The colourful plot summary gives Writing essays for exams and

an at-a-glance overview of the coursework gives practical advice

play. on preparing and writing these
The about the author and two different types of essay.
historical background sections Learn the key quotations and
give useful information about the remember to use them in your
context of the play. essays in the correct context.
The who’s who and themes and Use the two pages of essay
images sections consider the questions as a guide to the kind of
characters and major themes of thing you can expect in your
the play, identifying each theme exam, or as practice for your
and major character with a coursework essay.
distinctive ‘icon’ symbol. These Follow the advice given in the
recur at relevant points in the planning an essay section for a
commentary, highlighting really well-structured essay
characters and themes as you will
Spidergram essay plans offer a
be asked to do in coursework or
highly visual way of revising for
examinations.
exams - try making one of your
• The text commentary guides you own for another exam question.
through the play and, in addition
Read the two sample responses
to tackling themes, subjects and
and see whether your own
narrative techniques, will
responses are closer to the
encourage you to question and
C grade or the A grade
interpret the text for yourself.
• Throughout the commentary you’ll
find quick quizzes. The questions
have been specially designed to
give you the best possible help
during revision or preparation of
coursework.
Literature Guide for GCSE
 Contents

Plot summary 4
Contents

Who’s who in Romeo and Juliet 8

About the author 14

Historical background 16

Themes and images 18

Text commentary - Act 1 22

Quick quiz 1 32

Text commentary - Act 2 33

Quick quiz 2 41

Text commentary - Act 3 42

Quick quiz 3 51

Text commentary - Act 4 52

2
Quick quiz 4 57

Contents
Text commentary - Act 5 58 I
Quick quiz 5 63 "

Writing essays on Romeo and

Juliet for exams and coursework 64

Key quotations 66

Essay questions 68

Planning an essay 70

Spidergram essay plans 71

Sample response - C grade 74

Sample response - A grade 76

Quick quiz answers 78

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 Who’s who in Romeo and Juliet

Romeo
Who's who

that hath steerage of my course, Direct my sail »

At the beginning of the play Romeo is an immature

and impulsive boy who imagines that he is in love
with Rosaline. His talk is full of bookish and artificial
expressions of emotion and he seems to be
wallowing in self-pity. When he meets Juliet and falls
in love with her, this has a dramatic effect on his
character. He becomes more mature and even
attempts to make peace with Tybalt, Juliet’s argumentative and
aggressive cousin. Despite his new-found maturity and tolerance of
the Capulets, Romeo remains impetuous. He has one fixed idea
(marriage to Juliet) and, within that, simply reacts to
circumstances. He responds to plans thought up by others (Friar
Lawrence, Juliet or the Nurse) and his mood swings from despair to
joy, even within one scene, for example, Act 3 Sc 3.

Juliet

My only love sprung from my only hate

As with Romeo, once they have met, there is only one

point of focus in Juliet’s life. However, she is presented
rather differently from Romeo as we see her in a much
more convincing family situation, where the coldness
of her mother suggests why Juliet forms her opinions
for herself. Despite her age, not quite fourteen, Juliet
shows remarkable independence and maturity, but she

8
 ■■■■

is obedient to her parents until her love for Romeo makes such
obedience impossible. She is intelligent and perceptive, possibly
more so than Romeo. She is utterly loyal to Romeo and defies the
whole world for him. She is prepared to risk taking a dangerous

Who's who
drug to fake death so that she can escape to be with him. She
accepts death willingly at the end of the play, when fate has
destroyed their lives.

think it best you married with the county . . .

Romeo’s a dish clout to him 99
The Nurse’s position in the Capulet household is
superior to that of a normal servant. Juliet seems to
have taken the place of the daughter she once had,
and everything she does, she does for Juliet’s
benefit. She is a simple soul who is an easy target
for Mercutio’s lewd ribbing. She is long-winded as
f \ \ yH well as rather rude and bawdy, but she seems
sincere and makes the audience laugh with her rather than at her.
The Nurse is Juliet’s confidante and helper for much of the play, but
forfeits her trust when she advises marriage to Paris after Romeo’s
banishment. Juliet is shocked both by her disloyalty to Romeo and
her lack of moral sense in advocating a bigamous marriage.

J
 r

£ And here I stand both to impeach and purge 99

Who's who

Friar Lawrence is a respectable and well-meaning

ally of Romeo and Juliet. It is his plan which
goes wrong and causes the final tragedy. He is a
kindly but rather unworldly man, who thinks
W himself careful and wise but who proves to be
over-ambitious in his plans. His intentions seem
good, but he is too optimistic in hoping that the
marriage of Romeo and Juliet will bring the two feuding families
together. In the end it is their deaths which bring the Montagues
and Capulets to their senses. At the end the Friar is revealed as a
timid man when he runs away, leaving Juliet alone in the tomb.

4 4 if i°ve be rough with you, be rough with love 99

Mercutio bursts onto the scene with his lively and
bawdy wit. His brilliantly imaginative language
contrasts sharply with that of his melancholy
friend Romeo and the sensible Benvolio. Mercutio
lives life to the full: he is witty, eloquent, loves to
hear himself talk and does not suffer fools gladly.
He seems to take neither [ife nor death very
seriously. He is one of Shakespeare’s most bawdy characters and
his language contrasts with that of the maturing Romeo. His
profane view of love emphasises the strength and purity of
Romeo’s mature love for Juliet. Mercutio is intensely I ova I to
Romeo and intervenes on his behalf against Tybalt with fatal
results. Hjs death launches the final tragedy of the play.
V.

10
 ~\

Tybalt

u What, drawn and talk of peace? I hate the word,

Who's who
As I hate hell, all Montagues, and thee. 99
Tybalt is the only member of the Capulet and
Montague families whose words and actions
show the ferocity and deep hatred associated
with the feud: he attacks the peacemaker
Benvolio in the first brawl, he attempts to
challenge Romeo at the feast and, of course, his
final conflict with Mercutio and Romeo is a
pivotal point in the tragedy. Remember, though, that Tybalt is also
spoken of with affection by Juliet and the Nurse.

Benvolio

«/ do but keep the peace. 55

Benvolio is a peacemaker and a contrast to the
aggressive Tybalt. He is cautious, unlike Romeo.
His word is trusted by both Montague and the
Prince. He seems to be used as a contrast to the
other characters in order to bring out their main
features more clearly.

Lord Capulet
Capulet is a difficult character to assess because his behaviour
seems so contradictory. He is a wealthy man who has married a
woman much younger than himself, as she keeps reminding him
He presents an angry figure of short-tempered authority when

11
 Juliet refuses to obey him, but at other times speaks to her
lovingly. He appears to think Juliet is too young to marry and tries
to put Paris off when he asks for her hand. However, later he
suddenly agrees to the marriage and even brings the date forward,
Who's who

with disastrous results. He rages at Juliet when she shows

reluctance to marry Paris, and embodies the conventional,
unfeeling world in which the lovers find themselves. Only at the
end of the play, when he mourns for his daughter’s death, does he
seem a sympathetic character once more.

Lady Capulet
Lady Capulet has married a much older, wealthy man. She seems
to think of marriage as a business which must be carefully planned
to be profitable. She is unsympathetic and vindictive when she
demands that Tybalt’s killer be put to death. Lady Capulet does not
seem to have a particularly affectionate relationship with her
daughter, but leaves her to the Nurse. When Juliet appeals to her
mother not to cast her out, her appeal falls on deaf ears.

Paris
Paris is a character who is only lightly sketched in the play but who
has an important role. He is an honourable man whose appearance
helps to trigger the final tragedy. He confidently assumes that he
will marry Juliet because this is the arrangement with her father,
Capulet. He is the embodiment of the predictable and conventional
lover. At the end of the play this well-meaning man speaks delicate
words of grief for the girl he hardly knew. It is his sense of honour,
rather than any feelings of jealousy, that provokes outrage in him
when he thinks Romeo has come to desecrate her tomb. He dies in
the fight with Romeo without ever understanding the real situation.

12
 The Montagues
Montague and his wife remain thinly characterised and occupy
predictable roles. Montague wishes to join in the first brawl, his
wife dissuades him, then they make concerned enquiries about
their melancholy son. Later, they reflect the mood of the play by
defending Romeo (very briefly) after the death of Tybalt and by
sharing the grief at the end of the play, Lady Montague so acutely
that she dies. Montague then joins in the final atonement and
reconciliation. Overall they appear less quarrelsome than the
Capulets, and Montague's language is more restrained. They show
warm affection towards Romeo, unlike the cold, harsh attitude that
the Capulets show towards Juliet.

Escalus, Prince of Verona

The Prince is a symbol of order and peace. He is an important
figure because much of the play is about the clash between love
and hate, youth and age, life and death. He speaks out against the
family feud but is unable to stop it. In the end he admits that he
should have been firmer, because it is the death of the lovers and
not his authority that finally brings peace. He too suffers because
of the feud, and loses two of his kinsmen because of it.
 r About the author

William Shakespeare was born in Stratford-

upon-Avon on 23 April 1564. His father, John

Shakespeare, was a glove-maker by trade

About the author

and a respected member of the community,

holding, at various times, several important
public offices, including those of councillor,

Justice of the Peace and, in 1568, Mayor.

Besides his craft as a glove-maker, he was a
successful businessman trading in wool and
involved in money lending. Shakespeare’s mother, Mary Arden, was the
daughter of a wealthy local farmer.

It is likely that, as the son of an important townsman, Shakespeare's

education began at the town’s 'petty' or junior school, before he went
on to Stratford Grammar School, where he learned Latin and studied
the classical writers, such as the Roman writers Ovid and Plautus. The

influence of these writers can be seen in some of Shakespeare’s plays,

such as Antony and Cleopatra and Julius Caesar.

In 1582, when he was 18, Shakespeare married Anne Hathaway, the

26-year-old daughter of a local farmer. Their first child, Susanna, was
born the following May and the twins, Judith and Hamnet, were born
two years later. Sadly, though, Hamnet died in 1596 at the age of 11.

Very little is known about Shakespeare's life between 1585 and 1592,
and these are sometimes known as The Lost Years’. We do know,
however, that by 1592 he had moved to London. He probably left

Stratford around 1586-7, and it seems likely that he joined one of the
London-based theatre companies which sometimes visited the town.
He would have known that London was the place to be if he wanted to
become a successful actor/playwright. By 1592, Shakespeare had
established his reputation as an actor and dramatist and was
sufficiently well known to attract comment from some other dramatists
of the time.

14
In 1593 all the theatres were closed because of the plague, and when
they reopened the following year, Shakespeare had joined others to
form a new theatre company under the patronage of the Lord

About the author

Chamberlain, called The Lord Chamberlain’s Men. Shakespeare wrote
plays for this company for almost twenty years, and its leading actor,
Richard Burbage, played many of the roles created by Shakespeare,
such as Hamlet, Othello and King Lear.

In 1599 the Lord Chamberlain’s Men built a new theatre, The Globe, on
the south bank of the River Thames at Southwark, and Shakespeare was
a major shareholder in this venture. In 1603, Elizabeth I died and James I
(James IV of Scotland) came to the throne. Shakespeare’s company
changed its name to The King’s Men, and in 1609 the company acquired
another theatre, the Blackfriars, in addition to the Globe.

Shakespeare’s success had made him a wealthy man, and as early as

1597 he had bought one of the biggest houses in Stratford - he kept
close links with his home town even though he lived in London.
Shakespeare’s father had been granted a coat of arms in 1596, and
after his father’s death in 1601 Shakespeare inherited this and the rights
of a gentleman, an unusual privilege for an actor or dramatist at the
time.

During the early 1600s Shakespeare wrote some of his most famous
tragedies including Hamlet, Othello, King Lear and Macbeth. His last
plays, sometimes called the Romances, which include Cymbeline, The
Tempest and The Winter's Tale, were written between about 1608 and
1612. About 1611 Shakespeare seems to have left London and retired
to Stratford a wealthy man, though he kept up his connection with
London as he was involved in a legal dispute over the Blackfriars
theatre in 1615. He died in Stratford on 23 April 1616 and was buried
there in the Holy Trinity Church.

15
 Historical background
Historical background

Baz Luhrmann’s 1996 film adaptation

In Elizabethan England, theatre-going was very popular and, although

the theatres themselves were in London, travelling theatre companies
went round the country and were hired by those who wanted a play to
be performed as an attraction. Often plays were performed in
temporary theatres created in inn yards, as well as at court and in the
country houses of the wealthy. The plays, therefore, were seen by a
wide range of people from all kinds of social backgrounds.

By the end of the 16th century, theatre-going was well established in

England, but the theatres of Shakespeare’s time were very different

from modern theatres. The majority of them, such as The Globe in
Southwark, London, were open-air and, as there was no artificial
lighting, the plays had to be performed in daylight, normally in the
afternoons. The theatre itself was round or hexagonal in shape, and
there was a raised platform that jutted out into the audience. There
was a recess at the back of the stage, which was supported by pillars
and roofed to form a kind of turret from which a trumpeter signalled
the beginning of the play and from which a flag flew, indicating that a

performance was in progress.

16
The stage had no curtain and the main part of the audience stood
around it on three sides. This section of the audience was called the
'groundlings’. A few special members of the audience were allowed to
sit on the stage itself. In the galleries looking down on the stage and
the groundlings, seating was provided for those who paid more to
watch the play. These were covered and so afforded protection from

Historical background
the weather.

