this.
Dost thou not laugh?
BENVOLIO
No, coz, I rather weep.
ROMEO
Good heart, at what?
BENVOLIO
At thy good heart's oppression.
ROMEO
Why, such is love's transgression.
Griefs of mine own lie heavy in my breast,
Which thou wilt propagate, to have it prest
With more of thine: this love that thou hast shown
Doth add more grief to too much of mine own.
Love is a smoke raised with the fume of sighs;
Being purged, a fire sparkling in lovers' eyes;
Being vex'd a sea nourish'd with lovers' tears:
What is it else? a madness most discreet,
A choking gall and a preserving sweet.
Farewell, my coz.

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 ROMEO: Here we meet our protagonist. Expecting a dashing, WORDBANK:
brave, valiant young man, what type of hero do we find instead?
Pessimistic, contradictory, impulsive,
masculine,

Feather of lead, bright smoke, cold fire, sick health!

How does the writer Why is it effective?

 Link to the actual words used
achieve it?  What does it make you feel/do?
 Identify a technique/ use of language  What are the connotations?
 Use a quotation  Does it have an emotional impact?

How is Romeo presented within the extract?

 Choose two micro-quotations from the text.
 Re-phrase the question as a statement, using your two micro-quotations in it.
 On the surface the simile ‘…’ means...
 Yet, on a deeper level we can infer…
 Here, Shakespeare employs the word/phrase ‘...’ to imply…
 Perhaps, this implies that Romeo is…
Useful vocabulary: figurative, oxymoronic, protagonist

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A1 S5: The Shared Sonnet: Romeo and Juliet fall in love at first sight
ROMEO
[To JULIET] If I profane with my unworthiest hand 1
This holy shrine, the gentle fine is this: 2
My lips, two blushing pilgrims, ready stand 3
To smooth that rough touch with a tender kiss. 4
JULIET
Good pilgrim, you do wrong your hand too much, 5
Which mannerly devotion shows in this; 6
For saints have hands that pilgrims' hands do touch, 7
And palm to palm is holy palmers' kiss. 8
ROMEO
Have not saints lips, and holy palmers too? 9
JULIET
Ay, pilgrim, lips that they must use in prayer. 10
ROMEO
O, then, dear saint, let lips do what hands do; 11
They pray, grant thou, lest faith turn to despair. 12
JULIET
Saints do not move, though grant for prayers' sake. 13
ROMEO
Then move not, while my prayer's effect I take. 14

 Read the sonnet and look out for the words at the end
of each line. Can you identify which lines rhyme?

 Romeo and Juliet’s shared sonnet is punctuated with repeated words.

Can you highlight or underline the words in the sonnet that are
repeated? Why might these words be significant?

When Romeo and Juliet meet they speak just fourteen lines before JULIET: We see a secretive side
their first kiss. These fourteen lines make up a shared sonnet, with a to Juliet’s character here. To
rhyme scheme of ababcdcdefefgg. A sonnet is a perfect, idealized what extent is she innocent and
poetic form often used to write about love. Encapsulating the naïve?
moment of origin of Romeo and Juliet’s love within a sonnet
therefore creates a perfect match between literary content and
formal style. The use of the sonnet, however, also serves a second,
darker purpose. Where have we already seen the sonnet form within
this play? How does this foreshadow later events relating to these
characters?

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 Act Two Comprehension: Summary of Act Two (AO1)
A2S1: Having left the feast, Romeo climbs a wall and leaps down into the Capulet _________ Juliet
suddenly appears at a window above the spot where Romeo is standing. Romeo compares her to the
morning ____, far more beautiful than the moon it banishes. He nearly speaks to her, but thinks better of
it. Juliet, musing to herself, asks why Romeo must be Romeo—a Montague, and therefore an _______ to
her family. Romeo responds to her plea, surprising Juliet, since she thought she was alone. The pair
confesses their ______. Romeo begins to swear to her, but she stops him, concerned that everything is
happening too quickly. He reassures her, and the two confess their love again. Juliet tells Romeo that she
will send someone to him the next day to see if his love is _________ and if he intends to wed her; they
settle on nine in the morning.

A2S2: Romeo visits Friar Lawrence and describes his new love for Juliet, his intent to _______ her, and his
desire that the friar _________ to marry them that very day. Friar Lawrence is shocked at this sudden shift
from Rosaline to Juliet. He comments on the _________ of young love. Romeo defends himself, noting that
Juliet returns his love while Rosaline did not. Remaining _________at Romeo’s sudden change of heart,
Friar Lawrence nonetheless _______ to marry the couple. He expresses the hope that the marriage of
Romeo and Juliet might end the _______ ravaging the Montagues and Capulets.

A2S3: Mercutio and Benvolio discuss the fact that Tybalt has sent Romeo a challenge to a ______. Romeo
arrives, followed shortly by the Nurse, and when they are alone Romeo tells her of the ________ plans: the
ceremony will be performed that afternoon, and so Juliet will need to leave home secretly and meet him at
the Friar’s cell.

A2S4: Juliet anxiously presses the Nurse for news. The Nurse claims to be too tired, sore, and out of breath
to tell Juliet what has happened. Juliet grows ________, and eventually the Nurse gives in and tells her that
Romeo is waiting at Friar Lawrence’s cell to marry her.

A2S5: As they wait for Juliet to arrive at the cell, Friar Lawrence counsels Romeo to love moderately and
not with too much ___________, saying, “these violent delights have violent ends” (2.5.9). Juliet enters
and the lovers exit with Friar Lawrence to be wed.

Use the vocabulary below to fill in the gaps

Orchard Duel Sun

Honourable Frantic Enemy
Marry Intensity Wedding
Feud Fickleness Love
sceptical agrees consent

Comprehension Questions:
1. Choose three adjectives to describe Friar Lawrence. Is he what we expect?
2. How does Shakespeare ensure that the audience understand the extremity of time in this act?
3. What do we learn about Romeo at this stage?
4. How does Shakespeare want the Nurse to appear to the audience? Why?
5. What phrase shows Romeo’s love at first sight?
6. What reasons could Shakespeare have had to choose not to include a scene showing the wedding
of Romeo and Juliet?
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(AO2) Act Two Vocabulary – find the full quote/example in the
play.

wherefore Discourses spheres

(adverb) (verb) (verb)
why Speak eloquently to orbit

Contract bent sallow

(noun) (noun) (adjective)
agreement Intention or promise Sickly or pale .

Wanton Tardy Conceit

(adjective) (noun) (noun)
Uncontrolled or playful late Imagination

Unbruised Perjuries Frank

(adjective) (noun) (adjective)
Unharmed, either physically or Broken vows To speak honestly or generously
mentally

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 A2S2 Romeo’s soliloquy: Daring to approach Juliet
ROMEO
He jests at scars that never felt a wound.

JULIET appears above at a window

But, soft! what light through yonder window breaks?

