Name: ______Period: ______English 9 Mr. DeIuliis
Romeo and Juliet Study Guide & Review
The objective sections of the test will include matching , true or false , and multiple-choice questions that are based on character and plot. These are simple recall questions. If you read the play, you will do extremely well on this part of the test. Your plot worksheets are an excellent resource for you to review.
PLEASE READ THE DIRECTIONS FOR EACH SECTION BELOW!
I. CHARACTERS: Below are the most significant characters from the play. Next to each character’s name, write their significant characteristics, qualities, and actions.
Romeo Montague-
Juliet Capulet-
The Nurse-
Lord Montague-
Lady Montague-
Lord Capulet-
Count Paris-
Prince Escalus-
II. PLOT: Here are brief plot summaries for the play. Be careful, because reading the plot summaries does not substitute for reading the play . These summaries are meant to help you remember important moments from the play. Jot down notes for each scene in the margins as you study.
Act I Scene one: A street fight occurs between the servants and families. Prince Escalus warns them of the consequences of fighting. Romeo tells Benvolio that he is in despair because Rosaline does not love him back.
Scene two: Count Paris asks Lord Capulet for Juliet’s hand in marriage. Capulet gives Paris permission to woo Juliet, and invites him to banquet. Romeo agrees to crash the ball with Benvolio when he learns that Rosaline will attend.
Scene three: Lady Capulet tells Juliet of Paris’s request. Both Lady Capulet and the Nurse praise Paris, and Juliet agrees to consider letting Paris court her.
Scene four: Romeo, Mercutio, Benvolio, and friends put on masks and go to the Capulet party. Mercutio and Romeo speak of dreams.
Scene five: At the party, Tybalt recognizes Romeo, but Lord Capulet orders Tybalt to leave Romeo alone. Tybalt swears revenge. Romeo and Juliet fall passionately in love at first sight. After they part, they learn each other’s identities.
Act II Scene one: After the party, Romeo hides in the Capulet orchard while Mercutio and Benvolio look for him.
Scene two: With Romeo in the orchard and Juliet at her window, the two profess their love. Juliet says that she will send a messenger
Scene three: At dawn, Romeo goes to Friar Laurence for help. Friar Laurence agrees to marry them.
Scene four: Mercutio and Benvolio, looking for Romeo, reveal that Tybalt has challenged Romeo to a duel.
Scene five: The Nurse tells an impatient Juliet of Romeo’s plan.
Scene six: Romeo and Juliet meet at Friar Laurence’s cell and are married.
Act III Scene one: In a public place, Tybalt insults and challenges Romeo, who is just returned from his wedding and will not fight. Angered, Mercutio fights Tybalt, When Romeo comes between the two to stop the fight, Tybalt mortally wounds Mercutio. Romeo then challenges and kills Tybalt. Benvolio urges Romeo to escape and then, when the Prince, Montagues and Capulets arrive, explains what happened. The Prince decrees that Romeo is banished from Verona and will be killed if found in the city.
Scene two: The Nurse tells Juliet of Tybalt’s death and Romeo’s banishment. Juliet threatens to kill herself, but the Nurse says she will go to Friar Laurence’s cell and tell Romeo to come to Juliet’s chamber as planned.
Scene three: Friar Laurence tells Romeo of the Prince’s sentence, and Romeo collapses in despair. When the Nurse arrives and reports that Juliet very distraught, Romeo tries to stab himself. The Nurse prevents him, and Friar Laurence offers a plan. Romeo will go to Mantua while Friar Laurence reconcile the feuding families, revel the secret marriage, and obtain the Prince’s pardon for Romeo, who could then return to Verona. The Nurse gives Romeo and ring that Juliet has sent, and Romeo prepares to go to her.
Scene four: Late that same Monday evening, Paris visits the Capulets, and Lord Capulet decides that Juliet will marry Paris on Thursday. He tells Lady Capulet to give Juliet the news before she goes to bed.