At the back of the stage, a large tapestry or curtain was hung

concealing a recess and openings at either side from which the actors
could enter and exit. The hanging might be colourful or dark,
depending on the mood of the play. The stage itself was covered by a
canopy, which rested on posts or pillars at either side. There was one
or more trap doors in the stage itself, through which actors could
quickly appear or disappear when necessary, for example in the
appearance or disappearance of a ghost.

Behind the stage there were rooms called 'tiring rooms’, in which the
actors dressed and stored their various items and such props as were
used. Although 'costumes' as such were not used, and actors dressed
in the fashions of the times, these clothes were often more colourful or
ornate and striking than those worn for everyday living. Painted
scenery was not used, although props such as tables, chairs, thrones,
cauldrons, swords, daggers and so on were used. All the female roles
were played by men, as women were not allowed on the stage in
Shakespeare’s time, so tall boys with high-pitched voices were often
trained to take women’s parts.

People saw the theatre not only as a place to watch and enjoy a play,
but as an opportunity to meet friends, exchange gossip and eat and
drink. During performances, beer was often drunk and vendors moved
among the groundlings selling various foods and sweetmeats. Elizabethan
audiences were appreciative of a good play performed well but, if the
play or performance was poor, they would often shout out derogatory
remarks, make jokes at the actors’ expense and throw things onto the
stage - behaviour that is rarely seen in the modern-day theatre.

17
 Themes and images
The feud
The play is full of examples of different kinds of conflict
and disorder, and the feud between the Capulets
and the Montagues is at the centre of the much of it.
The feud is also the ultimate cause of all the deaths
in the play and Shakespeare shows, through its
consequences, its futility. We are made aware of this
feud right from the outset of the play and it is the
first thing that the Prologue mentions: 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 hands unclean...’.

The opening scene of the play itself emphasises this feud and the disorder it
causes in Verona, creating a situation so serious that the Prince threatens
death to anyone who disturbs the peace of the city again because of it. The
love of Romeo and Juliet is, therefore, set within the context of hate
generated by the feud and in that sense the feud is directly responsible for
the tragedy that ensues. The hatred that it sets up is in direct conrast to the
love of Romeo and Juliet, and in the end they are the victims of it, as the
Prince points out at the end of the play: 'See what a scourge is laid upon
your hate! / That heaven finds means to kiil your joys with love...' (Act 5 Sc 3).

Fate and fortune

Fate and fortune are an important theme in the
play. From the very start, the sense that Romeo
and Juliet’s lives are controlled by fate and that
they are destined to suffer tragic consequences
is made clear in the Prologue, where they are
described as ‘star-crossed lovers’. Before leaving
to go to the Capulet ball where he meets Juliet
for the first time, Romeo says he feels his future
is 'hanging in the stars’, and towards the end of the play when he hears of
Juliet’s death he says that he is ‘fortune's fool’. The overall structure of the
play and the way the story unfolds produces a feeling of inevitability about
the ending, and everything that can go wrong for the lovers does go
wrong. The accidental death of Mercutio sparks off a chain of events which
leads to the death of Tybalt and in turn to the banishment of Romeo.
Capulet's decision that Juliet must marry Paris puts her under pressure to
find a way out. Her father’s unexpected decision to bring the marriage
forward increases this still further. Finally, the failed delivery of the friar’s
letter, and his own late arrival at the tomb, seals the lover’s fate.

Light and dark

images of darkness in the play stand for death,
violence, sadness and secrecy. At the start of the
play Romeo seeks out darkness because he is sad
and depressed. Later on he and Juliet welcome
the night because then they can safely be alone
in secret. At the end of the play the blackness of
the tomb and the dark night outside emphasise
the sadness and tragedy of the lovers’ deaths.

Images of light, whiteness or paleness in the play often appear in

connection with ideas of love, life and hope. Romeo describes Juliet as
being like the sun, brighter than the light of a torch or the stars. Juliet talks
about Romeo's love being pure - whiter than snow. Even in the darkness of
the tomb at the end of the play Romeo says that Juliet’s beauty makes the
darkness light.

Love
Love is an important theme in the play and
appears in many forms. Different characters
talk about love from very different points of
view. At the start the servants Sampson and
Gregory see love as brutish and crude. Romeo's
early sadness is a kind of intellectual love - he
is in love with the idea of being in love.
Mercutio and the Nurse talk about love from a
very physical, bawdy point of view. At the other extreme, Lord and Lady
Capulet see love merely as a financial transaction to do with securing and
retaining wealth. The love between Romeo and Juliet is deep and
passionate and is more powerful than hatred and even death.
 r

Time
Time and the sense of time passing too quickly
are ideas that are often repeated in the play. The
speed with which events happen is an important
factor in the tragedy. At first time passes slowly,
as Romeo frets about Rosaline and complains
that the hours are long. Later Capulet complains
35 that the years rush past too quickly. Romeo
compares Juliet with a winged messenger of
heaven, but Juliet worries that their love is too sudden and rash. The Friar
complains that the lovers are in too much of a hurry. The message about
the Friar’s plan is delayed, and Friar Lawrence himself arrives at the end
just seconds too late to stop the final tragedy. The whole play seems
hurried. Characters rush into marriage, Romeo is banished for an impulsive
action, Capulet cannot wait to get Juliet married to Paris. The play is filled
with speed - speed to kill whoever is in the way and speed to commit
suicide when life seems empty.

Religion
Many images in the play stem from the religious
ideas of Shakespeare’s time, and there are many
Czr examples of a 'religious’ vocabulary in the play,
through the use of words such as 'heaven', 'mass’,
'angel’ and 'God'. Romeo and Juliet's first
conversation makes use of an extended image in
:<m which Romeo compares Juliet to a shrine or a
saint, thus emphasising the spirituality of their
love: 'If I profane with my unworthiest hand, / This holy shrine, the gentle sin is
this, / My lips two blushing pilgrims ready stand, / To sooth the rough touch
with a tender kiss.’ (Act 1 Sc 5).

Friar Lawrence adds a further religious aspect to the play, and his actions in
many ways raise questions when judged against the actions you would
expect from a 'man of God’. Set against the religious elements of the play, the
suicide of Romeo and Juliet has an even greater impact.

V
 "\

Death
Love is a central concern of Romeo and Juliet,
but death is equally important in the play. Five
characters die in the course of the action, but
the preoccupation with death runs through
much of the language of the play. At several
points Juliet is presented as 'Death's bride', for
example when she hears of Romeo's

Themes and
banishment, she says that ‘death not Romeo,
take my maidenhead.’ (Act 3 Sc 2), and later, when Juliet refuses to marry
Paris, her mother says of her, 'I would the fool were married to her grave.’
(Act 3 Sc 5) When it appears that Juliet is dead, Capulet remarks, 'Death is
my son-in-law, Death is my heir, / My daughter he hath wedded.' (Act 4
Sc 5). When Romeo finds Juliet's body in the Capulet vault, he too uses the
personification of Death to describe her: 'Death that hath sucked the
honey of thy breath, / Hath had no power yet upon thy beauty...’ (Act 5
Sc 3), and he goes on, 'Shall I believe / That unsubstantial Death is
amorous, / And that the lean abhorred monster keeps / Thee here in dark
to be his paramour?’

This may seem a morbid fascination to a modern audience, but the

Elizabethans, with an average life expectancy much lower than that of
today, were much more conscious of their mortality.

21
 Text commentary
Act I

Prologue

pair of star-cross’d lovers, take their life

The Prologue features a device from ancient Greek

,• > >'•
drama (the Chorus) which Shakespeare uses rarely. The
Greek Chorus was used to comment on the events in the
- ★
Text commentary

play; here it gives the audience the facts of the feud and

* how the deaths of the lovers will end it. The ending is

deliberately revealed so that the audience may judge

characters and events in the light of the final tragedy and also to
intensify the tragedy by making it seem inevitable. The Chorus
emphasises that the lovers are fated. They are ‘star-cross’d1,
their love is ‘death-marked’ and they are born of their parents’

‘fatal loins’.

Scene 1

-fa £Have at thee coivard.

The play starts like a comedy, with word-play and puns from the
two servants Gregory and Sampson, although they are armed
and ready for trouble. Notice Sampson’s one-dimensional idea
of love as a kind of rape fantasy. He thinks love is just a matter of
the brutal conquest of another’s body, a matter of
‘cutting off’ a woman’s virginity, and his imagery about
Explain the puns |Sed
in this opening the human body reflects this - it is vulgar and crude. For
section. Sampson, even love has become a kind of hate.

22
 References to ‘naked weapon' and ‘tool’ emphasise the
physical side of love, as do other references to striking
and thrusting. Amidst a whirl of this kind of talk,
Sampson and Gregory meet their deadly enemies. The
speed with which fighting breaks out prepares the
X
x> X
Cr* audience for the way haste and speed play a big part in
the coming tragedy. Many characters in the play seem to act
first and think later. This quarrel begins almost as a farce; biting
vour thumb at someone is an ancient Italian insult.

L i|., Turn thee Benvolio, look upon thy death. 99

r
‘Benvolio’ means ‘good will’ and, true to his name he

Text commentary
tries to stop the fight. When Tybalt arrives, though, he is in
characteristically aggressive mood. Tybalt’s name comes
from the old story of Reynard the Fox, where Tybert is a
cat (see also Act 2 Sc 4). Tybalt seems to hate hell, peace,
Montagues - everything. His character never changes.
He is always excitable and angry and eager to fight.

What impression do
Capulet and Montague go through the motions of joining
the heads of the two
in the fight. Notice how Lady Capulet deflates her foolish
families make on their
first appearance? Do husband - he calls for his sword and she suggests he’d
you think they seem be better off with a crutch. Lady Montague restrains her
dangerous, or foolish,
husband too, by holding on to him and scolding him.
or both?

£ ^Rebellious subjects, enemies of peace 99

Escalus is furious with both families. He compares their
behaviour to that of beasts He says that there have
already been three brawls and he has had enough. He is
angry because their pointless fighting is disrupting the
social Hfe of the cfty and he threatens death to anyone
who fights again.

25
 660 where is Romeo? Saw you him today? 99
Characters have appeared in a careful order up to this point in
the play. You have met Capulet’s servants, Montague’s servants,

Benvolio, Tybalt, the Capulets, the Montagues and then the

Prince. The scene is set for the two main characters who have

yet to appear.

Benvolio becomes poetic when he talks about Romeo.

Notice how the atmosphere of conflict suddenly disappears

as Romeo is mentioned. Benvolio talks about sunlight, secrets

and silence. These ideas and images accompany Romeo
and Juliet throughout the play and you should keep an eye
Text commentary

out for the consistent way they are used by Shakespeare to

create a deliberate mood or atmosphere around the lovers.

Benvolio says that Romeo has been walking

Keep a log of the puns
underneath a grove of sycamore trees. The name is
used in the play as you
come across them. probably being used as a pun: ‘sick amour’.

Romeo seeks out the darkness in his sadness. He is talked of as a

fleeting shadow and is already being associated with speed and
quickness.

4 £ What sadness lengthens Romeo’s hours? 99

In Romeo’s first long speech he talks about how love and
hate have become mixed together, so that nothing is
clear any more. Romeo’s emotional and mental confusion

'Is brought out in a series of oxymorons, that is to say,

phrases made up of opposites. To begin with he talks of
‘brawling love’ and 'loving hate’. See how many more
•jj^Boxymorons you can find in this speech. These images of chaos
l^^nnd confusion are repeated often throughout the play, where
lie is seen as death and death as life. Just as the world of Verona
[ chaotic and confused because of the feuding families, so

22 1 bmeo is confused because his feelings are in turmoil.

 Romeo’s language is artificial, intellectual and rather forced. He
uses so many ornate and different descriptions for his feelings
because he is not really in love at all - he is in love with the idea
of being in love. He uses many rhyming couplets, which makes
what he says sound more like a well-rehearsed speech
than a true expression of emotional torment. Later when
Oxymoron is a
compressed form of he meets Juliet, you will see how his language becomes
antithesis, where more sincere and passionate. Romeo seems almost
words with opposite
desperate to fall in love, but it is an idealised kind of love
meanings are combined
in a phrase, e.g. ‘0 he wants; he is unrealistic, uncompromising and given to
heavy lightness’. extremes, which helps to prepare us for his headlong fall
into passionate love with Juliet.

Act 1 Scene 2

4 But woo her gentle Paris, get her heart 99

The plot begins to develop some twists here. Paris wants to
marry Juliet and this will produce tragic complications for her
relationship with Romeo. Paris, unlike Romeo, is calm and even-
tempered. Because of the family feud, Romeo cannot of course
speak to Capulet when he falls in love with Juliet. Notice Paris's
attitude to love - that a woman is fulfilled not by passion but by
the calmer pleasures of motherhood.

