English 154/180
Harlan
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS ON ROMEO AND JULIET
These questions are designed to help you organize your ideas about the play and to review what you have learned. They cover the concepts on which you will be tested. You do not need to write out the answers, but you should know the material thoroughly.
1. At what stage of his career did Shakespeare write R&J?
2. Who was the Lord Chamberlain, and what was his relationship with Shakespeare?
3. What were the origins of the original story of the ill-fated lovers who, through a misunderstanding, end up killing themselves?
4. With what Italian city did the story become associated?
5. What aspects of the fundamental story did Shakespeare’s play emphasize?
6. Who are characters that Shakespeare added to the original story and why?
7. What was the immediate source of the story in Shakespeare’s time?
8. What was the attitude of the poet toward Romeo and Juliet in the source poem?
9. List the five possible explanations for the cause of the tragedy covered in lecture.
10. What aspect of the original story do modern productions usually emphasize? How does Shakespeare’s original text treat this aspect?
1. In the Prologue what important information is provided about the fate of R&J/
2. In the Prologue what information is given about how this play was originally performed?
3. Why does Shakespeare never provide any information on the reasons for the feud?
4. In the opening lines of I, 1, what seems to be Sampson and Gregory’s attitude toward the feud?
5. List at least three places in I, 1 where Shakespeare seems to undercut the seriousness of the feud. What dramatic reason might he have for doing this?
6. List at least three puns used in I, 1. Why does Shakespeare use so many puns?
7. List at least two phallic references used in I, 1. What dramatic purpose might Shakespeare have for using such sexual references?
8. Why do Sampson and Gregory, Capulet servants, deliberately provoke a fight with the Montague servants at line I, 1, line 60?
9. What kind of language do the servants speak among themselves? What kind of language do Benvolio and Tybalt speak? Why the difference?
10. Throughout the first three acts of the play which character consistently provokes the violence of the feud?
11. What is the initial reaction of Montague and Capulet in I, 1 to the violence of the feud? What is the reaction of their wives?
12. In describing the outbreak of violence, what seems to be Benvolio’s attitude toward Tybalt at I, 1, line 110 -- 118?
13. Why does Shakespeare use so many references to classical mythology throughout the play?
14. Work out this formula: day/night = love/violence.
15. Why might Romeo be initially reluctant to share the name of his secret love with Benvolio?
16. Show one place in I, 1, where Romeo seems to forget that his heart is broken.
17. Why is Romeo’s attitude toward love so ambivalent in I, 1?
18. Define an oxymoron. How many does Romeo use in I, 1? Why so many?
19. Who was Petrarch and why is he so important to how Romeo experiences and talks about love?
20. What three things has Romeo done to try and win Rosaline’s love?
21. Why did Elizabethan noble women wear masks?
22. In I, 2 how does Capulet demonstrate his concern for his daughter?
23. Why does Capulet apparently ask an illiterate servant to read the names of the people invited to his party?
24. Give an example of a conceit used by Benvolio in I, 2. Give an example of a conceit used by Romeo.
25. In I, 3 give two examples of the Nurse’s use of bawdy.
26. Explain the event by which the Nurse measures Juliet’s age in 1, 3.
27. How is the bawdy remark by the Nurse’s husband actually a form of foreshadowing?
28. What is Juliet’s reaction when she learns that Paris is interested in marrying her?
29. What is the main thing Mercutio wants from Romeo in I, 4?
30. Why did you noble gentlemen wear masks in the Renaissance?
31. Why does Romeo insist that he only wants to “hold the light” at Capulet’s party?
32. Give three examples of Mercutio’s use of bawdy in I, 4.
33. Why did Queen Mab appear to humans in dreams?
34. What dramatic purpose is served by Romeo’s foreboding just before he enters Capulet’s party?
35. In the text of I, 5, who falls in love first, Romeo or Juliet?
36. Identify and explain the conceit used in the speech where Romeo first sees Juliet (I, 5, lines 46 – 55).
37. What enrages Tybalt in I, 5? What enrages Capulet?
38. What is Romeo’s stated intention in physically approaching Juliet?
39. What form does the language take in the first verbal exchange between R&J? What is the central conceit in the speech? From what Italian poet did Shakespeare take the imagery and idea for this first speech?
