| Dramatic irony | What is the literary element for Mercutio and Benvolio not knowing Romeo is in love with Juliet? |
| Mercutio | Who makes the allusion about Venus, goddess of love? |
| He tries to tell Mercutio to stop making fun of Romeo because he thinks Romeo is still in love with Rosaline and Romeo will get angry if Mercutio keeps mocking him. | How is Benvolio’s character of being a peacemaker further revealed? |
| He cannot go anywhere without her just like the Earth cannot move without its center. | What does it mean when Romeo calls Juliet his center and he is the Earth? |
| No one understands him. | How does Romeo feel when he hears Mercutio’s jokes? |
| Moon goddess Diana. Big deal because he is comparing a mortal to a goddess. It makes Diana seem ugly and mortal and Juliet so beautiful and immortal. | What goddess does Romeo view less beautiful than Juliet? Why is this a big deal? |
| He is comparing Juliet saying she is the sun (another reference to Juliet being his center) and she is so beautiful that the moon goddess, Diana, is jealous of her beauty. | What does it mean when Romeo tells Juliet to rise and kill the envious moon? |
| She wants Romeo to change his identity so that they can be together. Montague is just a name and Romeo would not look or act differently if he changed it just like changing the name of a rose would not make it smell any different. | “What’s in a name? That which we call a roseBy any other word would smell as sweet.So Romeo would, were he not Romeo called,Retain that dear perfection which he owesWithout that title. Romeo, doff thy name,And for that name, which is no part of theeTake all myself” (II.ii.43-48). What is Juliet saying? |
| The moon is always changing, therefore his love would be inconsistent. | When Romeo starts to swear by the moon that his love for Juliet is true, why does she interrupt him and say not to swear by the moon? |
| He calls her a saint and says he will be newly baptized, which means he will get a new name so that they can be together. | How does Romeo show that he worships Juliet? |
| Religious motif | “My name, dear saint, is hateful to myself” (II.ii.55) What literary element is this by saying Juliet is a saint? |
| Romeo’s death because if any of her kinsmen find him at her house, he will die for he is a Montague trespassing onto Capulet territory. | “How camest thou hither, tell me, and wherefore?The orchard walls are high and hard to climb,And the place death, considering who thou art,If any of my kinsmen find thee here” (II.ii.61-65). What is Juliet pointing out? |
| A bad look from Juliet, but if she looks at him sweetly he will be protected. | To Romeo, what is worse than 20 of Juliet’s kinsmen coming after him? How can he be armored against them? |
| She had just poured out her love for Romeo not knowing anyone was listening, so now if she asks Romeo if he loves her, what he says will be tainted by what she already said. | Why does Juliet feel like she is at a disadvantage? |
| Juliet is practical and voice of reason, but Romeo is reckless and makes decisions too quickly without thinking things through. | How are Juliet and Romeo different? |
| It allows them to test their initial passion and gain the courage to move forward with their marriage plan. | Why is the balcony scene crucial to understanding Romeo and Juliet’s relationship? |
| Generosity | What character trait do we see when Juliet declares, “My bounty is as boundless as the sea, / My love as deep. The more I give thee / The more I have, for both are infinite.” (2.1.175-177)? |
| Rosaline is selfish with her beauty, but Juliet wants to share her beauty with Romeo. | How are Rosaline and Juliet opposites? |
| True love requires two people to open their hearts to one another. | When Juliet both allows and cherishes Romeo’s interruption during her soliloquy what does it remind us of? |
| Before, she was used to obeying the Nurse and her parents, but during the balcony scene, she disobeys Nurse twice in order to reappear and continue her conversation with Romeo. This shows she is becoming independent and also disrespectful and it explains her quick decision to marry Romeo and defy her parents. | How does Juliet’s behavior change after she meets Rome? |
| He is willing to compromise the holiness of marriage in order to end the feud between the Montagues and Capulets. He clearly finds Romeo and Juliet’s new passion bad, but agrees to perform the marriage ceremony anyway. His actions represent the division between societal agreement and individual desire. | How is Friar an imperfect religious figure? |
| Act 2 prologue speaks less of fate. Instead, it helps to build suspense. | How are the prologues for act 1 and 2 different? |
| He’s physically separating himself from Mercutio and Benvolio — a separation that reflects the distance he feels from society, his friends, and his family. | By leaping the wall surrounding the Capulet orchard, what is Romeo doing and what does this reflect? |
| His speeches are now in blank verse rather than the rhymed iambic pentameter. | How do Romeo’s speeches show he is maturing? |
| Dramatic irony and it foreshadows the final scene of the play, when Juliet follows Romeo to their death. | Juliet’s promise to Romeo to “follow thee my lord throughout the world” is full of what literary elements? |
| Romeo’s relationship with the Friar: Friar acts as a father figure to Romeo because he is the only person to whom Romeo can confide the secret of his love for Juliet and his plans to marry her. Nurse is like a mother to Juliet because she is the only person Juliet can rely on and be comfortable around. Also, the love of Romeo and Juliet is fast in contrast to Nurse who is slow. | Where do we see the theme of youth versus old age? |