It is the east, and Juliet is the sun.
Arise, fair sun, and kill the envious moon,
Who is already sick and pale with grief,
That thou her maid art far more fair than she:
Be not her maid, since she is envious;
Her vestal livery is but sick and green
And none but fools do wear it; cast it off.
It is my lady, O, it is my love!
O, that she knew she were!
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:
Two of the fairest stars in all the heaven,
Having some business, do entreat her eyes
To twinkle in their spheres till they return.
What if her eyes were there, they in her head?
The brightness of her cheek would shame those stars,
As daylight doth a lamp; her eyes in heaven
Would through the airy region stream so bright
That birds would sing and think it were not night.
See, how she leans her cheek upon her hand!
O, that I were a glove upon that hand,
That I might touch that cheek!
JULIET
Ay me!
ROMEO
She speaks:
O, speak again, bright angel! for thou art
As glorious to this night, being o'er my head
As is a winged messenger of heaven
Unto the white-upturned wondering eyes
Of mortals that fall back to gaze on him
When he bestrides the lazy-pacing clouds
And sails upon the bosom of the air.

O, speak again, bright angel!

How does the writer Why is it effective?

 Link to the actual words used
achieve it?  What does it make you feel/do?

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 Identify a technique/ use of language  What are the connotations?
 Use a quotation  Does it have an emotional impact?

How is Romeo’s love for Juliet presented within the soliloquy?

 Choose two micro-quotations from the text.
 Re-phrase the question as a statement, using your two micro-quotations in it.
 Literally, the simile ‘…’ means...
 Yet, figuratively, we can consider…
 Here, Shakespeare employs the word/phrase ‘...’ to imply…
 Perhaps, this indicates that Romeo’s love is…
Useful vocabulary: soliloquy, religious imagery, light, darkness

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 Act 2 Scene 3: The Friar offers words of wisdom
ROMEO
That last is true; the sweeter rest was mine.
FRIAR LAURENCE
God pardon sin! wast thou with Rosaline?
ROMEO
With Rosaline, my ghostly father? no;
I have forgot that name, and that name's woe.
FRIAR LAURENCE
That's my good son: but where hast thou been, then?
ROMEO
I'll tell thee, ere thou ask it me again.
I have been feasting with mine enemy,
Where on a sudden one hath wounded me,
That's by me wounded: both our remedies
Within thy help and holy physic lies:
I bear no hatred, blessed man, for, lo,
My intercession likewise steads my foe.
FRIAR LAURENCE
Be plain, good son, and homely in thy drift;
Riddling confession finds but riddling shrift.
ROMEO
Then plainly know my heart's dear love is set
On the fair daughter of rich Capulet:
As mine on hers, so hers is set on mine;
And all combined, save what thou must combine
By holy marriage: when and where and how
We met, we woo'd and made exchange of vow,
I'll tell thee as we pass; but this I pray,
That thou consent to marry us to-day.

How does the Friar act as a father figure to Romeo here?

 All Friar Lawrence’s speeches in this scene are written in rhyming couplets.
 Does this make Friar clever but superficial?
 Does he seem old, wise and dignified?
 Notice that Romeo mirrors the rhyme to complete the couplets. Why might Shakespeare have
chosen to do so?

Useful vocabulary: soliloquy, religious imagery, light, darkness

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Act 2 Scene 6: What is the role of Friar Lawrence within the play?
FRIAR LAURENCE
These violent delights have violent ends
And in their triumph die, like fire and powder,
Which as they kiss consume: the sweetest honey
Is loathsome in his own deliciousness
And in the taste confounds the appetite:
Therefore love moderately; long love doth so;
Too swift arrives as tardy as too slow.

Enter JULIET

Here comes the lady: O, so light a foot

Will ne'er wear out the everlasting flint:
A lover may bestride the gossamer
That idles in the wanton summer air,
And yet not fall; so light is vanity.
JULIET
Good even to my ghostly confessor.
FRIAR LAURENCE
Romeo shall thank thee, daughter, for us both.
JULIET
As much to him, else is his thanks too much.
ROMEO
Ah, Juliet, if the measure of thy joy
Be heap'd like mine and that thy skill be more
To blazon it, then sweeten with thy breath
This neighbour air, and let rich music's tongue
Unfold the imagined happiness that both
Receive in either by this dear encounter.
JULIET
Conceit, more rich in matter than in words,
Brags of his substance, not of ornament:
They are but beggars that can count their worth;
But my true love is grown to such excess
I cannot sum up sum of half my wealth.
FRIAR LAURENCE
Come, come with me, and we will make short work;
For, by your leaves, you shall not stay alone
Till holy church incorporate two in one.

Exeunt
FRIAR LAWRENCE: What do we
learn about the Friar’s
Here, with the line, ‘these violent delights have violent ends,’ the character here? What are the
Friar warns Romeo (and foreshadows again to the audience, different interpretations of the
reinforcing the message of the prologue). He is trying to warn him line, ‘we shall make short
about the dangers of treating love as a religion in addition to how work’?
catastrophic it is to worship someone.

23
 Act Three Comprehension: Summary of Act Three (AO1)
A3S1: Tybalt approaches Benvolio and Mercutio and asks to speak with one of them. Annoyed, Mercutio
begins to taunt and ________him. Romeo enters. Tybalt calls Romeo a villain and commands him to draw
his sword. Romeo protests that he does not wish to fight him; Mercutio angrily draws his sword and states
that if Romeo will not fight Tybalt, he will. Mercutio and Tybalt begin to fight. Tybalt stabs Mercutio and
Mercutio dies, _________ both the Montagues and the Capulets. When Tybalt, still angry, storms back
onto the scene, Romeo kills Tybalt, before running in panic. The Prince enters, and chooses to _________
Romeo from Verona. He declares that should Romeo be found within the city, he will be killed.

A3S2: Juliet longs for night to fall so that Romeo will come to her. Suddenly the Nurse rushes in with news
of the fight between Romeo and Tybalt. But the Nurse is so distraught, she _________ over the words,
making it sound as if Romeo is dead. The Nurse then begins to moan about Tybalt’s death, and Juliet briefly
fears that both Romeo and Tybalt are dead. When Juliet understands that Romeo has killed Tybalt and
been sentenced to exile, she curses __________. Juliet claims that Romeo’s banishment is worse than ten
thousand slain Tybalts. The Nurse assures her that she knows where Romeo is hiding, and will see to it that
Romeo comes to her for their __________ night.

A3S3: In Friar Lawrence’s cell, Friar Lawrence tells Romeo that the Prince has only banished him. Romeo
claims that banishment is a __________ far worse than death, and falls to the floor. The Nurse arrives, and
Romeo desperately asks her for news of Juliet. Friar Lawrence stops him and scolds him for being
___________. The friar sets forth a plan: Romeo will visit Juliet that night, but make sure to leave her
chamber, and Verona, before the morning. He will then reside in Mantua until news of their marriage can
be spread. The Nurse hands Romeo the ring from Juliet, and this physical __________of their love revives
his spirits.