Juliet’s ‘ripeness’ to be a bride is talked of in the same

breath as summer ‘withering’. Elsewhere, Montague talks
about Romeo being blighted like a bud bitten by a worm.
These hints in the imagery prepare you for the tragedy
to come. The love of Romeo and Juliet is full of promise
and hope for the future but it will be blighted and doomed
by fate. Capulet's other children have all died and the earth has
‘swallowed’ them. This is another example of the imagery of
death's mouth (the tomb) in the play, which reminds you of the
ever-present idea of the lovers as ‘star-crossed’ or fated.
 Capulet says that at his banquet that night there will be many
lovely young women - ‘earth-treading stars’. This connection
between heavenly things and events on earth was a common
idea in Shakespeare’s time, and it is another example of the
images of light and love being brought together.

come and crush a cup of wine 55

The comic servant, Peter, cannot read and so must get

See what examples you help to obey his master’s instructions to find the
can find of this use of people written on the list. Peter is described in the
humour in the short cast list as 'a clown’ which means that the part was
speech before the entry
originally played by a member of the company who
of Romeo and Benvolio.
Text commentary

Here you should note specialised in clowning and always played such parts.
Peter scoring off Though this is a very small part, we can find examples
Romeo by giving
of typical clownish humour. One element of the
correct, but very
humour is nonsense, muddling things in an illogical
limited, answers.
pattern.

Romeo and Benvolio speak to each other in verse while the

servant speaks in prose, as fits his lower status. Notice that
noble characters use prose when speaking to, or about lower’
things.

Romeo uses the idea of light and seeing by saying that the
‘all-seeing sun’ never saw a beauty to match Rosaline. Later
± in the play - in Act 2 Sc 2 - Romeo again uses the imagery
£ of light and seeing to describe his love for Juliet, but she
rejects it. Juliet says the light of the moon is not constant and

their love may be more like a brief sudden flash of lightning.

Notice how the speeches are full of references to light, burning,
crystals, shining, eves and looking. This continuous use of
related images is part of the structure of the play and binds the
different parts together.

26
 Act 1 Scene 3

66go girl, seek happy nights to happy days

Scenes 1 and 2 are about the world of men; scene 3

As you work through concentrates on the world as jt affects women. The
the play, make a note Nurse is informal and natural in her manner and speech,
of the different kinds
while Lady Capulet seems formal, abrupt and somewhat
of speech spoken by
different characters. artificial. As with Romeo, Benvolio and the servant in the
previous scene, the difference between the ‘high’ status
of Lady Capulet and the ‘low’ one of the Nurse is reflected in the
content and style of their speech.

Text commentary
The Nurse’s long speech here covers the whole life of the
human body from Juliet’s childhood to her own old age.
The Nurse was Juliet’s wet-nurse and she tells us how she
persuaded the baby to give up feeding at the breast by
rubbing wormwood (a bitter plant) on her nipples. The
Nurse’s daughter Susan died young and Juliet has in
many ways replaced her in the Nurse’s affections. Ironically, Juliet
will also be 'too good for' the Nurse and this brief reference is
ominous in the same way as Montague’s earlier images of
cankered buds. The Nurse has obviously had a long and close
relationship with Juliet, which explains why Lady Capulet calls
her back to join in the discussion about her proposed marriage
to Paris.

££Thou wilt fall backward when thou comest of age

The Nurse's bawdy jokes and her emphasis on physical lust

act as an important balance to the later idealised and
innocent love of Romeo and Juliet and to the formal and
'b rather artificial love of Paris. Just as the Nurse is a balance
£ to Juliet, so is Mercutio to Romeo. The whole of this
amusing scene, in which the chatty and rambling Nurse keeps
irritating Lady Capulet, is a temporary diversion from the tragedy

27
 to come. Scenes like this are ‘light relief’ from the

Notice how Shakespeare impending disaster and actually help to build tension
intersperses the serious because, while they seem to be about other things, they
action with scenes
contain lots of cross-references to the main imagery and
that give light relief at
action. For example, Juliet is associated with 'falling
various points. Make a
note of where these backwards’ (into physical love) and the matter of her
scene come in the play. possible marriage to Paris is raised.

(The valiant Paris seeks you for his love 99

In keeping with her character in the rest of the play, Lady Capulet
introduces the topic of marriage to Paris very abruptly and
without much sensitivity. She expects Juliet to commit herself
Text commentary

to someone she has not yet seen. Lady Capulet says Juliet could
‘share all that he doth possess’ and seems to see marriage as a
sharing of position and wealth rather than a sharing of love.
The Nurse agrees that Juliet could ‘grow’ by marrying Paris, but
as usual has in mind a more physical meaning than Lady
Capulet’s!

Act 1 Scene 4

((my mind misgives 99

Romeo’s friends indulge in word-play about his love,
saying that he should not be sad. Romeo is ‘heavy’ with
sadness and has a 'soul of lead’; he has been pierced
with Cupid’s arrow. Although Romeo’s bookish sadness
will soon be lifted, his love for Juliet eventually brings
more sadness by the end of the play.

(^Peace, peace Mercutio, peace.

Thou talk’st of nothing. 99
Mercutio is wild and fiery, volatile and impulsive. His words run
away with him in an almost uncontrollable flow and, in Act 2

28
 Sc 4, Romeo says that Mercutio 'will speak more in a
minute than he will stand to in a month’. The notion of
romantic love amuses Mercutio, who has a much more
basic and down-to-earth view of love which revolves
around physical passion.

Mercutio says that dreams are inhabited by the Fairy

Queen Mab and that Romeo seems to have been
What kind of view of
the world do you think enchanted by her. The dreams which Mercutio talks
Mercutio has? Cynical, about are full of bizarre examples of wishful thinking:
romantic, realistic,
'vain fantasies' as he calls them; Queen Mab drives her
amused,
fairy coach through lovers’ brains so that they dream of
contemptuous? r
love, over ladies’ lips so that they dream of kisses, over

Text commentary
soldiers’ necks so that they dream of cutting throats. In such
dreams reality and madness seem to meet, and it is this
sort of lovers’ dream that is about to come true for
Romeo.

Romeo seems to foresee his own death here, a

‘consequence yet hanging in the stars’ as he calls it. He
calls upon the one 'that hath the steerage’ of his 'course'
- he who guides the path of his life - to direct him safely.
The sea is often used by Shakespeare as a symbol of the
There are many
references to fate and powerful and unpredictable forces of fate and the
fortune in the play. audience already knows that Romeo’s fate is fixed, for he
Make a note of them as
is ‘star-cross’d’. This scene ends with a sense of
you find them.
foreboding, but Shakespeare uses the opening of the
following scene to relieve the tension.

Act 1 Scene 5

The previous scene ended on a gloomy and threatening note,

with Romeo having a premonition of his death. The opening of
this scene is concerned with everyday domestic matters as the
servants joke among themselves while they clear up after dinner.

29
 Capulet welcomes everybody and, although he is too old

to dance himself, he encourages everybody else to join

in because he likes to watch the young people enjoy
themselves and wants his party to be a success. His
speech is full of references to walking and dancing, and
contrasts the hot vigour of youth with the sedateness of
age and its confusions.

O she doth teach the torches to burn bright 99

Romeo sees Juliet and is stunned by her beauty. He
associates her with glowing light, says she shines like a
rich jewel, compares her to a snowy dove among crows
Text commentary

and says she is ‘blessed’. As Benvolio said he would,

Romeo now forswears his love for Rosaline at once. Near
the start of Sc 2, Benvolio advised Romeo that, since
one fire burns out another and one pain is made less
There are many views
of love. Do you think by the anguish of another, he should therefore find a
love at first sight really new love. This now happens, but we know that
exists? What are the
Romeo’s pain will be made greater, not less, by his
signs of falling in love?
love for Juliet.

■KT' ■;
-
-wr
You will notice in the rest of the play how Romeo often
talks about Juliet in terms of shining light, whiteness
and purity, and as having holy qualities. He also says
here that Juliet has beauty that is ‘too rich for use’ and is
‘for earth too dear’, meaning that she is too fine for the
i 1
uses of this world and too precious to be on earth. This
sounds rather ominous and again reinforces the sense
of foreboding.

((Tis he, that villain Romeo 99

In contrast to Romeo’s gentle and admiring love speech, Tybalt
arrives, as usual spoiling for a fight. Capulet’s banquet is a
masked ball, so all the guests wear fancy masks to conceal their
identity. Tybalt recognises Romeo’s voice. He is furious that a

30
 Montague should intrude into their party and says he
will fight Romeo for this insult. Capulet tells him to calm
down because Romeo is known to be virtuous and well-
behaved. When Tybalt persists in wanting to kill Romeo
because he is a Montague, Capulet becomes furious at
his disobedience.

6 (My lips two blushing pilgrims ready stand 99

Romeo and Juliet’s speeches to each other are full of
religious overtones, yet the bulk of what they say
concerns the human body. Although they talk of lips and
hands kissing and touching, and actually kiss each other,

Text commentary
they also talk about holy shrines, gentle sins, pilgrims,
devotion, saints and prayers. Their formal use of
language has a dignified pace and stresses the purity and
sincerity of their love for each other. Romeo’s language is still a
little forced and exaggerated and he has not yet completely
shaken off his somewhat studied manner - Juliet says he kisses
by the book rather than from the heart. The duet between
Romeo and Juliet is in sonnet form and its use of religious
words isolates the characters from the rest of the scene and its
bustling activity.

((My only love sprung from my only bate 99

The Nurse brings a message that Juliet's mother wants her.
Romeo is stunned to learn that Juliet is a Capulet, the family so
bitterly at odds with his own. Juliet wants to know Romeo's
name and asks the Nurse to find it out. She says that if
she cannot marry Romeo she will die - another ominous
It can be difficult to
decide whether the comment. This is the first time in the play that death is
play is more about portrayed as a bridegroom, although this image occurs
hate or love, death or
again at the end. Juliet is distraught that she has .found
life. What do you
think? her only love within the family she has been brought up

to hate.
 r
r Quick quiz 1
Uncover the plot
Delete two of the three alternatives given, to find the correct plot

1 In Verona/Mantua/Rome, a fight between Montagues and Capulets is

broken up by Benvolio/an Officer/the Prince.
2 Romeo tells Benvolio/Tybalt/Mercutio the cause of his sadness - his
love for Juliet/Angelica/Rosaline.
3 Tybalt/Paris/Balthasar asks Capulet for Juliet's hand.
4 Lady Capulet/Lord Capulet/the Nurse tells Juliet about Paris.
5 Romeo meets Juliet and finds out that she is a Montague/Capulet.

6 Juliet feels that her ‘only love' has 'sprung from a loathed enemy/a
Capulet/my only hate’.

Who? What? When? Where? Why? How?

Quick quiz

1 Who does Mercutio say gives dreams?

2 Who ’doth teach the torches to burn bright1?
3 What does Lady Capulet call for when Capulet calls for his sword?
4 What traditional Italian insult starts the brawl?
5 Where has Benvolio found Romeo walking before dawn?
6 Why (give three reasons) does Capulet restrain Tybalt at the feast?

7 How is Romeo recognised at the feast - and why is this the only way
he can be recognised?
8 How many brawls have there already been between the families?

Who said that?

1 Who says: 'Part, fools, put up your swords, you know not what you
do’?
2 Who says: ‘bright smoke, cold fire, sick health’?
3 Who agrees: ‘True, I talk of dreams, / Which are the children of an idle
brain’?
4 Who calls Romeo 'a virtuous and well-govern’d youth’?
5 Who shouts: 'What, drawn, and talk of peace? I hate the word!’?

32
 Act 2

Act 2 Prologue

4 £ Alike bewitched by the charm of looks 99

Again the Chorus is used to keep the audience up to date with
the story by summarising what has happened and by telling how
the lovers’ passion 'lends them power’ to meet in the coming
scenes, despite being enemies.

r
The Chorus speaks the third sonnet in the play, having started the

Text commentary
play with the first. The second sonnet is spoken by Romeo and
Juliet when they first meet.

Act 2 Scene 1

■S A Blind is his love, and best befits the darkty*^

Mercutio calls for Romeo, making bawdy fun of him

Think about Mercutio’s because he is in love with Rosaline. Mercutio and his
attitude towards love.
friends do not yet know that Romeo has met Juliet.
How does his view of
love differ from Benvolio says that Romeo will be angry at being mocked

Romeo’s? this way.

Mercutio talks about Cupid and Venus, two pagan symbols of

love, but speaks about love in the most physical of terms,
referring to Rosaline’s ‘scarlet lip’ and 'quivering thigh’. Mercutio
always talks about the human body, as he did in his Queen Mab
speech, in very physical and bawdy terms. Here he says
that Romeo will sit under a medlar tree. This is a piece of
coarse Elizabethan slang; the medlar fruit, like a small
brown apple, was said to resemble the female sex organs.
This is why Mercutio says Romeo will think of Rosaline in
these terms, because love for Mercutio is the same as

33
 physical lust. He and many other characters in the play cannot
understand that love can be pure and passionate.

Act 2 Scene 2

Romeo, who has heard the conversation between Benvolio

and Mercutio, remarks that Mercutio can easily make fun of
him because Mercutio has never been in love: 'he jests at
scars that never felt a wound’. The way in which Romeo

expresses this is unintentionally ironic, because Mercutio is

soon to be scarred and fatally wounded in his fight with Tybalt.
Text commentary

The play is full of commotion and activity. Very rarely do we find a

scene set in stillness: here, perhaps briefly at the start of Act 3 Sc
5 and, of course, finally in the silence of the tomb. Imagery of
light and seeing is important in this scene. Romeo’s love for Juliet
is often expressed in terms of light shining within the darkness.
Light imagery reaches its climax in this love scene, when

he says that she is the source of aN light, the sun.