40. What is Juliet’s reaction to Romeo’s request for a kiss?
41. What is the oxymoron found in the final lines of I, 5? How has the power of the oxymoron changed since Romeo used the device back in the first scene?
1. According to the Chorus what’s the primary difference between Romeo’s love for Rosaline and his love for Juliet?
2. At the beginning of II, 1, what does Romeo mean by “Turn back, dull earth, and find thy center out”?
3. What passage of Mercutio’s bawdy is designed to provoke a response from Romeo? Why doesn’t it work?
4. What does Romeo mean by the line, “He jests at scars that never felt a wound” at the beginning of II, 2?
5. What is the conceit which Romeo first uses to describe the appearance of Juliet?
6. Why would Romeo urge Juliet to reject the moon in his opening speech?
7. In Romeo’s opening speech (II, 2, lines 1 – 25) what one image seems genuine and heart-felt rather than just part of the exaggerated rhetoric of love?
8. How does Juliet violate the “rules of courtly love”?
9. How do R&J get around the fact of their families’ hatred of one another?
10. How does Romeo respond to the potential of physical violence in II, 2?
11. By what does Romeo swear his love for Juliet? What is her reaction?
12. Who first proposes marriage in II, 2?
13. What is the dramatic effect of having the Nurse off-stage call for Juliet?
14. What is the oxymoron in the final ten lines of II, 2?
15. In the opening lines of II, 3 what is the point of Friar Lawrence’s conceit involving the plants of the garden?
16. When Lawrence first sees Romeo, where does he assume the young man has spent
the night?
17. What is Lawrence’s first reaction when Romeo asks to be married to Juliet? Why does he agree to go ahead with the marriage?
18. In II, 3 why has Tybalt sent a message to Romeo’s house?
19. In Mercutio’s speech around line 15 who is the “blind bow-boy”? Around line 20 who is “the Prince of Cats”?
20. In II, 3 what about Tybalt’s behavior makes Mercutio angry?
21. List three of the famous lovers of the past to whom Mercutio compares Romeo.
22. Explain how Romeo has changed in his behavior with his friends since the previous night.
23. What are three things the Nurse has done to put on the airs of a great lady?
24. Why does Mercutio sing the comic song about an old gray rabbit in II, 3?
25. What does the Nurse think Romeo means when he says that he “protests” around line 185?
26. What evidence is provided that the Nurse is illiterate in her speech around line 215?
27. In II, 5 why does the Nurse delay so long in telling Juliet what Romeo said?
28. Find one example of the Nurse’s use of bawdy in the line 10 lines of II, 5.
29. Find one example of Romeo’s adolescent bravado in his first speech in II, 6.
30. Explain Juliet’s speech at lines 30 – 34 in II, 6.
1. List three of the examples in III, 1 that Mercutio offers to prove Benvolio’s propensity for violence.
2. List two of the examples of Mercutio deliberately misconstruing Tybalt’s questions.
3. List one example of Mercutio’s use of taboo words around line 50 in III, 1.
4. Given the verbal abilities of Mercutio, Benvolio and Romeo, what is unusual about Tybalt’s challenge to Romeo at lines 61 – 62 in III, 1?
5. Why does Mercutio choose to fight with Tybalt?
6. How is Mercutio wounded in the fight?
7. Explain why Mercutio’s friends do not realize right away that he is fatally hurt?
8. Around line 115 in III, 1 to what does Romeo attribute his own reluctance to answer Tybalt’s challenge?
9. Is Benvolio’s account of the fight accurate?
10. How does the fact that Lady Capulet is the primary voice for revenge against Romeo psychologically affect what happens later in the play?