A3S4: Capulet, Lady Capulet, and Paris walk together. Paris is about to leave when Capulet calls him back
and says he thinks his daughter will listen to him, then corrects himself and states that he is sure Juliet will
___________ by his decision. He promises Paris that the wedding will be held on Wednesday, then stops
suddenly and asks what day it is. Paris responds that it is Monday; Capulet decides that Wednesday is too
soon, and that the wedding should instead be held on ___________.

A3S5: before dawn, Romeo prepares to lower himself from Juliet’s window to begin his exile. The Nurse
enters to warn Juliet that Lady Capulet is approaching. Standing in the orchard below her window, Romeo
promises Juliet that they will see one another again, but Juliet responds that he appears pale, as one dead
in the bottom of a ___________. Romeo answers that, to him, she appears the same way, and that it is
only sorrow that makes them both look pale.

Lady Capulet enters the room and mistakes Juliet’s tears as continued grief for Tybalt. When Lady Capulet
tells Juliet about Capulet’s plan for her to marry Paris on Thursday, she ________ the match, Capulet
enters the chamber. When he learns of Juliet’s determination to defy him he __________ to disown Juliet
if she refuses to obey him. When Juliet entreats her mother to intercede, her mother denies her help.
The Nurse advises her to go through with the marriage to Paris—he is a better match, she says, and Romeo
is as good as dead anyhow. Juliet pretends to agree, and tells her nurse that she is going to make
confession at Friar Lawrence’s. If the friar is unable to help her, Juliet comments to herself, she still has the
___________ to take her own life.

24
Use the vocabulary below to fill in the gaps

Rejects Power Curse

Thursday Abide Exile
Provoke Tomb Wedding
Stumbles Threatens Penalty
nature unmanly symbol

Comprehension Questions (AO1)

1. Choose three key events from this act that speed up the intensity of the tragedy.
2. How is honour and reputation important within this act?
3. How does the Nurse lose Juliet’s trust?
4. Why does Friar Lawrence scold Romeo?
5. What possible problems does the Friar’s plan present?
6. What one thing does Juliet still feel is within her control (what is not)?

25
(AO2) Act Three Vocabulary – find the full quote/example in
the play.
Consort Slander Forebear
(verb) (noun) (noun)
Associate with someone, Make false and ancestor
to the disapproval of damaging statements
others about someone

Dishonourable Determine Villain

(adjective) (verb) (noun)
bringing shame upon cause (something) to A character with evil actions or
someone occur in a particular way motives

Banished Mangle Chide

(noun) (verb) (verb)
send (someone) away destroy or severely To scold
from a country or place as damage by tearing or
an official punishment. crushing

Unseemly Wreak Mammet

(adjective) (verb) (noun)
Describes behaviour that is Cause a large amount of A doll or puppet
not appropriate damage or harm

26
 A3S3: The Brawl for Honour
TYBALT
Mercutio, thou consort'st with Romeo,--
MERCUTIO
Consort! what, dost thou make us minstrels? an
thou make minstrels of us, look to hear nothing but
discords: here's my fiddlestick; here's that shall
make you dance. 'Zounds, consort!
BENVOLIO
We talk here in the public haunt of men:
Either withdraw unto some private place,
And reason coldly of your grievances,
Or else depart; here all eyes gaze on us.
MERCUTIO
Men's eyes were made to look, and let them gaze;
I will not budge for no man's pleasure, I.

Enter ROMEO

TYBALT
Well, peace be with you, sir: here comes my man.
MERCUTIO
But I'll be hanged, sir, if he wear your livery:
Marry, go before to field, he'll be your follower;
Your worship in that sense may call him 'man.'
TYBALT
Romeo, the hate I bear thee can afford
No better term than this,--thou art a villain.
ROMEO
Tybalt, the reason that I have to love thee
Doth much excuse the appertaining rage
To such a greeting: villain am I none;
Therefore farewell; I see thou know'st me not.
TYBALT
Boy, this shall not excuse the injuries
That thou hast done me; therefore turn and draw.
ROMEO
I do protest, I never injured thee,
But love thee better than thou canst devise,
Till thou shalt know the reason of my love:
And so, good Capulet,--which name I tender
As dearly as my own,--be satisfied.
MERCUTIO
O calm, dishonourable, vile submission!
Alla stoccata carries it away.

27
Draws

Tybalt, you rat-catcher, will you walk?

TYBALT
What wouldst thou have with me?
MERCUTIO
Good king of cats, nothing but one of your nine
lives; that I mean to make bold withal, and as you
shall use me hereafter, drybeat the rest of the
eight. Will you pluck your sword out of his pitcher
by the ears? make haste, lest mine be about your
ears ere it be out.
TYBALT
I am for you.

Drawing

ROMEO
Gentle Mercutio, put thy rapier up.
MERCUTIO
Come, sir, your passado.

They fight

ROMEO
Draw, Benvolio; beat down their weapons.
Gentlemen, for shame, forbear this outrage!
Tybalt, Mercutio, the prince expressly hath
Forbidden bandying in Verona streets:
Hold, Tybalt! good Mercutio!

TYBALT under ROMEO's arm stabs MERCUTIO, and flies with his followers

MERCUTIO
I am hurt.
A plague o' both your houses! I am sped.
Is he gone, and hath nothing?
BENVOLIO
What, art thou hurt?
MERCUTIO
Ay, ay, a scratch, a scratch; marry, 'tis enough.
Where is my page? Go, villain, fetch a surgeon.

Exit Page

ROMEO
Courage, man; the hurt cannot be much.

28
MERCUTIO
No, 'tis not so deep as a well, nor so wide as a
church-door; but 'tis enough,'twill serve: ask for
me to-morrow, and you shall find me a grave man. I
am peppered, I warrant, for this world. A plague o'
both your houses! 'Zounds, a dog, a rat, a mouse, a
cat, to scratch a man to death! a braggart, a
rogue, a villain, that fights by the book of
arithmetic! Why the devil came you between us? I
was hurt under your arm.
ROMEO
I thought all for the best.

Choose your micro quotations here

How does the writer Why is it effective?

 Link to the actual words used
achieve it?  What does it make you feel/do?
 Identify a technique/ use of language  What are the connotations?
 Use a quotation  Does it have an emotional impact?

How is honour and reputation presented within the extract?