Romeo connects the pale moonlight with sickness and

grief and says that only fools have anything to do with it.
This echoes the ‘sick amour’ he experienced at the start
of the play when he was foolishly in love with Rosaline. He says
the moon is ‘envious’ of the light of the sun and is ‘sick and
green’. Romeo’s speech in praise of Juliet describes the beauty of

the light of the sun and the other stars. Later, he speaks of her
as a ‘bright angel’ who, as a 'winged messenger of heaven’, is far
above ordinary mortals on earth. Romeo again uses several
religious references to describe Juliet, indicating the kind of love
he feels for her.

iiO Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo?

Juliet, unaware that Romeo is hiding below in the garden, says

that she does not care that he is a Montague. She says that if a

34
 rose were called by a different name it would still smell as
sweet. Notice that Juliet uses an image of a beautiful
flower to talk about Romeo. Her description of her ears
drinking in his words shows that all her senses are
awakened by her love for him and introduces imagery of
mouths, drinking, etc.

stony limits cannot hold love out 99

Juliet is worried that Romeo risks death if he is discovered
in her garden and wonders how he climbed the high
What is the dramatic
effect of Juliet orchard walls. He replies that love enabled him to climb
speaking while the walls so easily. The ‘stony limits’ of Juliet’s orchard,

Text commentary
unaware of Romeo's
which Romeo says cannot hold out his love, also appear
presence?
again at the end of the play, where they become the stony
limits of the graveyard and the tomb. Romeo’s love for Juliet
becomes so strong that not even death can keep them apart.
He says that love fears nothing, preparing us for the desperate
measures which Juliet takes later to avoid marrying Paris.

Cithy kinsmen are no stop to me 99

Romeo unwittingly foretells his own death. He says he would
rather have his life ended quickly by being found here in
the garden by Juliet’s kinsmen - 'ended by their hate’, as
he puts it - than die of slow suffering without Juliet's love.
Because the audience already knows how the story will
end, this comment by Romeo is a piece of dramatic irony.

(to swear not by the moon, th’inconstant moon 99

Romeo used imagery about light when describing his love
for Rosaline and now he tries to use the moon to evoke
his love for Juliet. Continuing her words about being
truthful, she says she does not want him to swear by the
‘inconstant’ (changeable) moon. The moon’s light is not

35
 constant because it waxes_and wanes throughout the
year - sometimes it is strong and at others it disappears.
Think about the
imagery that Romeo
and Juliet use here. Romeo is intoxicated by his passion for Juliet but she says
Write down and ‘it is too rash, too unadvis’d, too sudden’, like the
explain images that
lightning in a storm. In a way Juliet is correct, because
you find particularly
their love will indeed be like a brief wondrous flash of light
effective.
in the darkness of the feud between their two families.

Juliet is afraid of being 'quickly won’. Time and the sense

of time passing quickly are ideas that are repeated often
in the play, where the action takes place in a very short
Text commentary

space of time - this point, for example, marks the end of

the first day.

Notice the imagery of growth in Juliet’s words: their 'bud of love’

may become a 'beauteous flower’ when they next meet, if it is
breathed upon by 'summer’s ripening breath’. References to
nature tell you that their love is as natural as the seasons,
and as innocent and beautiful as a flowering bud. Notice
. that their love has not yet fully flowered and that the ending
'L of the story will prevent this. Also, the natural development
^ of bud to flower is completed in the natural cycle of death
and decay and the play has already prepared us for this with
images such as the worm in the bud (Act 1 Sc 1).

«0 blessed, blessed night

Romeo is afraid that his wonderful meeting with Juliet has

What do you think is been only a dream. Notice how it is she who returns with

the dramatic effect of practical plans for seeing each other again and for
Juliet's exits and arranging to be married.
entrances prompted by
the Nurse's cries and
her desire to speak to She uses imagery of birds and flight - swiftness and
Romeo? flight will shortly become important in the action. Ominously,
she also says that if Romeo were a bird she would kill him
'with much cherishing’: dramatic irony again.

36
 Act 2 Scene 3

ii 4 Wisely and slow, they stumble that run fast. 99

The Friar is the last of the important characters to
appear. Much of his speech is in rhyme and, although
rhyme is often used in the play, it is never used in such
concentration as here. This helps set the Friar apart from
the other characters.

The Friar is introduced to us in this long speech which is in

Think about what the some ways equivalent to Mercutio’s Queen Mab speech in r

Text commentary
Friar says and does in Act 1 Sc 4. The Friar says the earth is both nature’s womb
this scene. What is and her tomb and that people are nature’s children, who
your initial impression
suck on her 'natural bosom’, meaning that they are
of him?
nourished by the natural world. Fie says that the plants he
gathers contain reviving medicine as well as poison and that even
the most vile things produce some good.

Fie also says that people are like plants and have both
good and evil in them. The good in man he says is
'grace', meaning graciousness or divine virtue. The evil in
man he says is ‘rude will' meaning fleshly desire or
uncontrolled passion. This idea, that too much will or
passion can turn to vice, is an underlying theme in the play and
one which the Friar is always repeating. Just as the Friar
mentions poison, the future victim of poison, Romeo, enters.

((We 7net, we wooed, and made exchange of vow

Romeo says that he has been ‘wounded’ by Juliet but that

the Friar has medicine ('physic') that can cure him. This is
. ironic because although Romeo means that he has fallen in
L love with Juliet and the Friar can marry them, in the end it is
^ the Friar’s potion for Juliet that has disastrous

37
 consequences. Following on from the Friar, Romeo’s speech
combines the imagery of food, love-sickness and medicine.

The Friar is amazed that Romeo has fallen out of love and in again
so quickly, but he agrees to help him

Act 2 Scene 4

^ Alas poor Romeo, be is already dead 55

Mercutio believes that Romeo has stayed out all night

because of his love-sickness for Rosaline. Benvolio says
Text commentary

that Tybalt has written a letter challenging Romeo to a

duel. Mercutio replies that Romeo is as good as dead
already through love and in no state to fight. Ironically
this is true, but not in the way Mercutio means

FHere, Mercutio ridicules the new fashion for the Italian

style of fencing that was much scorned in England at this
A
time because of its precise, almost dance-like, technique.
He says that such fencing is too much 'by th’ book’, like
Romeo’s kissing. Fancy speech or manners - or fencing
as here - are again equated with falseness and

shallowness.

4 4 Here comes Romeo, here comes Romeo! 55

Mercutio greets Romeo’s entrance with another bout of

How do Mercutio’s bawdy punning in which Romeo joins. The comic

words and actions here elements of this scene create a change of atmosphere
compare with the from the last scene and a contrast with the next.
impression you formed
of his character in Act 1?
Mercutio and Benvolio make fun of the Nurse and
Mercutio dominates the first half of this scene with Romeo, just as
the Nurse dominates the second. Romeo's comment about

38
 Mercutio after he has left ('...loves to hear himself talk...’)
applies equally to the Nurse, and in some ways she and
Mercutio are parallel characters: they are both bawdy
and talkative and they both see life and its pleasures in
purely physical terms.

€SSM I. The comic conversation with the Nurse, who often speaks
What is your more than she listens, tells us how she is to help with the
impression of the
elopement by lowering a rope ladder from Juliet’s room
character of the Nurse?
for Romeo. Romeo imparts his message to the Nurse with
some difficulty. See how many examples you can find of the Nurse
changing the subject, failing to listen to the end of an instruction
or simply pursuing her own conversational interests. Her question

Text commentary
about Romeo and rosemary beginning with a letter (followed by
her confusion of ‘r’ and a dog growling) suggests her illiteracy.

4 4 Doth not rosemary and Romeo begin both with a letter? 99

The Nurse here connects rosemary with Romeo and says that
Juliet is fond of both. Later, after the discovery of Juliet’s body, the
Friar mentions rosemary in connection with Juliet. Later still the
Nurse casts rosemary on the body of Juliet, as the flower of
remembrance, and this reference would therefore have had a
threatening ring for Elizabethan audiences.

Act 2 Scene 5

i^What says be of our marriage, what of that? 99

Juliet is anxious to know why the Nurse has been so long.
She says love’s messengers should travel as fast as the
sun flickers when clouds blow over it. This image
connects the themes of haste and light and reminds us
of Juliet’s observation that some forms of love appear and
disappear as quickly as lightning. This scene emphasises

39
 another theme: the contrast between the impatience of youth

and the slowness of age: the blood rushes to Juliet’s cheeks but
the Nurse has a headache and an aching back.

This scene between Juliet and the Nurse parallels the one
in Act 2 Sc 3 between Romeo and the Friar. Both

conversations show youth contrasted with age. The

Friar’s attitude makes him appear wise and kindly, but
the Nurse is content for Juliet to be happy and shares the
anticipation of the sexual pleasures of her wedding bed
that night (‘you shall bear the burden soon at night’).

Act 2 Scene 6
Text commentary

Tj.These violent delights have violent ends 99

The Friar delivers his usual lecture about how the excess
of any passion will lead to tragedy. What he says is
prophetic, considering what fate has in store for the two
lovers. Notice his warning that 'violent delights have
violent ends’ and that they are like ‘fire and powder’
(meaning gunpowder) because when they meet they
destroy each other: ‘as they kiss consume’.

66Too swift arrives as tardy as too slow 99

By this confusing remark the Friar means that people
should love moderately, not with too much haste and
. passion (too swiftly) nor with too little interest or emotion
b (too slow). This is true on two separate occasions in the play:
^ first, when the Friar’s message to Romeo is delayed and
Romeo buys poison in his ignorance of the plan to fake Juliet’s
death; second, when Romeo arrives at the tomb before Juliet has
awoken from her mock-death and takes the poison before the
Friar arrives to tell him the truth.

40
 r
Quick quiz 2 "\

Uncover the plot

Delete two of the three alternatives given, to find the correct plot.
1 Benvolio and Mercutio seek Romeo/Rosaline/Tybalt.
2 Juliet declares her love for Romeo, who reveals himself, saying: 'I'll
take thee at thy word'/‘Shall I hear more?'/'If my heart’s dear love'.
3 Juliet is afraid that he will fall from the high wall/that her kinsmen will
kill him/that he will get lost.
4 Benvolio/Mercutio/Tybalt has challenged Romeo to a duel.
5 Told the news of Romeo’s proposal, Juliet jumps/blushes/faints.
6 The lovers meet at the church/the orchard/the Friar’s cell.

Who? What? Where? When? Why? How?

1 Who is 'the courageous captain of compliments’?
2 Who is ‘a gentleman... that loves to hear himself talk'?

Quick quiz
3 What two solutions does Juliet see to the problem of Romeo’s
identity?
4 What ‘cannot hold love out'?
5 What does 'wherefore' mean (as in 'wherefore art thou Romeo?')?
6 Where is Juliet supposed to be going when she leaves to marry
Romeo?
7 Where does the 'balcony scene' take place?
8 Why has Friar Lawrence chided Romeo?

Who said that?

1 Who says: ‘My bounty is as boundless as the sea, / My love as deep’?
2 Who says: 'The earth that's nature’s mother is her tomb’?
3 Who says: 'The pox of such antic, lisping, affecting fantasticoes!’?
4 Who says: 'Then love-devouring death do what he dare. / It is enough
I may but call her mine.'?
5 Who says: 'But you shall bear the burden soon at night’?

V_ )

41
 Act 3

Act 3 Scene 1

41 flFor now these hot days, is the mad blood stirringly

This scene marks the final appearance of Mercutio. After

this, our attention is concentrated only on Romeo and
Juliet. Unusually for Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet has
no sub-plot at all, and the simple and clear storyline

k
which results gives the play a relentless feeling.
Text commentary

This scene is a major turning-point in the play and it is

appropriate that it should start with references to heat and
passion.

As usual the peace-loving Benvolio is all for caution. He

says to Mercutio that the day is too hot, members of the

A Capulet family are about and they should leave. Mercutio

replies that this is poor advice coming from someone as
hot-tempered as Benvolio. This is comic because the
only person more inclined to fight than Mercutio is
Tybalt, whereas Benvolio is a natural peacemaker.

4' 4 Tybalt, you rat-catcher, will you walk ? 99

The exchange of insults between Mercutio and Tybalt shows how
both of them will pick a fight over nothing. Benvolio warns them
that they are in a public place where ‘all eyes gaze on us’ but
they seem not to care. In any case, Tybalt is more interested in
quarrelling with Romeo, who enters at this point.

The audience knows that Romeo has just married Juliet.

Because Juliet is Tybalt’s cousin, Romeo will not fight
someone who is now a member of his own family. Tybalt
does not know any of this, of course, and so he can’t

42
 understand why Romeo will not be provoked into a fight.
Mercutio is disgusted at Romeo and thinks that he is submitting
to Tybalt’s insults in a shameful way.

