| What phrase in the prologue suggests the play involves a belief in astrology, a doomed romance, and an unhappy ending? | “A pair of star-crossed lovers take their life” |
| What causes the fight in I.i.? | Sampson and Gregory bite their thumbs at Abram. |
| Why does the Prince want the fighting to end? | He wants it to end because they have disturbed the peace in Verona 3 times already. |
| Why is Romeo brokenhearted when he first enters? | Romeo is brokenhearted about Rosaline. Rosaline is chaste. He also states that her beauty will die because she will not have offspring. |
| What are both Romeo and Paris advised to do about their loves? | Romeo: Find other women to forget about Rosaline. Paris: “Woo” Juliet if he wants her hand in marriage and Capulet will give his consent. |
| Why does Romeo agree to go to the party at the Capulets? | Romeo is going because he knows Rosaline will be there and wants to win her over. |
| Describe the Nurse. | The Nurse acts more like Juliet’s mother than Lady Capulet herself. She regards Juliet as her own daughter since her daughter and husband died. She wants to see Juliet get married. |
| Why does Juliet agree to pay attention to Paris at the party? | Lady Capulet asked her to and she wants to honor her mother’s request. |
| How does Juliet respond when Romeo flirts with her? | She responds innocently and returns the favor. |
| What is Romeo’s reaction to learning that Juliet is a Capulet? | Romeo responds that his life is at his foe’s debt. He now knows that Juliet is a Capulet, his enemy. |
| What three people try to stop the fight or prevent others from entering in before the Prince arrives? | The Officer, Lady Capulet, and Lady Montague. |
| What will the penalty be if the families fight on the streets again? | Death. |
| What will have to happen before Capulet will allow Paris to marry Juliet? | Juliet has to consent to the marriage so Paris will have to “woo” her. |
| What word best describes Juliet’s relationship with her mother? | Her relationship with her mother is more of an acquaintance. She does not have a close relationship with her. Lady Capulet is more of an overseer or “master.” |
| What most angers Tybalt at the Capulet party? | Romeo gate-crashes the Capulet party with Mercutio and the Montagues. When Tybalt tells Lord Capulet that Romeo has come uninvited, he simply shrugs it off and tells Tybalt to ignore Romeo because he wasn’t causing any trouble. Therefore, Tybalt is angered by Romeo and the fact that nobody else cares that he is there. |
| What is the main point of Juliet’s “What’s in a name?” speech? | Juliet is talking about how it is his name, Montague, that is keeping them apart, and that he is still himself. She then compares this to, if you called a rose something different, it would still smell sweet and look beautiful. Juliet tells Romeo that a name is an artificial and meaningless convention and that she loves the person who is called “Montague,” not the Montague name or the Montague family. |
| What relationship does Friar Lawrence see between plants and people? | Just as plants can be manipulated to produce poison or medicine powder, individual human beings can be manipulated for either good or for evil. |
| Why does the Friar agree to marry the couple? | He hopes that by marrying the young Capulet and the young Montague, he will end the feud between the two warring families, an argument that has been tearing the city apart for as long as everyone can remember. It is also the friar’s duty, and he appears to hold a great deal of love and hope for the two young lovers in his heart. |
| What is the Nurse’s main concern when she meets with Romeo? | Her main concern is that Romeo is not marrying for the right reasons and that Juliet is only an innocent girl. |
| What does Juliet worry about as she waits for the nurse to return? | Juliet worries that the nurse could not meet him since it has been 3 hours. |
| What concerns does Juliet express during the balcony scene? | Juliet is concerned that Romeo is only in it for the “action” and that he should not swear his love by the ever changing moon. |
| Why is Friar Lawrence surprised to learn that Romeo loves Juliet? | He is surprised because Romeo fell in and out of love so quickly. He advised Romeo to love moderately. |
| What does Romeo mean when he says Mercutio “will speak more in a minute than he will stand to in a month”? | He loves to hear himself talk, but means little of what he says. |
| Why does Romeo want to avoid a fight with Tybalt? | Romeo does not want to fight Tybalt because the are now related through is marriage to Juliet. |
| Why does Romeo finally fight Tybalt? | Tybalt had killed Mercutio. |
| What pun becomes Mercutio’s final words? | He says, “And you shall find me a grave man,” meaning that tomorrow he will be a dead man, and he will be in his grave. The second meaning to this is Mercutio saying that he will be serious. Mercutio is not a serious man, but if he gets wounded that badly and survives, his personality will change. |
| What blessings does Friar remind Romeo that he has? | Be happy Juliet is alive, be happy that you are alive, and be happy that the punishment was not death. |