 Choose two micro-quotations from the text.
 Re-phrase the question as a statement, using your two micro-quotations in it.
 Literally, the simile ‘…’ means...
 Yet, figuratively, we can consider…
 Here, Shakespeare employs the word/phrase ‘...’ to imply…
 Perhaps, this indicates that honour is…
Useful vocabulary: honour, reputation, gentleman, courage, peace,
conflict

MERCUTIO: Lively, always talking, he even jests in death. How WORDBANK:

does Mercutio’s independent mind and passionate
Vivacious, jesting, shrewd, observant,
temperament contrast to Romeo?
proud

29
 A3S2 Juliet’s maturity to a woman
JULIET JULIET
Gallop apace, you fiery-footed steeds, Shall I speak ill of him that is my husband?
Towards Phoebus' lodging: such a wagoner Ah, poor my lord, what tongue shall smooth
As Phaethon would whip you to the west, thy name,
And bring in cloudy night immediately. When I, thy three-hours wife, have mangled
Spread thy close curtain, love-performing it?
night, But, wherefore, villain, didst thou kill my
That runaway's eyes may wink and Romeo cousin?
Leap to these arms, untalk'd of and unseen. That villain cousin would have kill'd my
Lovers can see to do their amorous rites husband:
By their own beauties; or, if love be blind, Back, foolish tears, back to your native
It best agrees with night. Come, civil night, spring;
Thou sober-suited matron, all in black, Your tributary drops belong to woe,
And learn me how to lose a winning match, Which you, mistaking, offer up to joy.
Play'd for a pair of stainless maidenhoods: My husband lives, that Tybalt would have
Hood my unmann'd blood, bating in my slain;
cheeks, And Tybalt's dead, that would have slain my
With thy black mantle; till strange love, husband:
grown bold, All this is comfort; wherefore weep I then?
Think true love acted simple modesty. Some word there was, worser than Tybalt's
Come, night; come, Romeo; come, thou day death,
in night; That murder'd me: I would forget it fain;
For thou wilt lie upon the wings of night But, O, it presses to my memory,
Whiter than new snow on a raven's back. Like damned guilty deeds to sinners' minds:
Come, gentle night, come, loving, black- 'Tybalt is dead, and Romeo--banished;'
brow'd night, That 'banished,' that one word 'banished,'
Give me my Romeo; and, when he shall die, Hath slain ten thousand Tybalts. Tybalt's
Take him and cut him out in little stars, death
And he will make the face of heaven so fine Was woe enough, if it had ended there:
That all the world will be in love with night Or, if sour woe delights in fellowship
And pay no worship to the garish sun. And needly will be rank'd with other griefs,
O, I have bought the mansion of a love, Why follow'd not, when she said 'Tybalt's
But not possess'd it, and, though I am sold, dead,'
Not yet enjoy'd: so tedious is this day Thy father, or thy mother, nay, or both,
As is the night before some festival Which modern lamentations might have
To an impatient child that hath new robes moved?
And may not wear them. O, here comes my But with a rear-ward following Tybalt's death,
nurse, 'Romeo is banished,' to speak that word,
And she brings news; and every tongue that Is father, mother, Tybalt, Romeo, Juliet,
speaks All slain, all dead. 'Romeo is banished!'
But Romeo's name speaks heavenly There is no end, no limit, measure, bound,
eloquence. In that word's death; no words can that woe
sound.
Where is my father, and my mother, nurse?

30
How do the two speeches contrast to portray Juliet’s character?
 HELP 1:
 Notice the use of imagery within the first speech. Why does Shakespeare choose to use an
extended metaphor of night and darkness to depict Juliet’s mood here?
 How does this make use of dramatic irony for the audience?
 HELP 2:
 Notice the structural techniques in use here. What is the impact of Juliet’s repeated use of
‘husband’ and increasing use of rhetorical questions suggest here?
Useful vocabulary: indecision, naivety, idealistic, maturity,
impatience, innocence, childlike, decisive

31
 A3S2 Romeo’s despair at Banishment
ROMEO
'Tis torture, and not mercy: heaven is here,
Where Juliet lives; and every cat and dog
And little mouse, every unworthy thing,
Live here in heaven and may look on her;
But Romeo may not: more validity,
More honourable state, more courtship lives
In carrion-flies than Romeo: they my seize
On the white wonder of dear Juliet's hand
And steal immortal blessing from her lips,
Who even in pure and vestal modesty,
Still blush, as thinking their own kisses sin;
But Romeo may not; he is banished:
Flies may do this, but I from this must fly:
They are free men, but I am banished.
And say'st thou yet that exile is not death?
Hadst thou no poison mix'd, no sharp-ground
knife,
No sudden mean of death, though ne'er so mean,
But 'banished' to kill me?--'banished'?
O friar, the damned use that word in hell;
Howlings attend it: how hast thou the heart,
Being a divine, a ghostly confessor,
A sin-absolver, and my friend profess'd,
To mangle me with that word 'banished'?

FRIAR LAURENCE
Hold thy desperate hand:
Art thou a man? thy form cries out thou art:
Thy tears are womanish; thy wild acts denote
The unreasonable fury of a beast:
Unseemly woman in a seeming man!
Or ill-beseeming beast in seeming both!
Thou hast amazed me: by my holy order,
I thought thy disposition better temper'd.
Hast thou slain Tybalt? wilt thou slay thyself?
And stay thy lady too that lives in thee,
By doing damned hate upon thyself?
Why rail'st thou on thy birth, the heaven, and earth?
Since birth, and heaven, and earth, all three do
meet
In thee at once; which thou at once wouldst lose.
Fie, fie, thou shamest thy shape, thy love, thy wit;
Which, like a usurer, abound'st in all,
And usest none in that true use indeed
Which should bedeck thy shape, thy love, thy wit:
Thy noble shape is but a form of wax,

32
 Digressing from the valour of a man;
Thy dear love sworn but hollow perjury,
Killing that love which thou hast vow'd to cherish;
Thy wit, that ornament to shape and love,
Misshapen in the conduct of them both,
Like powder in a skitless soldier's flask,
Is set afire by thine own ignorance,
And thou dismember'd with thine own defence.
What, rouse thee, man! thy Juliet is alive,
For whose dear sake thou wast but lately dead;
There art thou happy: Tybalt would kill thee,
But thou slew'st Tybalt; there are thou happy too:
The law that threaten'd death becomes thy friend
And turns it to exile; there art thou happy:
A pack of blessings lights up upon thy back;
Happiness courts thee in her best array;
But, like a misbehaved and sullen wench,
Thou pout'st upon thy fortune and thy love:
Take heed, take heed, for such die miserable.

How does Friar Lawrence act as a role model to Romeo?