66° plague a’ both your bouses 99

Mercutio fights with Tybalt but is fatally wounded as Romeo
steps between them to try to stop them. Mercutio’s insults to
Tybalt revolve around his name. The animal imagery of 'rat-
catcher’ and 'king of cats' is continued as Mercutio threatens to
take one of Tybalt's 'nine lives', and becomes ironic as he
describes his fatal wound as 'a scratch’. Even as he lies
r
Think about how

Text commentary
Mercutio comes to be fatally wounded, Mercutio’s language is full of humour.
fatally wounded by He says his wound is not as 'deep as a well’ nor as 'wide
Tybalt. How might the
as a church door’, but it is enough. He is also talking
actors performing this
about his own funeral and his burial. He punningly tells
scene present Tybalt’s
stabbing of Mercutio? Romeo that if he asks for him tomorrow he will find him
Is it an accident, or 'a grave man’, meaning he will not be making any more
does Tybalt use
jokes because he will be in his grave. Mercutio leaves the
Romeo’s intervention
to strike at Mercutio? scene, cursing both 'houses’ and wishing a plague on
both Capulets and Montagues.

O Romeo, Romeo, brave Mercutio is dead 99

Romeo blames himself for his friend’s death, so when
Tybalt returns he vows to show 'fire-ey’d fury’ towards
him. Romeo and Tybalt fight, and Tybalt is killed.
Benvolio says that Romeo must escape quickly before he
is caught, otherwise he will be subject to the death
penalty as Prince Escalus warned at the start of the play.
Romeo exclaims he is ‘fortune’s fool’, then leaves. Romeo
How does the part sees the trap he is caught in. If he escapes, he must
Romeo plays in
leave his wife Juliet. If he stays, he risks the death penalty
Mercutio’s death add
to the sense of for brawling in the streets. He has ended up losing his
dramatic tension at best friend Mercutio and killing his wife’s cousin.
this point?
 Immediately we do exile him hence

Benvolio tells the Prince about the fight. Lady Capulet

takes up the violent theme of the feud and demands that
Romeo be put to death in punishment.

Now, as the action focuses even more strongly on the

tragic love story, comedy virtually disappears from the
play. Mercutio is dead and, after her betrayal of Juliet
later in the act, the Nurse plays a much less important
Check through the
remaining scenes of role. Tybalt is now dead and Benvolio disappears from
the play to find out the action. In this scene the ever-reliable Benvolio acts
how much time Romeo
as a Chorus to clarify matters.
Text commentary

and Juliet will spend

together now that the
death of Tybalt has
Act 3 Scene 2
ruined their hopes.

4 {Tybalt is gone and Romeo banished^}

Events begin to move more quickly now and, even as Romeo’s
banishment is still ringing in your ears, you meet Juliet here
longing for Romeo. Putting two such different things
together produces a powerful dramatic contrast. It is

appropriate that Juliet’s long soliloquy, spoken in

beautiful poetry, should begin with images of galloping
horses, fire and speed. She wants night to come quickly
so that she can secretly meet Romeo.

The Nurse brings the news to Juliet, but the confusion in

the Nurse’s speech makes it difficult for Juliet to know at
once what the bad news is. Juliet asks the Nurse 'what
storm is this that blows so contrary?’ because of the
seeming contradictions in what the Nurse is saying.

In Act 2 Sc 5, just as here, an impatient soliloquy by Juliet is

followed by an urgent message from the Nurse which takes a
long time to deliver.

44
 When Juliet is finally told about the events that have

What similarities and happened, she curses Romeo: '0 serpent heart, hid with
differences can you a flowering face...’. This speech is filled with the
find between the
contrasting use of opposites (oxymorons), like Romeo’s
scenes? Look at Juliet’s
speech at the start of the play ('bright smoke, cold fire’).
mood at first, the
atmosphere of the Concentrated in both speeches you will find many of the
scene with the Nurse, references which are scattered throughout the rest of the
and the reasons why
play. Notice, for example, the use of creatures like the
the Nurse takes so
long conveying her serpent, raven and wolf to suggest dark and dangerous
meaning. qualities.

Blister'd be thy tongue 99 r

Text commentary
Juliet’s anger at the Nurse’s criticism of Romeo shows her

What other reasons loyalty to Romeo and she quickly recovers from her
can you find for Juliet's initial reaction to Tybalt’s death. Undoubtedly this
first response and for
change of attitude to Romeo is partly a reaction to the
her change of mind?
She gives at least Nurse’s words, 'Shame come to Romeo'.
three reasons in
defence of Romeo. Juliet's reaction to Romeo’s banishment is significant.
She says that Romeo’s banishment has killed everything:
'father, mother, Tybalt, Romeo, Juliet’ and that there 'is
no end, no limit, measure, bound, in that word’s death’.
She says that this sad news has removed aN joy from her
life. Notice how she says that death, not Romeo, will
take her maidenhead (her virginity). This idea is taken
up again at the beginning of the next scene.

Act 3 Scene 3

4 Hold thy desperate hand 99

Romeo has hidden at Friar Lawrence’s cell. The Friar comes to
tell him that his punishment is not death but banishment. This is
an ironic twist to the story because the audience knows that
 this will be reversed at the end of the play. Notice how

the Friar uses the imagery "of death as a lover, which

Juliet also used at the end of the last scene, when he
says that Romeo is 'wedded to calamity’. This reinforces
what the Chorus said about the lovers being 'star-

cross’d’. The image of death as a lover appears again

more strongly in the tomb at the end of the play. The Friar tells
Romeo that he should be patient and accept the sentence of
Prince Escalus.

££Tbere is no world without Verona's walls 99

Romeo says that to be banished is as bad as being condemned
Text commentary

to death because his whole world (Juliet) is in Verona. The Friar

tries to persuade him that the Prince has been very merciful, but
Romeo is beyond listening. Romeo says that cats, dogs, mice and
‘every unworthy thing’ will be able to live in heaven’

because they can see Juliet, but he will not. Look

carefully at the part of Romeo’s speech here where he
talks about poison: ‘Hast thou no poison mix’d ...’.
Romeo is asking the Friar whether he has no other
sudden means of death to kill him, as this would be
kinder than the word ’banished’, which Romeo says is a word
which the damned use in hell. The use of potions and poisons is
of course an important part of the tragedy and it is connected
here with the Friar and later with the apothecary whom Romeo
nn goes to see in Mantua.

The Nurse arrives to tell Romeo of Juliet’s dismay at the

news. Romeo again blames himself for events. Fie asks
the Friar to tell him in which part of his body his name
lives so that he might cut it out.

H Art thou a mans 99

The Friar’s long, calm speech here slows down the pace of the
action. What he says in this scene is important to the plot and it
summarises the basic themes of the play. Fie says Romeo is
46
 behaving like a wild animal, instead of a man, by letting
his emotions get the better of him. He tells Romeo that
he has everything to live for and he should count his
blessings: Juliet is alive, Tybalt, who wanted to kill him, is
dead, and the law-which said he should be executed -
has instead said he must only be exiled. Note the Nurse’s
response to the Friar’s speech: '0 Lord, I could have stayed here
all the night / To hear good counsel’. How much does she learn
from the Friar's words? Compare the 'good counsel’ (advice) she
gives Juliet in Act 3 Sc 5. Friar Lawrence tells Romeo to go to
Juliet and comfort her and then to leave for Mantua before
daybreak. The Friar says he will find a way to let everyone know
about their marriage, return them to their friends and beg a

Text commentary
pardon from the Prince, after which Romeo will be able to return.
Romeo is won over by the Friar’s reassurance and all seems well
until the next scene, when a new twist of fate drives the action
towards the tragic conclusion.

Act 3 Scene 4

lb &These times of woe afford no times to woo 99

Capulet is talking to his guest Paris late on Monday night. He
seems to have taken the death of Tybalt with surprising calm.
He tells him that Juliet is distraught but that he will speak to her
and that he intends the wedding to be brought forward to
Thursday. Capulet stresses that it will have to be a quiet occasion
out of respect to Tybalt’s memory. Capulet gives no reason for
this sudden change of mind, nor for the sudden haste. The main
hint of a changed situation is Juliet’s grief which, ironically, her
parents interpret as being for Tybalt's death.

There is extra dramatic tension in this scene because the

audience knows that Romeo and Juliet are together in her room
upstairs and several times there is raised the possibility that

47
 someone may go to speak to her. Out of consideration for her
supposed grief, they decide not tcrdisturb her.

This time it is Capulet’s actions which bring the tragedy

nearer, but again the cause is haste, speed and
suddenness. The speed with which events happen in the
play is emphasised again. It is now Monday night and the
play’s action began on Sunday morning, so that a period
of only forty-eight hours has been covered. In this time
there has been a brawl; Romeo has been in love with Rosaline;
Paris has asked to marry Juliet and she has said she will consider
it; a banquet has been held; Romeo attended the feast hoping to
see Rosaline but has instead seen Juliet; Romeo and Juliet have
Text commentary

fallen in love and he has spent the night talking to her in her
garden; they have arranged to marry; Friar Laurence has agreed
to perform the ceremony and has done so; there has been a
second brawl; Tybalt has killed Mercutio; Romeo has killed Tybalt;
Romeo has been banished but the Friar has promised to find a
way to sort everything out.

Act 3 Scene 5

Uo God, I have an ill-divining soul 99

Romeo and Juliet have spent their wedding night
together in her room. Juliet says that Romeo need not go
yet because morning is a long way off. The night is their
friend because it allows them to be together. So far in the
play, the light of day has been associated with different
kinds of hot passion: lust, fighting and anger. Romeo
says that as more and more light appears their sadness grows
greater and greater.

Juliet claims that the birdsong they can hear is a nightingale and
not a lark because she wants him to stay, but Romeo says that
morning is here and it is indeed a lark. The animal imagery is

48
 used to underline their feelings. Juliet does not want the light in
the sky to be that of daybreak because Romeo will have to leave
for exile in Mantua. Romeo says that he will agree that it is not
day if Juliet wishes, but that this would mean his death if he were
to stay and be discovered.

Juliet says she has ‘an ill-divining soul’ and imagines that
she sees Romeo dead in the bottom of a tomb. Both of
them are pale, and Romeo says that 'sorrow drinks our
blood’, meaning that they look pale because they are sad.
These are the last words Juliet ever hears from Romeo.

4 £he shall soon keep Tybalt company |f

Text commentary
Lady Capulet demonstrates her callousness towards
Juliet by censuring her supposed grief for Tybalt. She
says that showing too much grief is foolish and that it
would be better if Juliet were to weep because his
murderer Romeo was still alive. The audience knows
more than she does, so much of what Juliet says here to
her mother will have a different meaning for them. See
how many phrases you can find which have a different

about the ways in meaning for Juliet and for Lady Capulet. The audience,
which Capulet and knowing the truth, can share in Juliet’s deliberate
Lady Capulet respond
deception of her mother. Notice how calm and mature
to Juliet’s refusal to
marry Paris? Juliet is in facing her mother and how much she has

changed from the girl we met at the start of the play.

4 £Hang thee young baggage, disobedient wretch! 5 ^

Capulet arrives and his speech is full of ironic references to
storms - ironic because it is he who will storm about in a short
while when he hears that Juliet refuses to marry Paris. Notice
how cruel Lady Capulet’s remark is, and how ominous: 'I would
the fool were married to her grave'. This very quickly comes
tragically true and is another instance of the image of death as

49
 Juliet’s suitor coming to claim her. Capulet flies into a terrible
rage at Juliet and tells her she is a traitor and will marry Paris
even if he has to drag her to church on a 'hurdle' (a wooden
frame used to draw traitors through the streets to their
execution). Even Lady Capulet says that her husband is going too
far, but he will not be pacified. Capulet says Juliet will never look
him in the face again if she disobeys him and says that his
‘fingers itch’ (to strike her). He tells her she may beg and starve
in the streets before he will have her disobey him. Capulet
behaves tyrannically and refuses to listen to anyone else.

Even though she is a trusted member of the household,

the Nurse is abused by Capulet when she tries to
Text commentary

support Juliet. Juliet's parents cannot understand why

she does not want to marry a rich husband. This was

clearly Lady Capulet's attitude when she married

Capulet. Juliet says that unless the marriage can at least
be delayed, her bridal bed will be ‘in that dim monument where
Tybalt lies'. Her mother rejects her: she has ‘done with’ Juliet. In
desperation Juliet turns to her Nurse.

Ui think it best thou married with the County}

The advice that the Nurse gives is that Juliet should make the
best of things, keep quiet about her marriage to Romeo and
marry Paris. The advice is well-intentioned and the Nurse seems
to be trying to comfort and please her mistress, but Juliet is
quietly furious and calls her a ‘wicked fiend’ when she has gone.
This marks the severing of Juliet’s esteem and friendship for her
Nurse. Both Romeo and Juliet are now left almost completely
alone. Romeo banished to Mantua and Juliet deserted by those
to whom she looked for help and support. Only the Friar remains
faithful and even he will faH them at their hour of greatest need
in the tomb. Juliet now says that she will try the Friar’s plan but,
if it fails, she knows she has one final course of action left to her:
‘If all else fail, myself have power to die.’ Here the coming
tragedy is signalled once again.

50
 Quick quiz 3 "\

Uncover the plot

Delete two of the three alternatives given, to find the correct plot.
7 Tybalt, looking to fight Mercutio/Romeo/Benvolio, instead kills
Mercutio/Benvolio/Paris when the Prlnce/Benvolio/Romeo tries to
intervene.

2 Tybalt is then killed by an enraged Capulet/Benvolio/Romeo, who is

sentenced to death/a fine/banishment.
3 Juliet, distraught, sheds tears over Tybalt's wounds/Romeo's
banishment/Tybalt's death. Romeo is told of his fate by Benvolio/the
Duke/Friar Lawrence.