11. What earlier scene in the play does III, 2 resemble?
12. List four different conceits Juliet uses in her opening 30 lines in III, 2?
13. List one example of dramatic irony in Juliet’s speech in III, 2, lines 1 – 30.
14. How and why does the Nurse suggest to Juliet that Romeo is dead in III, 2?
15. What is Juliet’s initial reaction when she first learns that Romeo killed Tybalt? What rhetorical device does she use to express her emotions at that point?
16. On what does the Nurse blame the tragedy at lines 85 – 90 in III, 2?
17. What word makes Juliet most upset in lines 110 – 125 in III, 2? What does she suggest she will do about her situation?
18. In III, 3 find three places where Friar Lawrence tells Romeo “not to feel that way.” Find three different ways Romeo rejects Lawrence’s arguments.
19. Find a serious pun which Romeo’s uses in his speech lines 30 – 50 in III, 3.
20. What is the Nurse’s reaction to Friar Lawrence’s long speech from 110 – 155 in III, 3? What is it that gives comfort to Romeo around line 165?
21. In III, 4, around lines 12 – 15, is there any reason why, based on her past behavior, Capulet would not expect Juliet to accept his “desperate tender “ of her love to Paris?
22. What is the significant off-stage action occurring during III, 4?
23. What argument do R&J have during the first 30 lines of III, 5?
24. What premonition does Juliet have as Romeo is leaving?
25. In the conversation between Juliet and her mother in lines 67 – 125 in III, 5, find at least three examples of dramatic irony.
26. In Capulet’s angry response to his daughter’s refusal to marry Paris (lines 141 – 205 in III, 5), find where Capulet uses Juliet’s own words to mock her. Find where he threatens physical abuse. Why are his threats against his daughter so potent?
27. What is the Nurse’s reaction to Juliet’s dilemma? What is Juliet’s reaction to the Nurse’s advice on what to do at the end of III, 5?
1. What are Juliet’s feelings in IV, 1 when she meets Paris at Lawrence’s cell? How does Paris seem to interpret her responses to him?
2. What are the dangers which Juliet offers undergo rather than marry Paris? What is the thing she fears the most? How do we know?
3. In IV, 2 what sudden change in wedding plans occurs when Juliet agrees to marry Paris? What effect will this have on Lawrence’s plan to rescue Juliet?
4. In IV, 3 what is Juliet’s first fear before she takes the potion? How does she answer this first fear?
5. In IV, 3 what is Juliet’s second fear before she takes the potion? How does she answer this second fear?
6. In IV, 3 what is Juliet’s third fear before she takes the potion? How does Shakespeare show us the courage Juliet possesses in swallowing the potion?
7. Explain the dramatic irony in IV, 4.
8. In IV, 5 how does Shakespeare prevent the audience from feeling too deeply the sorrow of the grieving family members? Why does the playwright want to keep us from feeling their pain firsthand?
9. How does Lawrence explain the sudden death of Juliet in IV, 5?
Act V
1. In V, 1, lines 1 – 11 what is the significance of Romeo’s dream about Juliet?
2. How do you account for the brevity of Romeo’s verbal reaction to the news of Juliet’s death at V, 1, line 24? How has Romeo’s language changed since the first time we see him in the play?
3. Why is the apothecary reluctant to sell Romeo poison? How does the way Romeo convinces him to sell the poison demonstrate Romeo’s new wisdom?
4. What delayed the delivery of the message to Romeo in V, 2?
5. Why did Shakespeare placed V, 2 where he did in the play and not before V, 1?
6. In V, 3 contrast the way Paris and Romeo speak and behave at Juliet’s tomb.
7. What does Paris believe Romeo’s motives are for breaking into the tomb?
8. Rather than being overcome with grief at the sight of Juliet’s body, what is Romeo’s reaction when he sees her? How do you account for this reaction?
9. Why does Romeo think that Juliet appears so lifelike?
10. Why does Lawrence abandon Juliet in the tomb?
11. What unusual word does Juliet use to address her dead husband?
12. Why does Shakespeare continue the play another 140 lines after Juliet’s death?
13. Find the play’s final oxymoron in the Prince’s speech at V, 3, lines 286 –295.