| What is the plot summary of Romeo and Juliet? | Montagues and CApulets fight.
Romeo and Juliet fall in love at first sight.
Romeo and Juliet marry in secret with the Friar.
Tybalt kills Mercutio, who is then killed by Romeo in revenge.
Romeo gets banished.
Juliet is told to marry COunt Paris.
Juliet fakes her death with a potion from Friar Lawrence.
Romeo finds out that Juliet is 'dead" and kills himself.
Juliet wakes up and sees Romeo dead, aslo killing herself.
Montague and Capulet end their feud. |
| What does the prologue do to the audience? | It puts us in a constant state of tension and dramatic irony. |
| What does prologue mean? | Before speech. |
| What is dignity? | Pride; power; respect. |
| What does the feud being described as an 'ancient grudge' tell us? | It is a hateful relationship that has been passed down for centuries.
Pointless; silly; not clear on what is actually causing the problem; petty. |
| What does 'star crossed lovers' tell us? | They were fated from the start; destiny. |
| How does 'star crossed lovers' relate to the era that the play was written in? | At the time, The Elizabethan era was Protestant, and they believed in predestination. This correlates to the play because neither Romeo nor Juliet had the power to change their fate. |
| What does predestination mean? | People have no control over events because everything has already been decided by a power such as God or fate. |
| What two phrases from the prologue suggest that Romeo and Juliet are fated? | 'A pair of star crossed lovers'.
'Death marked love'. |
| Why was status important in the play? | THe father loses or gains respect due to his ability to control the household; patriarchal society. |
| What phrase from the prolgue tell us that our protagonists are always out of time? How does this relate to the play? | 'Two hours' traffic of our stage'.
The play cannot be performed in 2 hours, it may be used to symbolise how our characters are unlucky and how time played a crucial part in stopping them from loving each other happily. |
| What are the MAIN themes of the play? | Love, conflict and fate. |
| What are the themes of the play? | Love, conflict, fate, status, gender, religion, masculinity and youthful defiance. |
| Why do conflicts happen? | Differences in opinions - wanting your view to be superior.
Religious/ social beliefs.
Challenges to authority/ power.
Insecurity - no connections or allies. |
| How is conflict presented in the play? | Hate and fighting that is caused by the 'ancient times' due to grudges between households and their sense of pride. |
| How is fate presented in the play? | An inescapable force that the youth will fight against, but succumb to. |
| How is love presented in the play? | Something that is stronger than conflict and tries to go against fate. |
| What words describe how Romeo first presented? What quotes show this? | Fixated.
Desperate. 'O teach me how I should forget to think'
Blinded.
Tortured. 'griefs of mine own lie heavy in my breast'
Overthinking.
Vulnerable.
Solitary.
Heartbroken.
Lost. 'I have lost myself ... I am not Romeo'
Courtly love. |
| How is love presented in the play? | It's presented in sonnet form and displays strong Romantic Era views of love - the idolisation of women, who gave unrequited love. It shows love as being painful. |
| What words describe how Juliet first presented? | Lively.
Overruled.
Youthful.
Wtty.
Tactful.
Loved.
Mature.
Strong-willed.
Precocious. |
| What does precocious mean? | To be headstrong and wiser than their actual age should be. |