4 Juliet is told of the wedding plan by Lady Capulet/Lord Capulet/the

Nurse, and refuses. Her father threatens to kill her/poison
Romeo/disown her.
5 She is let down even by the Nurse/the Friar/Paris.

Who? What? Where? When? Why? How?

7 What is the 'word there was, worser than Tybalt’s death' for Juliet?
2 Why does Lady Capulet think Juliet is weeping?
3 Why does Romeo love Tybalt 'better than thou const devise’?
4 How does Benvolio say Romeo tried to avoid a fight with Tybalt?
5 How do the lovers tell that dawn is approaching - and how do they
try to deny the fact?

Who said that?

7 Who says: 'Mercy but murders, pardoning those that kill’?
2 Who says: ‘Either withdraw unto some private place, i Or reason
coldly of your grievances'?
3 Who says: 'O calm, dishonourable, vile submission', and why?
4 Who says: 7 would the fool were married to her grave’, of whom and
why?

V J
 Act 4

Act 4 Scene 1

> l:Love give me strength, and strength shall help afford ??

Paris explains to Friar Lawrence that Capulet wants the marriage

to take place quickly because he is concerned that Juliet is
mourning too much for Tybalt’s death. There are several ironies
here. Juliet is mourning for the banishment of Romeo, for her
husband’s killing of her cousin and for the death of Tybalt. She has
far more cause to grieve than Capulet can possibly know. The
Text commentary

suggestion that marriage to Paris will in some way lessen Juliet’s

grief is obviously another serious error and will instead worsen
her situation.

i 4> Vetttts smiles not in a house of tears ))

Paris’s reference to Venus - the Roman goddess of love - is more

appropriate than he knows. As well as the obvious sense, 'house’
has an astrological meaning. A 'house’ is one of the twelve signs
of the zodiac and this again signifies the influence of the stars on
the fate of the lovers. This is the only time Paris meets Juliet. Paris
is correct and well-mannered, and Juliet is very self-possessed
and cool towards him and is clearly not sorry to see him leave.

Juliet says she will do anything to avoid the marriage to

Paris. She is desperate and tells the Friar that if he cannot
help her she will kill herself with her knife. He says that if
she is really determined to be free of Paris so as to be
with Romeo, she might find the courage to try his
plan.Friar Lawrence tells Juliet that she must secretly
take the potion he has made, which will make it look as though
she is dead. She will then be put into the Capulets’ family tomb.
The Friar will send a letter to Romeo and tell him of the plan, so

52
 that he and the Friar can come and rescue Juliet when
she wakes up. The Friar's actions in this play, particularly
after the banishment of Romeo, are not what you would
expect from a holy man, though in his defence it should
be said that, but for bad luck, he would have helped
Romeo and Juliet to an unexpected happiness. His
response is practical rather than moral, despite his

Do you think that the lengthy speeches of advice.

Friar is morally right in
helping Romeo and
The Friar’s plan will require great courage of Juliet,
Juliet to their unofficial
especially as she will have to take the potion while she is
wedding night and,
alone. This increases the audience’s sympathy for Juliet.
now, in taking the lead r
in Juliet’s drugging She has become a bold and courageous woman, for she

Text commentary
herself to deceive her
agrees to the Friar’s plan without hesitation.
parents?

Act 4 Scene 2

60 'll have this knot knit up tomorrow morning. 5?

Juliet returns from Friar Lawrence knowing what she must

do and she tells her father that she will obey him and marry
Paris. Capulet is overjoyed and praises the Friar, saying that
the ‘whole city is much bound to him'. Capulet assumes
that the Friar has persuaded Juliet to obey his wishes and
marry Paris. Capulet’s praise is ironic, given the Friar’s
real part in the events that follow. What Juliet could not
have anticipated, however, was her father's next move.
Capulet decides that the wedding will take place the next
day, that is, Wednesday instead of Thursday. This ruins the
Friar's plan to write to Romeo. There is no real reason for
moving the marriage date in this way. It is as though fate
is leaving nothing to chance, just as it seemed once again
Think about Capulet’s
as though things were about to work out happily for Romeo
plan to bring the
wedding forward. Why and Juliet. Juliet feels she has no other option but to go

does he do this? What ahead with the Friar’s plan and is perhaps not aware of the
is its dramatic effect? problems which moving the date has caused the Friar.

53
 Act 4 Scene 3

«1 have a faint cold fear thrills through my veins,

That almost freezes up the heat of life 5?

Juliet continues to show great self-control here and,

What does Juliet reveal although present, the Nurse says nothing. This is
in her soliloquy? What unusual because the Nurse is normally never silent.
do you think her state
When the Nurse and Lady Capulet leave, Juliet speaks
of mind is at this point
in the play? the soliloquy which takes up the rest of this scene.

The courage and isolation of Juliet are emphasised in this

Text commentary

speech. Later on, Romeo will have the same doubts about the
poison he buys from the apothecary as those which Juliet has

here about the Friar's potion.

Juliet is afraid of what could go wrong with the plan.

Ironically, she worries about what might happen if she
awakens early, but not about what might go wrong if she
A awakens too late, which is what actually happens. She
has taken the precaution of bringing her knife with her in
case the potion does not work at all; she clearly intends
to carry out her threatened suicide if this is necessary.

Juliet’s haste to take the Friar's potion reveals her desperate

state and re-emphasises the speed of dramatic action. All the
older characters except the Friar have now rejected Juliet. Fie too
lets her down by failing to get the letter through.

Act 4 Scene 4

«Co waken Juliet, go and trim her up 55

This brief scene concentrates on the minor domestic problems of
the Capulets, as they rush around making last-minute

54
 preparations for the wedding. The scene is a sharp
contrast to the terror and stillness of the previous scene
and also to the next one, when Juliet’s body is discovered.
Notice how the imagery of the mouth, of food, and of
eating and drinking link the scenes together. Capulet
makes much mention of time and the need to hurry: the
second cock has crowed, the curfew bell has rung, it is three
o’clock in the morning. This continual emphasis on speed
underlines the feeling of inevitability and of events moving
inexorably to their climax.

As dawn breaks for the fourth time in the play and the servants
rush about, Capulet again cries for more and more haste and

Text commentary
sends the Nurse to rouse Juliet for her wedding.

It might be suggested that Capulet appears in his most

Does Lady Capulet favourable light arranging and organising domestic affairs:
also appear less cold feasts, parties and so forth. You can no doubt find him
at such times? bustling and bumbling in a cheerful welcoming haste on
more than one occasion in the play.

Act 4 Scene 5

4She s dead: deceas’d, she’s dead, alack the day.

The Nurse is full of chatter about the pleasures of the

flesh. She says she hopes Juliet has had plenty of sleep
because she will get little rest on her wedding night.
This apparent relaxation of the mood actually serves
to increase the tension in the play because of the
audience's knowledge of what is to happen.

£ 4Alas, alas! Help, help! My lady’s dead!

The Nurse calls for ‘aqua vitae’ (brandy, although ironically the
words literally mean ‘water of life’). Lady Capulet cries that unless

55
 Juliet wakes she will die with her. Juliet’s father arrives to see his
daughter and says that death lies on her like an untimely frost’.
His words about Juliet reintroduce the flower imagery and are

ironic because Juliet's ‘untimely’ death is not really death at a]L

Notice how Shakespeare does not allow the tragedy of this scene
to overshadow the powerful impact of the tragic climax at the
end of the play. Shakespeare holds down the tragedy here by
keeping this scene short and by placing it between two other
sections of lighter mood.

- Death is my son-in-law, death is my heir 99

Text commentary

Capulet tells Paris that death has claimed Juliet for his own, but
does so in a way that echoes the sexual death-as-lover imagery in
the play. He connects it with the imagery of flowers by saying
that death has 'deflowered’ (taken the virginity of) Juliet.

You will notice that, after the news is broken to Paris,

each of the four mourners has a formal speech, all of
about the same length, expressing grief. The Friar tells
them all to accept heaven’s will with good grace. He
mentions the image of rosemary - a flower associated
with remembrance and the dead - that the Nurse
introduced earlier in the play as Juliet’s favourite flower, although
significantly she linked it then with Romeo.

A comic interlude ends this scene, with the musicians, who have
come to play at the wedding, saying to the Nurse that they may
as well pack up and be gone. This interlude with Peter may seem
rather out of place after what has just happened, but it would be
thought too harrowing to move directly from Juliet’s 'death’ to
Romeo’s preparation for his.

56
r Quick quiz 4
Uncover the plot
Delete two of the three alternatives given, to find the correct plot.
1 Paris/the Nurse/Capulet is at Friar Lawrence's cell, informing him that
the wedding is now to be on Wednesday/Thursday/Friday.
2 Juliet comes to plead for help, saying she will poison herself/jump
from a tower/stab herself rather than marry Paris.
3 The Friar gives her a ‘vial’ containing a substance which will make her
appear shrunk/dead/asleep for 42/36/24 hours, after which she will
awake in the charnel house/graveyard/Capulet vault, to be met by
Romeo/Paris/the Nurse.
4 Alone, Juliet takes the potion, with a vial of poison/a dagger/a rapier
by her side. The family mourn her 'death', restrained by the knowing
figure of Capulet/Paris/Friar Lawrence.
r

Who? What? Where? When? Why? How?

Quick quiz
1 Who is supposed to find Juliet dead, and who does so?
2 What are the symptoms of the Friar's potion?
3 What reason does Paris give the Friar for the wedding's being brought
forward?
4 What does 'the manner of our country' dictate will happen to Juliet
when she is found 'dead'?
5 Why is Friar Lawrence confident that Juliet will go along with his plan?

Who said that?

7 Who says: 'Venus smiles not in a house of tears?
2 Who says: ‘My dismal scene I needs must act alone’?
3 Who says:'Revive, look up, or I will die with thee!’?
4 Who says: 'And weep ye now, seeing she is advanc'd / Above the
clouds, as high as heaven itself'?

57
 Act 5

Act 5 Scene 1

: : . Well Juliet, I will lie with thee tonight 99

As his servant arrives in Mantua from Verona, Romeo
★
' ' * A
r * talks of a prophetic dream he has had where Juliet found
* * •

V. ★ him dead. Balthasar has rushed to tell Romeo that he has

seen Juliet laid to rest in the Capulet tomb, not knowing
* V *
the truth. Romeo vows to go to Verona, saying that he
will defy the stars, meaning that he defies fate to do
Text commentary

any worse to him. It is Romeo’s haste at this point that makes

the tragedy certain, ignoring Balthasar's counsel to be patient
and thus arriving too early for the Friar to intercept him at the
tomb.

In his soliloquy. Romeo echoes the imagery of Death

lying with Juliet, with its sexual as well as literal meaning
- 'Well, Juliet, I will lie with thee tonight’ - but the

ominous meaning is that he will join her in death.

Romeo goes to an apothecary to buy poison. He says

that the apothecary is ‘so full of wretchedness’ that he
should not fear to break the law and risk the death
penalty. Look very carefully at Romeo’s description of the
apothecary and you will see that he is in many ways
describing himself: 'the world is not thy friend, nor the
world’s law’. Romeo's contempt for the gold that he
uses to pay for the poison - 'worse poison to men's

Think about the souls’ - is an ironic comment on the attitude of Juliet’s

character of the parents to true love; ‘the great rich Capulet’ and his
apothecary. Why do callous wife who think, like the Nurse, that marriage is
you think Shakespeare
merely to do with physical passion or a commercial
included him? Does he
add anything to the transaction. 'I sell thee poison, thou hast sold me none’
play? he says to the apothecary, and gives him forty gold coins
(ducats). This scene is another important turning-point in
58
 the action of the play and you will see many similarities between
it and the marriage scene in the Friar's cell; notice the parallels
of tone and imagery.

Act 5 Scene 2

. . ^Now I must to the monument alone. 5?

Bad luck strikes again as Friar John tells Friar Lawrence

that he was delayed getting out of the city to deliver the
message to Romeo because an outbreak of plague
prevented him leaving an infected house. He returns the
r

Text commentary
Friar's letter to Romeo undelivered.

The action again speeds up after the last quiet scene as

What dramatic effect Friar Lawrence is thrown into despair by this news. Juliet
does the news that is due to awaken within three hours. Friar Lawrence will
Romeo has not received
go and get her from the tomb and hide her in his cell until
Friar Lawrence’s letter
have? another message can be sent to Romeo. Friar Lawrence
has always had a calm solution to each situation. The
build-up of tension is therefore increased when we find
him in haste, talking of danger and sending for a crow¬
bar. Once again, though, the ingenious Friar has a
solution, explained in his brief soliloquy. This time the
audience knows that his solution will not work: why?

Act 5 Scene 3

^i^Sweet flower, with flowers thy bridal bed I strew

Paris has come at night to Juliet’s tomb to visit his 'sweet

flower’, put flowers on her grave and pay his respects.
Although he seems rather formal and sentimental in his
speech, he is genuinely sincere in the same way that Romeo
was sincere in his love-sickness for Rosaline. His comment on

59
 hearing his servant’s warning whistle is ironic: 'what cursed foot
wanders this way tonight’, because we know it is Romeo. This

whole scene is filled with ironic parallels. Paris anticipates events

by thinking that Juliet has died of grief for Tybalt, when she is
soon to die of grief for Romeo. Just as Romeo hid in the darkness
and overheard Juliet first speak of her love for him, so here Paris

hides in the darkness and overhears Romeo at her tomb. Paris,

the rival lover, brings flowers to the tomb of Juliet and meets the
other ‘rival lover’ in the play, death, in the form of Romeo.