| Anticipation at his forthcoming wedding. | The rapid, highly energized exchanges between Mercutio and Romeo reflect Romeo’s own feelings of what? |
| Her youthful energy and enthusiasm contrasts with the Nurse, who is old, decrepit, and slow. | How does Juliet’s soliloquy and her subsequent exchanges with the Nurse show theme of youth versus old age? |
| Nurse and Mercutio | What two characters share a bawdy sense of humor and view love as a purely physical relationship? |
| It shows his knowledge about plants, which foreshadows he will need this knowledge later in the play. | In Friar Lawrence’s soliloquy about how flowers can be used as poison to kill and medicine to heal, why is this important? |
| Religious motif | What type of motif is it when Romeo pours out his feelings to Friar Lawrence? |
| He reminds audience that everything is not happy and easy and the family feud will not end well. It brings audience back the moment when Tybalt vowed revenge on Romeo for crashing the Capulet feast. | In the beginning of scene 4, why does Shakespeare transition from love and marriage to hatred and fighting? |
| He knows Tybalt is a skilled fighter and Romeo’s focus is elsewhere. Benvolio says Romeo won’t back down. | Why is Mercutio concerned for Romeo’s well-being? What is Benvolio’s response? |
| It is foreshadowing. Mercutio thinks that since Romeo is so in love, he will not be able to focus clearly in his duel with Tybalt. | What is “Alas, poor Romeo! He is already dead…”(II.iv.13) a literary element of? Why does Mercutio think Romeo is already dead? |
| Romeo went from being sad and depressed and not wanting to participate in Mercutio’s joking-manner to energized and able to match Mercutio’s wits. | How is Romeo different from before when Mercutio is making fun of him? |
| She was assigned by Juliet to discuss marriage with Romeo. Juliet is like a daughter to Nurse and marriage will make Juliet happy, so Nurse takes this matter seriously because she wants to make sure Juliet is in good hands. | Why does Nurse act so serious when Mercutio and Romeo are making fun of her? |
| Nurse goes from being light-hearted and comical to serious. Romeo goes from being depressed to mischievous and witty. Juliet goes from being obedient, polite, and respectful to independent and disrespectful. | Where do we see a change is character roles? |
| A fool’s paradise does not literally mean a fool’s paradise. It is a state of enjoyment based on false beliefs or hopes; a state of unreal happiness, so Nurse wants to make sure that Romeo is honest and true in his intentions to marry Juliet. Double dealing is not literal since the nurse and Romeo are not playing cards. Instead, Nurse is telling Romeo not to cheat on Juliet. | Why is a fool’s paradise and double dealing an idiom? |
| Romeo and Juliet’s marriage is a bad idea. They are rushing into it and since they did not stop to think about it first, it could cause their downfall. | What does Friar mean when he says, “Wisely and slow. They stumble that run fast” (II.ii.94). |
| Romeo’s love for Rosaline is dead and there is no hope for it returning because a new desire, his love for Juliet, has taken its place. | In the prologue, what does it mean when the chorus says Romeo’s old desires lie in a deathbed? What does it mean when the chorus says young affection gapes to be its heir? |
| They fell in love with each other’s looks. | Romeo asks Juliet if she’ll leave him so unsatisfied and Juliet responds by asking what satisfaction could he be looking for? How do we know Romeo and Juliet are infatuated with each other? |
| Romeo is a Montague, an enemy to the Capulet house. Juliet is not only a Capulet, an enemy to the Montague house, but she is also very young, so she needs permission from her parents to go out. | “Being held a foe, he may not have accessTo breathe such vows as lovers use to swear.And she as much in love, her means much lessTo meet her new beloved anywhere” (II.prologue.9-12). Why does Romeo have a hard time seeing Juliet? Why does Juliet have an even harder time seeing Romeo? |
| Juliet is like a fish because she is taking a risk to fall in love with Romeo just like a fish takes a risk to catch bait from a hook. The hook represents the family feud that can catch Juliet if she’s not careful. | “And she steal love’s sweet bait from fearful hooks” (II.prologue.8). What does this metaphor mean? |
| When Nurse returns after finding out from Romeo that he will marry Juliet, she stalls to tell Juliet the news and teases her saying she’s out of breath from the long journey. Juliet is able to detect Nurse’s comedy and is logical and disrespectful when she says Nurse is not out of breath because if she was, she would not have been able to tell Juliet that she was out of breath. | When do we see Juliet is impatient and even disrespectful to Nurse who has returned to her comic nature after being serious with Romeo and Mercutio? |
| An object; a possession | “It is enough I may but call her mine” (II.vi.8). What does it seem Juliet is to Romeo? |
| Sympathy | Friar is showing what character trait when he is about to marry Romeo and Juliet and sees that they are meant to be together, but originally saw their marriage as being rushed? |
| He foreshadows Romeo and Juliet’s marriage will cause their death because they’re both consumed and used up. | “These violent delights have violent ends/ And in their triumph die, like fire and powder/ Which as they kiss, consume” (II.vi.9-11). What is Friar’s warning saying? |
Act 2 Romeo and Juliet
December 21, 2019