| What does the Nurse first lead Juliet to believe about the fight? | She leads Juliet to believe that Romeo was killed. |
| What does Capulet do to get Juliet to agree to marry Paris? | He threatens to disown her and never speak to her again. |
| Why does Juliet tell the Nurse that she is comforted by her advice to marry Juliet? | She isn’t going to marry Paris, but run to Friar Lawrence’s cell and look for Romeo. |
| What literary term describes Juliet’s speech as she awaits Romeo? | Foreshadowing. |
| Who calls for Romeo’s death for killing Tybalt? | Lady Capulet. |
| What remedy does Juliet know if Friar has none? | She is going to kill herself. |
| How does Juliet speak to Paris at Friar Lawrence’s cell? | She says that she would never say that she loves him to his face. She shows that she does not love him. |
| What is Juliet’s mood at Friar Lawrence’s cell? | , |
| What does Juliet do that inspires the Friar’s plan? | She threatened to kill herself. |
| Why does Capulet move the wedding up a day? | People still needed to grieve the loss of Tybalt because the wedding was too soon. |
| What part of Friar’s plan does the change affect? | , |
| What does Juliet fear as she drinks the potion? | Romeo will not be at the tomb, it doesn’t work, and if the Friar wants her dead. |
| What does Paris believe makes Juliet sad? | Tybalt’s death. |
| How long will Juliet sleep after she drinks the potion? | 42 hours. |
| Why does Juliet agree to marry Paris? | She knows she won’t wake up the next day since she will take the potion. |
| Who first discovers that Juliet is dead? | The Nurse. |
| Who tells Romeo the news? | Balthasar. |
| How does Romeo get the apothecary to sell him drugs? | He gives him money because he is poor. |
| What does Friar Lawrence do when he learns that Friar John did not get to Mantua? | He gets a crow bar and goes to free Juliet. |
| Why is Paris at the Capulets’ tomb? | To pay his respects to Juliet. |
| What is the resolution at the end of the play? | Each house will build a statue for the other. |
| What can be seen as a fatal flaw in both Romeo and Juliet? | The letter not being delivered. |
| What symbolizes fate throughout the play? | , |
| Why doesn’t Romeo get Friar Lawrence’s message? | Friar John was stuck at a sick house because the health inspectors believed he was contagious. |
| What does Paris think when he see Romeo at the tomb? | He things that Romeo will disrespect the bodies in the tomb. |
| What is Romeo’s first response to his challenge? | He tells Paris to go and leave him alone because he will do no such thing. |
| Why does Friar Lawrence leave Juliet alone at the tomb? | He does not want to be seen there because they might suspect that he was in it the whole time. |
| Who contributes to the piecing together of the story? | Friar Lawrence. |
| “What ho! You men, you beasts, / That quench the fire of your pernicious rage / With purple fountains issuing from your veins!” (1.1.86-88). | Prince |
| “Many a morning hath he there been seen, […] Black and portentous must this humor prove / Unless good counsel may the cause remove” (1.1.134-145). | Montague |
| “Earth hath swallowed all my hopes but she; / She is the hopeful lady of my earth” (1.2.14-15). | Capulet |
| “Go thither, and with unattainted eye / Compare her face with some that I shall show, / And I will make thee think thy swan a crow” (1.2.88-90). | Benvolio |
| “It is an honor that I dream not of” (1.3.66). | Juliet |
| “But no more deep will I endart mine eye / Than your consent gives strength to make it fly” (1.3.98-99). | Juliet |
| “O, then I see Queen Mab hath been with you” (1.4.53). | Mercutio |
| “But he that hath the steerage of my course, / Direct my sail! On, lusty gentlemen!” (1.4.112-113). | Romeo |
| “I will withdraw; but this intrusion shall, / Now seeming sweet, convert to bitt’rest gall” (1.5.93-94). | Tybalt |
| “My only love, sprung from my only hate! / Too early seen unknown, and known too late!” (1.5.141-142). | Juliet |
| “Two of the fairest stars in all the heaven, / Having some business, do entreat her eyes / To twinkle in their spheres till they return” (2.2.15-17). | Romeo |
| “Two such opposed kings encamp them still / In man as well as herbs-grace and rude will; / And where the worser is predominant, / Full soon the canker death eats up that plant” (2.3.27-30). | Friar |
| “These violent delights have violent ends / And, in their triumph die, like fire and powder, […] Therefore love moderately: long love doth so; / Too swift arrives as tardy as too slow” (2.6.9-15). | Friar |
| “Romeo, the love I bear thee can afford / No better term than this: thou art a villain” (3.1.61-62). | Tybalt |
| “O serpent heart, hid with a flow’ring face! / Did ever dragon keep so fair a cave?” (3.2.73-74). | Juliet |
| “Now, when the bridegroom in the morning comes / To rouse thee from thy bed, there are thou dead” (4.1.107-108). | Friar |
| “Send for the County. Go tell him of this. / I’ll have this knot knit up tomorrow morning” (4.2.23-24). | Capulet |
| “There is thy gold-worse poison to men’s souls, / Doing more murder in this loathsome world, / Than these poor compounds that thou mayst not sell. / I sell thee poison; thou hast sold me none” (5.1.80-83). | Romeo |