Paris thinks that Romeo has come to pursue the family feud by
revenging himself on Juliet’s dead body and he asks one of the
play’s central questions when he says 'can vengeance be pursu’d
Text commentary

further than death?’ Paris interrupts Romeo and with

unconscious irony tells him 'thou must die’.

Romeo’s sad reply is an echo of his reply to Tybalt’s invitation to

fight with him: he tells Paris 'I love thee better than myself’.
Paris’s servant sees them fighting and runs for help, but Paris is
killed. This fatal confrontation marks the only time in the play
when Paris and Romeo actually meet.

Lber beauty makes

This vault a feasting presence full of light.

Romeo says he will bury Paris with Juliet but that it will
not be in a grave but in 'a lantern’, because Juliet’s beauty
makes the tomb ‘full of light’. Again the beauty of Juliet is
compared by Romeo to brilliant light, even in death,
and his speech is full of word-play on ‘lightning’, which

G332T should remind you of Juliet’s worry that their love resembled

What do you notice lightning too much. The lovers’ passion has been described
about the imagery by the imagery as almost religious and heavenly, and
Romeo uses when he
the Friar warned that too much passion was dangerous
sees Juliet? What effect
and would consume itself 'like fire and powder’.
does this imagery create?

Romeo’s long and final speech in the play is a beautiful soliloquy

in which death is spoken of as sucking 'the honey’ of Juliet’s
60
 breath. Ironically Romeo, thinking that Juliet is beautiful
even in death, remarks that it has ‘no power’ over her
beauty and her lips and cheeks are still crimson. He does
not know that the colour is returning to her lips and
cheeks because she is about to awaken and thinks instead
that 'Death is amorous’ and keeps her ever-beautiful in the
tomb to be his lover. The play’s images of the dawn and fire and
light symbolising the beauty that chases away the darkness of
night have finally met in this last mysterious irony: here at the
final dawn in the play, Juliet is Life in Death. Romeo drinks the
poison and dies, and within a few lines Juliet is awake and asking
for him by name. Romeo has been destroyed by fate and his
impetuous haste has been his final undoing. The imagery of

Text commentary
drinking has come full circle from its start in the joy of life at
Capulet's feast to this point of death and tragedy.

£^This is tby sheath; there rest, and let me die. 99

« V- The Friar arrives but is too late to save the lives of Paris
* ‘ ★ or Romeo. He urges the awakened Juliet to escape with

v* * * him and underlines the role of fate in the play when he

c ★ a
tells her that ‘a greater power than we can contradict
- ■ * hath thwarted our intents’. Unable to persuade her to
leave, the Friar panics and runs away.

The last reference to drinking in the play occurs when Juliet

cannot find a ‘friendly drop’ of poison in the cup in Romeo’s
hand. She kills herself with the dagger in order to be with
her husband in death. Juliet’s suicide is the traditional
Do you feel that, at the
end of the play, the death of the noble warrior who is defeated but will not be
Capulets and enslaved. This is a fitting end for someone who has been
Montagues have been
throughout the stronger and more practical of the
equally punished by
fate for their feud? lovers and who has had to face danger alone.

Servants and watchmen appear, discover the bodies of Paris,

Romeo and Juliet, and arrest Romeo's servant Balthasar and Friar

61
 CUSEk! Lawrence pending Prince Escalus's arrival. Lord and Lady

The Prince points out Capulet enter, followed by the Prince. Montague arrives
that he, too, has lost ‘a with the news that his wife has died of grief over Romeo’s
brace of kinsmen’
exile.
(Mercutio and Paris)
and seems to accept
some blame for what «o brother Montague, give me thy hand. 99
has happened. How far
do you think he is
Friar Lawrence makes a long chorus-like speech near the
responsible for the
tragedy? end of the play in which he reviews what has happened.
This dramatic device enables Shakespeare to ensure
that the audience understands and remembers the plot of the
play and, by allowing Balthasar to complete the story, introduces
the letter from Romeo to support the Friar’s account and to
Text commentary

reveal the events in Mantua.

Appropriately, it is the fiery-tempered Capulet who asks

for Montague’s hand in peace. The feuding families agree
to live in peace and say they will put up golden statues
to Romeo and Juliet. The appearance of the Prince at the
very end of the play emphasises the political point of
the play: that society depends upon order and
obedience to authority. The Prince proclaims these
things on each of his three appearances. The imagery of
light is used finally by the Prince when he says that on
this last day ‘the sun for sorrow will not show his head’,
finally underlining the darkness (in many senses) in
which the play closes and the way heaven is in sympathy
with the dead lovers.

Of all the six characters who die in the play, only the loving Lady
Montague is not young. This underlines how the play
concentrates on the passionate world of the young and the way
in which it is they who must pay the price for the mischievous
and quarrelsome folly of the o|d.

62
r Quick quiz 5
Uncover the plot
Delete two of the three alternatives given, to find the correct plot.
1 Benvolio/Friar John/Balthasar arrives in Verona/Mantua/Venice with
news of Juliet's early marriage/escape plan/death.
2 Romeo seeks out a Franciscan Friar/beggar/apothecary to buy a
cordial/poison/dagger. Meanwhile, Friar Lawrence learns that his
messenger Friar John/Balthasar/Friar Francis has not got through.
3 Capulet/Paris/Montague is at the vault when Romeo arrives, tries to
arrest/kill/fight him, and is killed. Wondering that Juliet looks so
pale/merry/fair, Romeo poisons himself.
4 Friar Lawrence/Balthasar/the Page arrives too late. Juliet, finding
Romeo dead, kills herself with the dregs of the poison/the poison on
his lips/his dagger.
r
Who? What? Where? When? Why? How?

Quick quiz
1 Who is asked to account for events, following the discovery of the
bodies in the vault?
2 Who is the first to ask for his former enemy's hand in peace?
3 What has happened to Lady Montague?
4 What is Friar Lawrence’s emergency plan, when he realises the first
has failed?
5 Where was Friar John delayed, and why?
6 Why does Friar Lawrence flee?

Who said that?

1 Who says: ‘If I may trust the flattering truth of sleep / My dreams
presage some joyful news at hand’ - and why is this ironic?
2 Who says: 'Thou detestable maw, thou womb of death / Gorg'd with
the dearest morsel of the earth'?
3 Who says: ‘Can vengeance be pursued further than death?’ - and
why, and what more does this say to the audience of the play?
4 Who says: 'And I, for winking at your discords too, / Have lost a brace
of kinsmen'?

\_)

63
 Writing essays on Romeo and Juliet

Exams

• To prepare for an exam, you should read the text through at least
twice, preferably three times. In order to answer an exam
question on it you need to know it very well.
• When studying a play, such as Romeo and Juliet, you should try to
see a performance of it. If you cannot see a live performance on
stage, you should watch it on video or DVD. There are several
versions available and you should be able to get a copy through
your local library.
• If you are studying the text for an 'open book’ exam, make sure
that you take your copy of the text with you. However, do not rely
on it too much - you haven’t got time. If you are not allowed to take
the text in with you, you will need to memorise brief quotations.
• Read all the questions carefully before deciding which one you are
going to answer. Choose the question that best allows you to
demonstrate your understanding and personal ideas.
• Make sure that you understand exactly what the question is
asking you to do.
• Plan your answer carefully before starting to write your essay (see
page 70).
• Always begin your answer with a short introduction which gives
an overview of the topic. Use your plan to help keep you focused
on the question as you write the essay. Try to leave enough time
to write a brief conclusion.
• Remember to use the point-quotation-comment approach,
where you make a point, support it with a short quotation, then
comment on it. Use short and relevant quotations - do not waste
time copying out chunks of the text.
• Make sure that you know how much time you have for each
question and stick to it.
• Leave enough time at the end of the exam to check your work
through carefully and correct any spelling or other mistakes that
you have made.
 Coursework

• Timing is not as crucial for coursework essays, so this is your

chance to show what you can really do, without having to write
under pressure. Do not leave your coursework essays until the
last minute though. If you have to rush your work it is unlikely to
be the best you can produce.

• Coursework allows you to go into more detail and develop your

ideas in greater depth. The required length of assignments varies,
and your teacher will advise you on this.

• If you have a choice of title, make sure you choose one which you
are interested in and which gives you the chance to develop your
ideas.

• Plan your essay carefully (see page 70). Refer to your plan and the
essay title as you write, to check that you are staying on course.

• Use quotations in your essay, but beware of using them too

Writing essays
frequently or making them too long. Often, the best quotes are
just one or two words or short phrases. Make sure that they are
relevant to the points that you are making.

• If your topic requires it, use appropriate background information

and put the text in a cultural and historical context. Remember,
though, that the text itself should be at the centre of your essay.

• Include a short conclusion which sums up the key points of your

ideas.

• Do not copy any of your essay from another source, e.g. other
notes or the Internet. This is called plagiarism, and it is very
serious if the exam board find that you have done this.

• If you have used sources, list them in a bibliography at the end of

the essay.

• If you are allowed to word process your essay, it will be easier to

make changes and to re-draft it.

65
 r Key quotations

u Some consequence yet banging in the stars,

Shall bitterly begin his fearful date, 99
With this night’s revels (Act 1 Sc 4)

These lines are spoken by Romeo as he and his friends are on

their way to the Capulet ball. They can be used to show how

Romeo feels misgivings about what is going to happen. It can also

show how he feels that he is in the hands of fate.

O she doth teach the torches to burn bright:

It seems she hangs upon the cheek of night,
As a rich jewel in an Ethiop’s ear^'(§(Act 1 Sc 5)

These lines are spoken by Romeo when he first sees Juliet at the
Capulet ball. They can be used to show the impact she has on him
and how it is a case of 'love at first sight'. It also shows the
richness of the language and imagery that Romeo uses to express
Key quotations

his feelings.

U O Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo?

Deny thy father and refuse thy name(Act 2 Sc2)

These lines are spoken by Juliet at the beginning of the ‘balcony

scene’ when she is thinking alone. They can be used to show how
she is aware of the possible problem caused by Romeo being a
Montague.

U These violent delights have violent ends,

And in their triumph die like fire and powder:
Which as they kiss consume. 99 (Act 2 Sc 6)
These lines are spoken by Friar Lawrence when he speaks to

66
 "\

Romeo. He is trying to persuade Romeo to be patient in his love

for Juliet. The quotation can be used to show how the Friar is
aware of the dangers of violent passions. It also is prophetic in
that in the end Romeo’s and Juliet's love destroys them both.

at plague a’ both your houses,

~ They have made worms’ meat of me,
I have it, and soundly, to your houses(Act 3 Sc 1)

These lines are spoken by Mercutio after being fatally wounded by

Tybalt. They can be used to show the destructive consequences
of the feud.

«° my love, my wife,
Death that hath sucked the honey of thy breath,
r
Hath had no power yet upon thy beauty (Act 5 Sc 3)

Key quotations
These lines are spoken by Romeo when he finds Juliet’s body in
the vault and believes that she is dead. They can be used to show
Romeo’s love for Juliet and his admiration of her beauty. They can
also be used to illustrate how Shakespeare uses imagery
associated with death.

Capulet, Montague?
See what a scourge is laid upon your hate!
That heaven finds means to kill your joys with love 99
(Act 5 Sc 3)

These lines are spoken by the Prince at the end of the play. They
can be used to show how the feud has destroyed the children of
Capulet and Montague, and the pointless waste of young lives it
has caused.

67
 r Exam questions

^ Explore the presentation of Tybalt, and his contribution to the

overall effect of Romeo and Juliet

^ Compare the characters of Romeo and Juliet in the play. You

should use details from the text to support your ideas.

^ Discuss the view that the tragedy which befalls Romeo and Juliet
comes about as a result of simple ‘bad luck’.

Q The action of the play begins on Sunday morning, and by

Thursday morning, Mercutio, Tybalt, Romeo, Juliet and Paris are
all dead. Why does Shakespeare create his plot around such a
short time scheme?

Q Examine Shakespeare’s use of poetry and prose in Romeo and

Juliet

0 Discuss the character of Mercutio and his contribution to the

overall effect of the play.

1/1
rz
o Q How does Romeo change during the course of the play?
• r—
4-J
to
(V
Q Choose two scenes or incidents from the play which you find
dramatically effective. Discuss the ways in which Shakespeare
E
03
X gives these parts of the play a particular impact.

Q How does Shakepseare use imagery associated with death in the

play, and what effects does this create?

What does Shakespeare have to say about the nature of love and
hate in the play?

68
(D Examine the role played by fate and coincidence in Romeo and
Juliet.

^ Discuss the role of Friar Lawrence in Romeo and Juliet.

© How do the comic elements of Romeo and Juliet contribute to the

overall effect of the play?

(J) Examine the ways in which Shakespeare uses dramatic irony in

Romeo and Juliet. What effect does this have on the play?

© Compare and contrast the Capulet and Montague families.

0 Romeo and Juliet is a play rich in imagery. Examine the ways in

which Shakespeare uses imagery, and the contribution it makes to
the overall effect of the play.

