Characters
I am the mastermind behind many of the major plans formed in this play. Romeo comes to me for advice often, and I don’t hesitate to give him my honest opinion when he does.
Friar Lawrence
Who spoke this quote: “Did my heart love till now? / Forswear it, sight! / For I ne'er saw true beauty till this night.”
Romeo
Where was Romeo eventually exiled?
Mantua
What two methods do Romeo and Juliet use to commit their respective suicides?
Romeo = poison
Juliet = Romeo's dagger
How many lines are in a sonnet, and how is a sonnet segmented?
14 lines total, 3 quatrains (4-line stanzas) & 1 couplet (2-line stanza)
I am also known as the Prince of Cats. I anger easily, am the best swordsman in town, and value honor and family loyalty more than anything.
Tybalt
Who spoke this quote: "True, I talk of dreams, /Which are the children of an idle brain, /Begot of nothing but vain fantasy."
Mercutio
Why exactly did Tybalt challenge Romeo to a duel?
For trespassing at the Capulet party
What official sentence is Romeo given after he kills who he kills? After learning of it, what does he say it’s worse than?
Banishment / exile, which is worse than death!
What is a sonnet’s rhyme scheme? Provide examples of the last words of lines in one stanza.
- abab cdcd efef gg
- last words of lines
- row (a), sat (b), bow (a), rat (b)
I am a wealthy, desirable bachelor who’s only kind of old; any woman would be lucky to have me as her husband. I am related to Mercutio and the Prince.
Paris
Who spoke this quote: “For never was a story of more woe / than this of Juliet and her Romeo”
The Prince
What did Lord Capulet and Lord Montague do at the end of the play to honor the memory of their children?
Assemble gold statues of Romeo and Juliet in the middle of town
What threat does Mercutio yell out as he dies after being stabbed by Tybalt?
A plague on both your houses!
What is the purpose of the couplet?
To resolve / sum up / conclude the theme of the sonnet
I would be considered the class clown. I constantly make light of serious situations and insert inappropriate innuendos into casual conversation. The Prince is my kinsman.
Mercutio
Who spoke this quote: “These violent delights have violent ends / And in their triumph die, like fire and powder / Which, as they kiss, consume”
Friar Lawrence
Why did Romeo never receive the letter that informed him of Friar Lawrence and Juliet’s plan?
Friar John was detained / quarantined because soldiers thought he had been in contact with people who had the plague.
At one point in the play do we first learn about Romeo and Juliet’s eventual deaths?
We first learn about R&J's deaths in the Prologue, the first 14 lines of the play.
Tell me about the rules of iambic pentameter. How many syllables in each line? What types of syllables make up each line? What is always the order of those syllables? What are the symbols for those syllables?
- 10 syllables in each line
- syllables are always unstressed followed by stressed, one after the other
- symbols = u (unstressed) and / (stressed)
I am the peacekeeper in most quarrels. I’m a rather sensitive soul who people can trust to tell the truth even if it means compromising my own family. I tried to get Romeo to forget about Rosaline.
Benvolio
Who spoke this quote: “Peace? I hate the word as I hate hell and all Montagues.”
Tybalt
Name at least three of the five potential problems that could have gone wrong with the plan, according to Juliet.
Possible answers:
- The potion might not work at all.
- The potion could actually be poison.
- I could wake up early.
- I could wake up early and suffocate.
- I could wake up early, be surrounded by dead bodies, go crazy, and accidentally kill myself with the bone of an ancestor.
How many total deaths occur in the play, who died, and in what order? Bonus points if you can remember when in the play these deaths occur or when you first hear of them.
- 6 deaths total
- in order: Mercutio (Act 3, Scene 1), Tybalt (Act 3, Scene 1), Paris (Act 5, Scene 3), Romeo (Act 5, Scene 3), Juliet (Act 5, Scene 3), Lady Montague (Act 5, Scene 3 - happened prior but mentioned last)
What major themes do Shakespeare’s sonnets revolve around? Name at least three.
Answers will vary but some responses could be:
- Death
- Age
- Beauty
- All forms of love
- Nature
- Living on through children / a legacy
- Living on through a poem / words