Scene five: Romeo has spent the night with Juliet, and leaves for Mantua near dawn. Lady Capulet tells Juliet of her father’s decision, but Juliet refuses to marry Paris. Lord Capulet threatens to disown Juliet if she does not comply. Lady Capulet refuses to help by delaying the marriage, and the Nurse advises Juliet to marry Paris and forget the inferior Romeo. Stunned by this last betrayal, Juliet decides never to confide in her Nurse again. She goes to Friar Laurence for help, pretending that the purpose of her visit is to seek absolution for her sin of disobedience.
Act IV Scene one: Firer Laurence devises a plan to prevent Juliet’s marriage to Paris. On Wednesday, the night before the wedding, Juliet will take a drug inducing a death-like coma for forty-two hours. In the meantime, Friar Laurence will send a message to Romeo, who will return to Verona and wait, with the Friar in the Capulet’s burial vault until Juliet awakes. The lovers will then escape to Mantua.
Scene two: Juliet asks her father’s pardon and agrees to marry Paris. Highly pleased, Lord Capulet moves the wedding to Wednesday.
Scene three: Juliet takes the sleeping potion Tuesday night.
Scene four: The Capulet household prepares for their wedding, and Lord Capulet sends the Nurse to waken Juliet.
Scene five: The Nurse discovers Juliet and believes her dead, as do the Capulets and Paris. The Friar orders then to prepare Juliet for burial in the family tomb.
Act V Scene one: Romeo’s servant, Balthasar, arrives in Mantua with news that Juliet is dead. Romeo buys poison from an apothecary and sets out for Verona, determined to enter Juliet’s tomb and kill himself there.
Scene two: Friar Laurence learns that his message, Friar John, was unable to deliver to Romeo the letters explaining Juliet’s coma. He sets out for the Capulet tomb, afraid that Juliet, who will awake within three hours, will awake alone.
Paris, at the Capulet tomb, to strew flowers and scented water, sees Romeo opening Juliet’s tomb and tries to arrest. Paris ignores Romeo’s calm pleading for peace, and Romeo kills him. Only then recognizing Paris, Romeo lays him in the tomb, where, finding Juliet still in her trance, he drinks poison and dies. When Friar Laurence arrives, Juliet awakens and sees Romeo’s body. The Friar panics because he hears the watchmen approaching, but Juliet will not leave Romeo. Left alone, she stabs herself. The watchman finds the bodies of Romeo, Juliet and Paris and summons the Capulets, the Montagues, and the Prince. Friar Laurence is brought back to explain what has happened. The Prince promises him that “some shall be pardoned, and some punished,” and the Capulet and Montague’s feud is reconciled.
III. LITERARY TERMS: Define the following terms (use your notes).
Protagonist- Antagonist- Iambic Pentameter- Blank verse- Prose- Couplet- End-stopped lines- Run-on lines- Soliloquy- Aside- Conflict- Suspense- Foreshadowing- Oxymoron- Pun- Drama- Thrust stage- Theme- Action- Activity- Tragedy- Comic relief- IV. SHAKESPEARE’S LIFE AND WORK There will be a fill-in-the-blank section on the test regarding Shakespeare’s life and work. There will be a word bank provided. Study your Shakespeare Biography notes.
V. ESSAY QUESTIONS
There will be several general essay questions about the play. If you read the play and paid attention to in-class discussions, you should be prepared. To complete these essay questions well , you will have to think about the themes, characters, and plot. Your answers must be written in complete sentences , rephrasing the question and then, answering the question specifically. One way to study for the essay questions is to jot down specific examples from the text for each of the following themes. Then, remember your examples so you can use them in your essay answers.
Love can infer integrity (honesty) upon two very young people. When an older generation’s rage is carried over to a younger generation, tragedy can occur. As humans, we can often be powerless to bring into existence the kind of world we’d like to live in. Innocence, virtue, and beauty can all be destroyed. A disordered and chaotic world can bring disaster upon the humans who live in it.