 HELP 1:
 Notice Romeo’s dramatic reaction to banishment. What does he say would be preferable?
 How does the use of religious imagery help us to understand Romeo’s mood?
 HELP 2:
 Does Friar Lawrence demonstrate sympathy for Romeo? How does he describe Romeo’s
behaviour?
 Why do you think he takes that approach?
 To what extent has the Friar encouraged this reaction up to this point?
Useful vocabulary: imagery, despair, hysteria, heroic, torment, calm,
philosophical, wisdom, gratitude

33
 A3S5 Disobedient or Desperate for Independence?
LADY CAPULET
Marry, my child, early next Thursday morn,
The gallant, young and noble gentleman,
The County Paris, at Saint Peter's Church,
Shall happily make thee there a joyful bride.
JULIET
Now, by Saint Peter's Church and Peter too,
He shall not make me there a joyful bride.
I wonder at this haste; that I must wed
Ere he, that should be husband, comes to woo.
I pray you, tell my lord and father, madam,
I will not marry yet; and, when I do, I swear,
It shall be Romeo, whom you know I hate,
Rather than Paris. These are news indeed!
LADY CAPULET
Here comes your father; tell him so yourself,
And see how he will take it at your hands.

Enter CAPULET and Nurse

CAPULET
When the sun sets, the air doth drizzle dew;
But for the sunset of my brother's son
It rains downright.
How now! a conduit, girl? what, still in tears?
Evermore showering? In one little body
Thou counterfeit'st a bark, a sea, a wind;
For still thy eyes, which I may call the sea,
Do ebb and flow with tears; the bark thy body is,
Sailing in this salt flood; the winds, thy sighs;
Who, raging with thy tears, and they with them,
Without a sudden calm, will overset
Thy tempest-tossed body. How now, wife!
Have you deliver'd to her our decree?
LADY CAPULET
Ay, sir; but she will none, she gives you thanks.
I would the fool were married to her grave!
CAPULET
Soft! take me with you, take me with you, wife.
How! will she none? doth she not give us thanks?
Is she not proud? doth she not count her blest,
Unworthy as she is, that we have wrought
So worthy a gentleman to be her bridegroom?
JULIET

34
Not proud, you have; but thankful, that you have:
Proud can I never be of what I hate;
But thankful even for hate, that is meant love.
CAPULET
How now, how now, chop-logic! What is this?
'Proud,' and 'I thank you,' and 'I thank you not;'
And yet 'not proud,' mistress minion, you,
Thank me no thankings, nor, proud me no prouds,
But fettle your fine joints 'gainst Thursday next,
To go with Paris to Saint Peter's Church,
Or I will drag thee on a hurdle thither.
Out, you green-sickness carrion! out, you baggage!
You tallow-face!
LADY CAPULET
Fie, fie! what, are you mad?
JULIET
Good father, I beseech you on my knees,
Hear me with patience but to speak a word.
CAPULET
Hang thee, young baggage! disobedient wretch!
I tell thee what: get thee to church o' Thursday,
Or never after look me in the face:
Speak not, reply not, do not answer me;
My fingers itch. Wife, we scarce thought us blest
That God had lent us but this only child;
But now I see this one is one too much,
And that we have a curse in having her:
Out on her, hilding!

Choose your micro quotations here:

Why is it effective?
 Link to the actual words used
 What does it make you feel/do?
 What are the connotations?
 Does it have an emotional impact?

How is the importance of family presented here?

CHALLENGE: why has Capulet’s attitude changed from a previous
point in the play?
 Choose two micro-quotations from the text.
 Re-phrase the question as a statement, using your two micro-quotations in it.
 Literally, the simile ‘…’ means...
 Yet, figuratively, we can consider…
 Here, Shakespeare employs the word/phrase ‘...’ to imply…
 Perhaps, this indicates that family is…
35
Useful vocabulary: family, respect, generations, gender, rebellion,
obedience, derogatory

CAPULET: Up to this point, Capulet has treated Juliet with a WORDBANK:

gentle kindness, protecting her from Paris, sharing his concerns
Proud, superior, patriarchal, tyrannical,
about how young she is to be married. Why do you think we see
this change?

The Nurse vs Lady Capulet: the Purpose of the Foil

The nurse is vulgar, insensitive and coarse but Lady Capulet lacks a maternal aspect to her
an endearing character all the same. She personality, she is rather curt and abrupt in her
speaks without tact , however she seems to manner and portrayed as far older than her
truly have Juliet’s best interests at heart. Her years; at only just under thirty, her husband is
love for Juliet appears to be genuine and she is much older and the marriage appears to be
in a trusted position, which is why it is one of social standing rather than love. She
disappointing that she lets Juliet down at a does not seem as though she knows how to
crucial point. As a result., Juliet loses her deal with Juliet and has very little patience or
confidence in the Nurse but this may just be a expertise when talking to her child. This results
sign of Juliet becoming more assertive and less in the audience doubting her grief when Juliet
influenced by others. is discovered ‘dead’ in her chamber in A4.
Comprehension and Evaluation (AO1, AO4)
1.How would you describe the Nurse’s relationship with Juliet?
2. How does she let Juliet down?
3. Why might Lord and Lady Capulet have married?
4. How might the Nurse be better in dealing with Juliet at various points in the play?
5. What similarities do the two characters possess? Give two examples.

36
Useful vocabulary: foil, contrast, maternal,

37
 Act Four Comprehension: Summary of Act Four (AO1)
A4S1: Friar Lawrence speaks with Paris about his impending marriage to Juliet; Paris shares Capulet’s plans
for them to marry _________. Juliet enters, and Paris speaks to her lovingly, if somewhat __________.
Juliet responds indifferently, showing neither affection nor dislike. She remarks that she has not married
him yet. After Paris leaves, Juliet asks Friar Lawrence for help, saying that she will ______ herself rather
than marry Paris. The friar proposes a plan: Juliet must consent to marry Paris; then, on the night before
the wedding, she must drink a sleeping __________ that will make her appear to be dead; she will be laid
to rest in the Capulet tomb, and the friar will send word to Romeo in Mantua to help him retrieve her
when she wakes up. She will then return to Mantua with Romeo, and be free to live with him away from
their parents’ __________. Juliet agrees and Friar Lawrence gives her the sleeping potion.

A4S2: Juliet returns home, and surprises her parents by repenting her _____________ and cheerfully
___________to marry Paris. Capulet is so pleased that he insists on moving the marriage up a day, to
Wednesday—tomorrow.

A4S3: Alone in her bedchamber, clutching the ______of poison, Juliet wonders what will happen when she
drinks it. If the friar is untrustworthy and seeks merely to hide his role in her marriage to Romeo, she might
die; or, if Romeo is late for some reason, she might awaken in the tomb and go ______ with fear. She has a
vision in which she sees Tybalt’s ________ searching for Romeo. She begs Tybalt’s ghost to quit its search
for Romeo, and toasting to Romeo, ________ the contents of the vial.

A4S4: Early the next morning, Capulet sends the Nurse to go wake Juliet. She finds Juliet _______ and
begins to wail, soon joined by both Lady Capulet and Capulet. Paris arrives with Friar Lawrence and a group
of musicians for the wedding. When he learns what has happened, Paris joins in the ____________. The
Friar reassures them that Juliet is in a better place to get them to leave. Sorrowfully, they exit.