| “Come bitter conduct; come, unsavory guide! / Thou desperate pilot, now at once run on / The dashing rocks thy seasick weary bark!” (5.3.116-118) | Romeo |
| “See what a scourge is laid upon your hate, / That heaven finds means to kill your joys with love” (5.3.292-293). | Prince |
| Adversary | a person, group, or force that opposes or attacks; opponent; enemy; foe |
| Analogy | a similarity between like features of two things, on which a comparison may be based |
| Antagonist | a person who is opposed to, struggles against, or competes with another; opponent; adversary |
| Aside | on or to one side; to or at a short distance apart; away from some position or direction |
| Blank verse | unrhymed verse, especially the unrhymed iambic pentameter most frequently used in English dramatic, epic, and reflective verse |
| Characterization | portrayal; description |
| Conflict | discord of action, feeling, or effect; antagonism or opposition, as of interests or principles |
| Dramatic irony | irony that is inherent in speeches or a situation of a drama and is understood by the audience but not grasped by the characters in the play |
| Figurative language | speech or writing that departs from literal meaning in order to achieve a special effect or meaning, speech or writing employing figures of speech |
| Foreshadowing | to show or indicate beforehand; prefigure |
| Iambic pentameter | a common meter in poetry consisting of an unrhymed line with five feet or accents, each foot containing an unaccented syllable and an accented syllable |
| Imagery | the formation of mental images, figures, or likenesses of things, or of such images collectively |
| Irony | the use of words to convey a meaning that is the opposite of its literal meaning |
| Lament | to feel or express sorrow or regret for |
| Metaphor | a figure of speech in which a term or phrase is applied to something to which it is not literally applicable in order to suggest a resemblance |
| Monologue | a form of dramatic entertainment, comedic solo, or the like by a single speaker |
| Oxymoron | a figure of speech by which a locution produces an incongruous, seemingly self-contradictory effect |
| Personification | the attribution of a personal nature or character to inanimate objects or abstract notions, especially as a rhetorical figure |
| Protagonist | the leading character, hero, or heroine of a drama or other literary work |
| Pun | the humorous use of a word or phrase so as to emphasize or suggest its different meanings or applications, or the use of words that are alike or nearly alike in sound but different in meaning; a play on words |
| Simile | a figure of speech in which two unlike things are explicitly compared |
| Situational irony | an outcome that turns out to be very different from what was expected, the difference between what is expected to happen and what actually does |
| Sonnet | a poem, properly expressive of a single, complete thought, idea, or sentiment, of 14 lines, usually in iambic pentameter, with rhymes arranged according to one of certain definite schemes, being in the strict or Italian form divided into a major group of 8 lines (the octave) followed by a minor group of 6 lines (the sestet), and in a common English form into 3 quatrains followed by a couplet |
| Symbol | something used for or regarded as representing something else; a material object representing something, often something immaterial; emblem, token, or sign |
| Suspense | a state or condition of mental uncertainty or excitement, as in awaiting a decision or outcome, usually accompanied by a degree of apprehension or anxiety |
| Theme | a subject of discourse, discussion, meditation, or composition; topic |
| Verbal irony | a figure of speech in which what is said is the opposite of what is meant |
| soliloquy | a (usually long) dramatic speech intended to give the illusion of unspoken reflections |
| aside | a line spoken by an actor to the audience but not intended for others on the stage |
| monologue | a speech by one actor; a long talk by one person |
| simile | comparison using like or as |
| personification | A figure of speech in which an object or animal is given human feelings, thoughts, or attitudes |
| metaphor | a figure of speech comparing to unlike things without using like or as |
| tone | the quality of something (an act or a piece of writing) that reveals the attitudes and presuppositions of the author |
| mood | the emotional atmosphere of a work |
| hyperbole | a figure of speech that uses exaggeration to express strong emotion, make a point, or evoke humor |
| dialogue | the lines spoken by characters in drama or fiction |
| dramatic irony | (theater) irony that occurs when the meaning of the situation is understood by the audience but not by the characters in the play |
| imagery | language that appeals to the senses |
| foil | a character whose personality and attitude contrast sharply with those of another |
| theme | a central message or insight into life revealed through a literary work |
| tragedy | A work in which the protagonist, a person of high degree, is engaged in a significant struggle and which ends in ruin or destruction |
Romeo and Juliet key events and terms
July 29, 2019