How does Romeo change during the course of the play?

r
What do you learn from Romeo and Juliet about Elizabethan

Exam questions
attitudes to love and marriage?

(£) Discuss Shakespeare's use of soliloquies in Romeo and Juliet and

how they contribute to the dramatic effect of the play.

Examine the role of a) the Nurse and b) Benvolio in Romeo and

Juliet.

69
 r Planning an essay

In order to write an effective essay, you need to approach your task in

an organised way. You need to plan your essay carefully before
beginning to write. This will help you to achieve a higher grade.

• The first thing to do is read the question carefully to make sure that
you fully understand it, then highlight key words.

• You will need to make notes on the topic in order to start preparing
your ideas. You can do this in various ways, such as making a list of
key points, or creating a spidergram or a mind map.

• One advantage of using mind maps or spidergrams is that they help

you to create links between the various points you make. Put the
title of the essay in the middle of a page and add your points
around it. You can then draw lines to connect up various points or
ideas, linking them in a clear, visual way.

• If you wish, you can colour code your ideas, or even add pictures or
symbols if that helps you to think about your ideas more clearly.

• Since mind maps and spidergrams are a way of charting your

knowledge, they are also an excellent revision aid. You could work
through a number of essay titles in this way. (See some examples of
spidergrams on the following pages.)
Planning an essay

• In the planning stage of your essay it is also a good idea to jot

down some useful quotations. These should be kept brief and to
the point, and can be added to your spidergram.

• It can also be useful to plan what you are going to write in each
paragraph of your essay. You can number the branches on your
spidergram, so that you are clear about the order of your points.
This will help you to structure your work more effectively.

• Remember that you are much more likely to write an effective essay
if you do some planning before you start to write it.

70
71
72
73
 Sample response
C Grade

(a) Discuss the character of Friar Lawrence and his role in the play.

(b) Imagine that Friar Lawrence writes a letter to Prince Escalus,

explaining what he has done and why. Write the letter, including
all the things that you think he might have said.

(a) friar Lawrence proves he is not a brave man by showing his

fear S all the way through the play. He says things like, 'fear
comes upon me, 0, much 1 fear some ill unthrifty thing' and, '1 dare
no longer stay' y and, TU dispose of thee among a sisterhood of
holy nuns', in other words he's trying to cover up what he's
done.^ He did try to say 'no' to marrying Pomeo and Juliet by
suggesting that Pomeo moves easily from one love to the netf. S
He says, 'To lay one in, another out to have' and, Affliction is
enamoured of tty parts, And thou art wedded to calamty', meaning
bad luck y seems to follow Pomeo everywhere, friar Lawrence
tells Pomeo that he loves like one who recites from a book without
the ability to understand what he memorises y by saying, 'Thy love
did read by rote, that could not spell'.

friar Lawrence hopes the wedding of Pomeo and Juliet will help
the Montague's and Lapulet's be friends again, y He says, 'so
smile the heavens upon this holy act that after-hours with sorrow
chide us not', meaning let heaven smile on us all so that this
wedding will not be regretted by anyone.
Sample responses

(b) Dear Prince Lscalus

1 am writing to you, not only to ask for your forgiveness but to ask
for your understanding. When Pomeo came to me to ask me to
marry Juliet and himself 1 was very shocked. He begged and
pleaded with me, so in the end I decided to go ahead and marry
them the netf day. y
Pomeo and 1 waited patiently for Juliet to arrive, and when she did
l had to pry them apart in order to marry them. 1 could see

74
straight avia^ that they were lusting after each other. Later that day
Mercutio was Killed by Tybalt, so Pomeo Killed Tybalt. Of course,
Juliet was upset by the news of Tybalt's death but was more upset
by Pomeo's banishment to Mantua. S She was also upset and
frightened about her marriage to Paris.

Juliet came to me looKing for a way out. 1 gave her a potion which
would put her to sleep for a few hours. She was to waKe up after she
was laid in the tomb, but because the letter that 1 sent to Pomeo
didn't get there, he thought she was really dead and therefore
Killed himself. When 1 got there, Juliet was just waKing up and she
saw Pomeo's lifeless bod'f on the floor. I was frightened so 1 ran
away and left Juliet there, which is when she tooK her own life. S
1 am deeply sorry for the upset l have caused, but I honestly
thought 1 was doing the right thing. S My hopes were that the two
families would become friends. Again 1 would liKe to say how sorry 1
am about everything and I beg you for your forgiveness

Your Humble ‘Servant

Friar Lawrence

Examiner's comments
(a) This is a sound response in which the candidate shows a clear
understanding of some key aspects of Friar Lawrence, although
the view of the character is rather narrow. Some insight and
evaluation is evident and textual references used. However, the
quotations could be used to develop the discussion further, and
overall the response is rather brief and under-developed.
(b) The letter captures an appropriate tone and style effectively,
and also shows a clear understanding of the Friar’s standpoint
and what went wrong. Again, the response could be developed
further, and the Friar’s motives for doing what he did and his
feelings at the tragic outcome explored in a little more depth.
 Sample response
A Grade

(a) Discuss the character of Friar Lawrence and his role in the play.

(b) Imagine that Friar Lawrence writes a letter to Prince Escalus

explaining what he has done and why. Write the letter including
all the things that you think he might have said.

(a) We first encounter friar Lawrence at dawn, gathering herbs. Y

Tine friar is instantly aware that Pomeo must be troubled Y if he
seeks him at such an earfy hour. When Pomeo requests that the
friar marq him to Juliet, he is quick to point out Pomeo's
infatuation Y for Posaline and questions his love for Juliet,
forcing pomeo to assess his own situation.^ He chides Pomeo 'for
doting not for loving pupil mine'. The friar is a compassionate Y
and worldly man. He believes that the marriage of pomeo and
Juliet could resolve the bitter feuding of the Lapulets and
Montagues, Y so he agrees to marr'f them that afternoon.
friar Lawrence demonstrates that he is a moral and hofy man. Y
He wants to ensure that Pomeo and Juliet's love is sanctified in the
sight of 6?od before their love is consummated, 'for b'f 'four leaves,
-fou shall not sta-f alone, Till Hofy Church incorporate two in one.' Y
The friar takes on the role of counsellor to Pomeo, Y who is
devastated when the friar informs him he is to be banished to
Mantua for slaving Tfbalt.

In Act 4, Scene i Juliet shows complete trust b'f confiding to the

Sample responses

friar her despair at having to marq Paris and asks him for a
means to prevent the forthcoming marriage. He gives her a vial of
potion he has concocted Y to take while in bed that evening,
which will make her appear dead for 42- hours. He tells Juliet of his
plan to send for Pomeo to come to Juliet at the Lapulet tomb.
Again, he inspires hope in Juliet Y.

The friar panics when he realises that Pomeo has not received his
letter, but tries to rectify the matter b'f sending another urgent
message, hoping Pomeo will receive it in time.

76
 (b) Dear Prince Lscalus

It is with great sadness that I write this letter. 1 must confess that 1
am responsible for marrying Pomeo and Tuliet. The reason 1 was
compelled to do this was not onhf because of their great love for
each other, but as a means of ending the bitter feud between the
Lapulet and Montague families. S Alas, events have taVcen a tragic
course. After the marriage, Pomeo slew Tybalt and was banished to
Manuta. He was inconsolable at being separated from his beloved
Tuliet. Tuliet came to me to ash me to devise some means to stop
this second marriage, otherwise she would hill herself. You can
imagine the dilemma 1 was in. What should 1 do? S

1 decided to give Tuliet a potion which would mahe her appear dead
for 42 hours, ‘bhe tooh it that night and was found, as though dead,
the following morning b'j her Nurse.

I bear the guilt of this tragedy on rrsf shoulders and pra^ -jou will
understand. 1 trul'f believed l was worhing for the good of both
families. S M'f dearest wish is that '(ou will not consider me a bad
man because of this, but will see m^ good intentions.

Yours trul'j

Friar Lawrence.

Examiner's comments
Sample responses

(a) A perceptive, detailed and thorough response which balances

various aspects of the Friar’s character. A wide range of relevant
points are made, with some well-chosen textual support. The
structure of the essay is good, and points are developed and
connections made in an effective way. Overall an excellent
understanding of the character of Friar Lawrence is shown.

(b) An excellent letter that convincingly captures the voice of the

character and shows first-class knowledge of the text. A range of
^ points are made, based on a perceptive reading of the text.

77
 r Quick quiz answers
Quick quiz 1 Who? What? When? Where? Why? How?
Uncover the plot 1 Tybalt 2,4
1 Verona; the Prince 2 Mercutio 2,4
2 Benvolio; Rosaline 3 (a) Romeo will ‘deny (his) father
3 Paris and refuse (his) name' or (b) she
4 Lady Capulet will ‘no longer be a Capulet’ 2,2
5 Capulet 4 'Stony limits’ (Juliet's wall) 2,2
6 my only hate 5 Why - not ‘where’! She is
saying: why did you have to be
Who? What? When? Where? Why? How?
Romeo - a Montague? 2,2
1 Queen Mab 1,4
6 To church, for confession and
2 Juliet 1, 5
absolution (‘shrift’) 2,5
3 a crutch 1,1
7 In the orchard below Juliet's
4 Sampson ‘biting his thumb’ at
room 2,2
Abraham and Balthasar 1,1
8 For ‘doting’ on - not for ‘loving’
5 in a sycamore grove west of the
- Rosaline 2,3
city 1,1
6 because Romeo behaves well, is Who said that?
well spoken of in Verona, and is 1 Juliet 2,2
under Capulet’s roof 1,5 2 Friar Lawrence 2,3
7 by his voice; because he is 3 Mercutio 2,4
wearing a mask 1,5 4 Romeo 2,6
8 three 1,1 5 Nurse 2,5

Who said that?

Quick quiz 3
1 Benvolio 1,1
Uncover the plot
2 Romeo 1,1
1 Romeo; Mercutio; Romeo
3 Mercutio 1,4
2 Romeo; banishment
4 Capulet - repeating the general
3 Romeo’s banishment; Friar
opinion of Verona 1,5
Lawrence
5 Tybalt 1,1
4 Lady Capulet; disown her
5 the Nurse
Quick quiz 2
Uncover the plot Who? What? Where? When? Why? How?
1 Romeo 1 ’banished’ 3,2
2 'I’ll take thee at thy word' 2 because Tybalt is dead and
3 her kinsmen will kill him Romeo lives 3,5
4 Tybalt 3 because - unknown to Tybalt -
5 blushes they are now related by
6 the Friar's cell marriage 3,1

V V J
4 by ‘speaking fair', and by Who said that?
pleading the triviality of the 7 Paris 4,7
quarrel and the Prince’s 2 Juliet 4,3
displeasure 3,1 3 Lady Capulet 4,5
5 the iark (said to be a 4 Friar Lawrence 4,5
nightingale), and first light (said
to be a meteor or moonglow) Quick quiz 5
3,5 Uncover the plot

Who said that? 7 Balthasar; Mantua; death

7 the Prince 3,7 2 apothecary; poison; Friar John

3 Paris; fight him; fair
2 Benvolio 3,1
3 Mercutio, because Romeo is 4 Friar Lawrence; his dagger

refusing to fight Tybalt 3,7 Who? What? Where? When? Why? How?
4 Lady Capulet of juliet, because 7 Balthasar, Friar Lawrence and
she refuses to be married to Paris, page 5,3
Paris 3,5 2 Capulet 5,3
3 she has died of grief at Romeo’s
Quick quiz 4 banishment 5,3
Uncover the plot 4 to write again to Mantua,
7 Paris; Thursday meanwhile hiding Juliet in his
2 stab herself cell 5,2
3 dead; 42 hours; Capulet vault; 5 in Verona, because his
Romeo companion friar had been
4 dagger; Friar Lawrence visiting the sick and both were
quarantined for being infectious
Who? What? Where? When? Why? How?
5,2
7 the bridegroom (Paris) 4,1; the
6 because he hears the watch
Nurse 4,4
coming 5,3
2 cold, stiffness, stopping of
breath and pulse, pallor, closed Who said that?
eyes 4,1 7 Romeo, because he can’t trust
3 Capulet thinks Juliet’s grief for the dream: there is only bad r
Quick quiz answers

Tybalt is harmful 4,7 news ahead 5,1

4 she will be dressed in her best 2 Romeo 5,3
robes and carried on an open 3 Paris, because he thinks Romeo
bier to the Capulet vault 4,7 is avenging himself on Juliet’s
5 because she has ‘the strength of body; in fact, love conquers
will' to kill herself rather than vengeance only through the
marry Paris 4,7 death of the lovers 5,3
4 the Prince 5,3

79
Page 14, Shakespeare, © Robert Harding World Imagery / Robert Harding
Picture Library / Alamy.com
Page 16, Scene, © Twentieth Century Fox / Everett / Rex Features

Every effort has been made to trace copyright holders and to obtain their
permission for the use of copyright material. The author and the
publishers will gladly receive information enabling them to rectify any
reference or credit in subsequent editions.

First published 1994

Revised edition 2004

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Text © John Mahoney 1994

2004 edition revised by Steven Croft

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Typeset by Letterpart Ltd., Reigate, Surrey.

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Commissioned by Cassandra Birmingham

Editorial project management by Jo Kemp

Printed in Italy.

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ISBN 1 84315 316 5

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