A4S5: Peter, the Capulet servant, enters and asks the musicians to play a ________tune to ease his
__________ heart. The musicians refuse, arguing that to play such music would be inappropriate. Angered,
Peter insults the musicians, who respond in kind. The musicians decide to wait for the mourners to return
so that they might get to eat the lunch that will be served.

38
Use the vocabulary below to fill in the gaps

Happy Lamentations Potion

Vial Thursday Mad
Dead Kill Disobedience
Sorrowful Arrogantly Agreeing
hatred Vial Ghost

Comprehension Questions:
1. What would Juliet rather do that marry Paris?
2. How does the Friar believe that his plan will allow the two lovers to be free?
3. What doubts does Juliet have before she drinks the potion?
4. Why might Lord Capulet move the wedding forward? What does this show us about his relationship
with Juliet?
5. Where is there evidence of dramatic irony in scene 4?
6. To what extent is the Friar protecting himself?

39
(AO2) Act Four Vocabulary – find the full quote/example in the
play.
Entreat Presently Pensive
(verb) (adverb) (adjective)
Ask someone anxiously or beg After a short time or soon reflecting deep or serious
them not to go thought
.

Chapless Redeem Festering

(adjective) (verb) .(verb)
Having no lower jaw Make up for faults or bad behaviour Become rotten or more
intense

Dash Wretched Untimely

(verb) (adjective) .(adjective)
Strike or throw something with Person in a very unfortunate or Something done or happening
great force unhappy state at an unsuitable time

Pitiful Contrary Mandrakes

(adjective) (adjective) (noun)
Small, poor or inadequate inclined to disagree or to do the A plant, poisonous and legend
opposite of what is expected or has it that it screams as its
desired roots are ripped from the
earth.

40
 A4S1: Juliet’s Despair and Drawing Parallels
FRIAR LAURENCE
Hold, daughter: I do spy a kind of hope,
Which craves as desperate an execution.
As that is desperate which we would prevent.
If, rather than to marry County Paris,
Thou hast the strength of will to slay thyself,
Then is it likely thou wilt undertake
A thing like death to chide away this shame,
That copest with death himself to scape from it:
And, if thou darest, I'll give thee remedy.

JULIET
O, bid me leap, rather than marry Paris,
From off the battlements of yonder tower;
Or walk in thievish ways; or bid me lurk
Where serpents are; chain me with roaring bears;
Or shut me nightly in a charnel-house,
O'er-cover'd quite with dead men's rattling bones,
With reeky shanks and yellow chapless skulls;
Or bid me go into a new-made grave
And hide me with a dead man in his shroud;
Things that, to hear them told, have made me
tremble;
And I will do it without fear or doubt,
To live an unstain'd wife to my sweet love.

How does Juliet’s reaction parallel Romeo’s response to

banishment?
 HELP 1:
 What does Juliet say she would rather do than marry Paris?
 Which is most effective and why?
 What options are available to Juliet at this point?
 Would Juliet be so open to the Friar’s plan if she was not as desperate?
 How is Juliet’s reaction similar or different to Romeo’s response in A3S3?

Useful vocabulary: imagery, despair, hysteria, methodical,

entrapment, duties, devotion, obligation

41
A4S3: Juliet’s Decision
JULIET
Farewell! God knows when we shall meet again.
I have a faint cold fear thrills through my veins,
That almost freezes up the heat of life:
I'll call them back again to comfort me:
Nurse! What should she do here?
My dismal scene I needs must act alone.
Come, vial.
What if this mixture do not work at all?
Shall I be married then to-morrow morning?
No, no: this shall forbid it: lie thou there.

Laying down her dagger

What if it be a poison, which the friar

Subtly hath minister'd to have me dead,
Lest in this marriage he should be dishonour'd,
Because he married me before to Romeo?
I fear it is: and yet, methinks, it should not,
For he hath still been tried a holy man.
How if, when I am laid into the tomb,
I wake before the time that Romeo
Come to redeem me? there's a fearful point!
Shall I not, then, be stifled in the vault,
To whose foul mouth no healthsome air breathes
in,
And there die strangled ere my Romeo comes?
Or, if I live, is it not very like,
The horrible conceit of death and night,
Together with the terror of the place,--
As in a vault, an ancient receptacle,
Where, for these many hundred years, the bones
Of all my buried ancestors are packed:
Where bloody Tybalt, yet but green in earth,
Lies festering in his shroud; where, as they say,
At some hours in the night spirits resort;--
Alack, alack, is it not like that I,
So early waking, what with loathsome smells,
And shrieks like mandrakes' torn out of the earth,
That living mortals, hearing them, run mad:--
O, if I wake, shall I not be distraught,
Environed with all these hideous fears?
And madly play with my forefather's joints?
And pluck the mangled Tybalt from his shroud?
And, in this rage, with some great kinsman's bone,
As with a club, dash out my desperate brains?
O, look! methinks I see my cousin's ghost
Seeking out Romeo, that did spit his body

42
Upon a rapier's point: stay, Tybalt, stay!
Romeo, I come! this do I drink to thee.
How does Juliet make her decision in this extract?
 HELP
 What are Juliet’s greatest fears here?
 Why is it ironic that she worries about waking too early?
 How is imagery of the mouth used to show her isolation?
 In your opinion, is Juliet brave or terrified?

Useful vocabulary: soliloquy, desperation, courage, isolation, fear,

foreboding, reasoning, dramatic irony

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 Act Five Comprehension: Summary of Act Five (AO1)
A5S1: On a street in Mantua, a cheerful Romeo describes a wonderful __________ he had the night
before: Juliet found him lying dead, but she kissed him, and breathed new life into his body. Just then,
Balthasar enters and informs Romeo of Juliet’s death. ____________, Romeo cries out “Then I defy you,
stars” (5.1.24). Romeo asks if Balthasar is carrying a letter from Friar Lawrence. Balthasar says he is not,
and Romeo sends his servant on his way. Once Balthasar is gone, Romeo says that he will ___________
with Juliet that night. He goes to find an ____________, a seller of drugs. After telling the man in the shop
that he looks poor, Romeo offers to pay him well for a vial of poison. The Apothecary finally ________ and
sells Romeo the poison. Once alone, Romeo speaks to the vial, declaring that he will go to Juliet’s tomb and
kill himself.

A5S2: At his cell, Friar Lawrence speaks with Friar John, whom he had earlier sent to Mantua with a letter
for Romeo. He asks John how Romeo responded to his letter (which described the plan involving Juliet’s
_______death). Friar John replies that he was unable to deliver the letter because he was shut up in a
quarantined house due to an outbreak of ________. Friar Lawrence becomes upset, realizing that if Romeo
does not know about Juliet’s false death, there will be no one to retrieve her from the tomb when she
__________. (He does not know that Romeo has learned of Juliet’s death and believes it to be real.) Friar
Lawrence declares that he will have to rescue Juliet from the tomb on his own. He sends another
_________ to Romeo to warn him about what has happened.

A5S3: A ____________ Paris visits Juliet’s tomb; Romeo arrives and the two duel which ends in Paris’
death. Romeo sees Juliet and begins a long, sad ___________ before kissing her and drinking his poison.
Friar Lawrence enters as Juliet is waking and tries to convince her to run from the scene but she refuses to
leave Romeo. She grabs the vial of poison but it’s empty, so she stabs herself with a _________. The
Prince, Montagues, Capulets and others arrive, horrified at the scene. The Prince holds the family feud
responsible for the tragedy and the two families agree to end the feud.

Use the vocabulary below to fill in the gaps

Dagger Mourning Letter

Dream Thunderstruck False
Soliloquy Awakes Relents
Apothecary Plague Lie

Comprehension Questions:
1.Describe the dream that Romeo has on Tuesday night.
2.What does Romeo curse when he finds out about Juliet’s death?
3.What possible reasons might the Friar have to worry that his plan is falling apart?
4.Where is there evidence of dramatic irony in scene 2?
5.What does the Prince blame for the two lovers’ tragic deaths?
6. What are the morals of the play?

44
(AO2) Act Five Vocabulary – find the full quote/example in the
play.
Revived Disperse Defy
(verb) (verb) (verb)
Restore to life or Distribute or spread Resist or refuse to obey
consciousness .

Abhorred Mortal Consents

(verb) (adjective) (verb)
Regard with disgust or Living as opposed to Give permission for something
hatred immortal to happen.

Thwarted Engrossing Churl

(verb) (adjective) (noun)
Prevent someone from Absorb all attention A mean spirited or cruel person
achieving something

Impeach Pardoned Anon

(verb) (verb) (adverb)
Call the validity of something Forgive or excuse Soon or shortly
into question

45
 A5S3: The Tragic Torment of the Star Crossed Lovers
ROMEO
In faith, I will. Let me peruse this face.
Mercutio's kinsman, noble County Paris!
What said my man, when my betossed soul
Did not attend him as we rode? I think
He told me Paris should have married Juliet:
Said he not so? or did I dream it so?
Or am I mad, hearing him talk of Juliet,
To think it was so? O, give me thy hand,
One writ with me in sour misfortune's book!
I'll bury thee in a triumphant grave;
A grave? O no! a lantern, slaughter'd youth,
For here lies Juliet, and her beauty makes
This vault a feasting presence full of light.
Death, lie thou there, by a dead man interr'd.

Laying PARIS in the tomb

How oft when men are at the point of death

Have they been merry! which their keepers call
A lightning before death: O, how may I
Call this a lightning? O my love! my wife!
Death, that hath suck'd the honey of thy breath,
Hath had no power yet upon thy beauty:
Thou art not conquer'd; beauty's ensign yet
Is crimson in thy lips and in thy cheeks,
And death's pale flag is not advanced there.
Tybalt, liest thou there in thy bloody sheet?
O, what more favour can I do to thee,
Than with that hand that cut thy youth in twain
To sunder his that was thine enemy?
Forgive me, cousin! Ah, dear Juliet,
Why art thou yet so fair? shall I believe
That unsubstantial death is amorous,
And that the lean abhorred monster keeps
Thee here in dark to be his paramour?
For fear of that, I still will stay with thee;
And never from this palace of dim night
Depart again: here, here will I remain
With worms that are thy chamber-maids; O, here
Will I set up my everlasting rest,
And shake the yoke of inauspicious stars
From this world-wearied flesh. Eyes, look your last!
Arms, take your last embrace! and, lips, O you
The doors of breath, seal with a righteous kiss
A dateless bargain to engrossing death!
Come, bitter conduct, come, unsavoury guide!
Thou desperate pilot, now at once run on

46
The dashing rocks thy sea-sick weary bark!
Here's to my love!

Drinks

O true apothecary!
Thy drugs are quick. Thus with a kiss I die.

Dies

How does Romeo’s final soliloquy show his love for Juliet was
genuine?
 HELP 1:
 How does this parallel Juliet’s fear; notice the mouth imagery, Romeo’s terror and indecision.
 How is it ironic that Romeo comments on Juliet’s beauty in death?
 How does Shakespeare use light and dark imagery to present Romeo’s final state of mind?
 How does Romeo acting too hastily, as always, prove to be his downfall?

Useful vocabulary: soliloquy, desperation, courage, isolation, fear,

foreboding, reasoning, dramatic irony

47
Themes in the play and scenes they appear in
Nature Love vs Hate and Violence Spiritual love and Religious
imagery
'fresh female buds shall
you see this night' Act 1
Scene 2 Act 1, Scene 1: The Capulets and When the devout religion of mine
Montagues fight in Verona's eye
'Verona's summer hath not such a
marketplace; Romeo tells Benvolio Maintains such falsehood, then turn
flower' Act 1 Scene 3
of his unrequited love for Rosaline. tears to fires;’ Act 1, Scene 2
'So shows a snowy dove trooping
Act 1, Scene 5: Forgetting Rosaline,
with crows Act 1 Scene 5 The shared sonnet is a key example
Romeo falls in love with Juliet at first
'This bud of love, by summer's of religious imagery used to depict
sight.
ripening breath,/May prove a love; Act 1 Scene 5. This continues
Act 2, Scene 2: In Juliet's orchard
beauteous flower when next we in Act 2 Scene 2: ‘dear saint…fair
the two lovers agree to marry.
meet' Act 2 Scene 2 saint.’
Act 3, Scene 1: Tybalt fatally
'O mickle is the powerful grace that
wounds Mercutio under the newly- It could be argued that Romeo and
lies/In plants, herbs, stones, and
wed Romeo's arm. Juliet use religious imagery to either
their true qualities./For naught so
Act 3, Scene 5: Romeo and Juliet justify their love or emphasise their
vile that on the earth doth live/But to
prepare to part after their wedding rebellious natures.
the earth some special good doth
give' Act 2 Scene 2 night. Friar Lawrence advises Romeo to
'An eagle, madam,/Hath not so Act 5, Scene 3: Romeo kills Paris at consider the spiritual side of love
green, so quick, so far an eye/As the tomb door; Romeo and Juliet rather than simply physical love; he
Paris hath Act 3 Scene 6 commit suicide; the Prince asks the worries that Romeo’s fickle
'sweet flower, with flowers thy bridal two families to reconcile. approach to love suggests he is not
bed I strew' Act 5 Scene 3 developing a deep, spiritual
experience.

Fate vs Free Will: Family / youth vs age Light vs Darkness

Unfortunate turns of
events
The Prologue: the
'A pair of star-crossed Chorus describes the
parents' 'ancient grudge' which is But, soft! what light through yonder
lovers take their life' The Prologue
the catalyst for the death of their window breaks?/It is the east, and
'my mind misgives/Some Juliet is the sun' Act 2 Scene 2
consequence yet hanging in the children.
Act 1, Scene 1: Lord Capulet 'The brightness of her cheek would
stars' Act 1 Scene 4
approves Paris's request to ask shame those stars,/As daylight doth
'so smile the heavens upon this holy a lamp' Act 2 Scene 2
act,/ That after hours with sorrow Juliet to marry him.
Act 3, Scene 5: Lord and Lady 'It is too rash, too unadivsed, too
chide us not!' Act 2 Scene 6
Capulet tell Juliet of their sudden;/Too like the lightning, which
'Can heaven be so envious' Act 3 doth cease to be/Ere one can say “It
Scene 2 arrangements for her to marry Paris.
lightens”' Act 2 Scene 3
'The heavens do lour upon you for Act 5, Scene 3: Romeo and Juliet
commit suicide; the parents are 'Take him and cut him out in little
some ill' Act 4 Scene 5
faced with the consequences of stars,/And he will make the face of
'Is it even so? then I defy you, stars! heaven so fine/That all the world will
Act 5 Scene 1 their ancient feud.
be in love with night/And pay no
'See, what a scourge is laid upon worship to the garish sun' Act 3
your hate,/That heaven finds means Scene 2
to kill your joys with love' Act 5 'More light and light; more dark and
Scene 3 dark our woes!' Act 3 Scene 5
'For here lies Juliet, and her beauty
makes/This vault a feasting
presence full of light' Act 5 Scene 3
'A glooming peace this morning with
it brings./The sun for sorrow will not
show his head' Act 5 Scene 3

48
The Multifaceted (having many sides) Presentation of Love
Friendship Love

The love and loyalty of friendship Which characters?

presents itself more predominantly
with the male characters of the
play; trust and allegiance is key to Which events and evidence?
upholding rules of honour.
Paternal Love
This type of love presents itself Which characters?
through advisory roles and whilst
parents of both hero and heroine
are present, other characters take Which events and evidence?
up these roles where the parents
may not entirely provide sufficient
paternal love.
Romantic Love

This type of love often fuels Which characters?

decisions within the play and
certain characters try to moderate
it with best interests at heart. In Which events and evidence?
contrast, we see relationships that
lack all sense of romantic love
Love of Violence

Violence is often seen as a Which characters?

resolution to obstacles within the
play; ironically, it ultimately leads
tio further violence and this is one
of the key messages of the play’s Which events and evidence?
tragic ending. However, certain
characters are compelled by their
love of violence, perhaps because
of the age of the ongoing feud.

49
 Character Profiling
How do the characters develop and what purpose do they serve within the play?
For each character, consider:
 Adjectives to describe their behaviour and actions
 How this changes or develops and what event helps us to see this new aspect of their character
 What they are meant to teach us as an audience

Use the emotion vocabulary on the next page to help you.

Useful vocabulary: symbolises, represents, depicts, demonstrates

Juliet Romeo Lord Capulet

Lady Capulet Nurse Friar Lawrence

Mercutio Benvolio Tybalt

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51
When? What happens?
Act 1 – Prologue Find out the story in a condensed version
Act 1, Scene 1: Servants of the Montagues (Romeo) and Capulets (Juliet)
Verona. A public start street brawl showing rivalry and tension between the
place. families. We discover Romeo loves Rosalind.
Act 1, Scene 2: A Paris asks Capulet if he can marry Juliet. Romeo discovers
street. that Rosalind will be at the Capulet ball that evening.
Act 1, Scene 3: A Lady Capulet tells Juliet about Paris’s proposal. The nurse
room in Capulet's interrupts with a long story of her as a baby.
house.
Act 1, Scene 4: A Romeo has a feeling that something terrible will happen if he
street. goes to the ball but he goes anyway.
Act 1, Scene 5: A The Montagues go to the ball and Romeo forgets Rosalind as
hall in Capulet's soon as he sees Juliet. Tybalt recognises them but Lord
house. Capulet will not allow a fight
Act 2, Prologue: The chorus informs us the pain R&J are in as they can’t meet
PROLOGUE but passion will find a way.
Act 2, Scene 1: A Romeo jumps into the Capulet garden to catch a glimpse of
lane by the wall Juliet.
of Capulet's
orchard.
Act 2, Scene 2: The Balcony Scene: Romeo professes his love to Juliet. They
Capulet's orchard arrange a meeting.
Act 2, Scene 3: Romeo goes to Friar Lawrence to arrange to marry Juliet – he
Friar Laurence's agrees thinking it will end the feud between the families
cell.
Act 2, Scene 4: A Tybalt sends a challenge to Romeo. The Nurse gets the
street. information about the wedding as a message to Juliet.
Act 2, Scene 5: The nurse delivers the news to Juliet of her upcoming
Capulet's marriage to Romeo.
orchard.
Act 2, Scene 6: They marry.
Friar Laurence's
cell.
Act 3, Scene 1: A Romeo tries to avoid fighting. Mercutio is wounded and killed
public place. by Tybalt. Romeo then avenges his death and kills Tybalt.
Romeo is exiled for his part in this.
52
 Act 3, Scene 2: Juliet learns of Tybalt’s death and Romeo’s banishment and is
Capulet's distraught over the loss of her love.
orchard.
Act 3, Scene 3: Both Romeo and Juliet are distraught at the separation.
Friar Laurence's Romeo tries to stab himself but is convinced to hold on by
cell. Friar Laurence.
Act 3, Scene 4: A Capulet promises on impulse that Juliet will marry Paris in
room in Capulet's two days.
house.
Act 3, Scene 5: Lady Capulet informs Juliet of her upcoming marriage. She is
Capulet's threatened by her father if she refuses to be thrown out. The
orchard. Nurse says she should marry Paris.
Act 4, Scene 1: Friar plans to give Juliet a drug that makes her appear dead
Friar Laurence's for 48 hours to escape for Mantua and a new life with Romeo
cell.
Act 4, Scene 2: Juliet goes to her father and agrees to marry Paris. He moves
Hall in Capulet's the wedding forward a day.
house.
Act 4, Scene 3: Juliet takes the poison.
Juliet's chamber.
Act 4, Scene 4: Capulet sends the nurse to waken Juliet.
Hall in Capulet's
house.
Act 4, Scene 5: The Nurse tries to wake Juliet, but finds that she is
Juliet's chamber. (apparently) dead. All are grief stricken but Friar Laurence
arranges the funeral quickly.
Act 5, Scene 1: Romeo hears wrongly of Juliet’s death, buys poison and
Mantua. A street. returns to join her.
Act 5, Scene 2: Friar John explains why he didn’t deliver the letter and F L
Friar Laurence's sends another.
cell.
Act 5, Scene 3: A Outside the tomb where Juliet is (apparently) dead. Romeo
churchyard; in it and Paris fight. Paris is killed. Romeo takes the poison and
a tomb belonging dies. Juliet wakes and finding Romeo dead kills herself with
to the Capulets. his dagger.

53