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SHAKESPEARE READING DO NOW for ACT II:SCENE 3
Continue to read Romeo and Juliet in the textbook, beginning on page 320 , but not aloud.
As you read, answer the questions in the space below. Most quoted passages are marked for Act:Scene:Lines.
QUESTIONS
The Friar is the religious figure of the town to whom Romeo goes. (He is
more like what you think of as a monk.) Why might Romeo have gone to
him?
The Friar enters the stage at the start of
this scene carrying a basket (picture a Red
Riding Hood kind of picnic basket, but
uncovered). Find the place on page 320
where Shakespeare tells you what the
Friar plans to do with the basket.
Into the box at the left, copy the lines that
tell you that.
In the box at left, circle the two-word phrase that
the Friar uses to refers to what we call Mother
Nature.
FRIAR:
The earth that's nature's mother is her tomb;
What is her burying grave that is her womb,
And from her womb children of divers kind
We sucking on her natural bosom find,
Many for many virtues excellent,
None but for some and yet all different.
O, mickle is the powerful grace that lies
In herbs, plants, stones, and their true qualities
Underline the line that shows some of the things
that are children of mother nature, and children
that have great power.
(II:3:9-16)
R&J Act II Scene 3 Activity - Page 1 of 3
Leave this column blank
FRIAR:
...Within the infant rind of this small flower
Poison hath residence and medicine power:
For this, being smelt, with that part cheers each part;
Being tasted, slays all senses with the heart.
(II:3:23-26)
FRIAR:
But where unbruised youth with unstuffed brain
Doth couch his limbs, there golden sleep doth reign:
Therefore thy earliness doth me assure
Thou art up-roused by some distemp’rature;
Or if not so, then here I hit it right,
Our Romeo hath not been in bed to-night.
(II:3:37-42)
Explain how what the Friar says here means the flower he is
at that moment holding can be good or can be bad.
Draw an arrow from this pencil icon to the
word or phrase that shows what the Friar thinks
might have woken Romeo up so early.
On the other hand, says the Friar, if that wasn’t
true, there is a different cause of why Romeo is
there so early. Underline the words that show that
cause.
What does the Friar worry (on page 321) may
have been occupying Romeo in sinning
overnight?
Into the box at left, copy what Romeo says in
reaction to that concern of the Friar.
Continue to read to page 322.
Into the box at left copy the line from page 322
that shows Romeo telling the Friar why he has
come there, what he wants from the Friar.
R&J Act II Scene 3 Activity - Page 2 of 3
FRIAR:
Holy Saint Francis, what a change is here!
Is Rosaline, whom thou didst love so dear,
So soon forsaken? Young men's love then lies
Not truly in their hearts, but in their eyes.
Jesu Maria, what a deal of brine
Hath washed thy sallow cheeks for Rosaline!
How much salt water thrown away in waste,
To season love, that of it doth not taste!
The sun not yet thy sighs from heaven clears,
Thy old groans ring yet in my ancient ears;
Lo, here upon thy cheek the stain doth sit
Of an old tear that is not washed off yet:
If e'er thou wast thyself and these woes thine,
Thou and these woes were all for Rosaline:
And art thou changed? Pronounce this sentence then,
Women may fall, when there's no strength in men.
ROMEO Thou chid'st me oft for loving Rosaline.
What is brine? What does the Friar mean when
he talks about it?
Explain what Romeo says here to defend himself
against the Friar’s criticism?
FRIAR LAURENCE For doting, not for loving, pupil
mine.
ROMEO And bad'st me bury love.
FRIAR LAURENCE Not in a grave,
To lay one in, another out to have.
ROMEO I pray thee, chide not; she whom I love now
Doth grace for grace and love for love allow;
The other did not so.
(II:3:65-87)
FRIAR: ...
But come, young waverer, come, go with me,
In one respect I'll thy assistant be;
For this alliance may so happy prove,
To turn your households' rancor to pure love.
ROMEO: O, let us hence; I stand on sudden haste.
FRIAR: Wisely and slow; they stumble that run fast.
(II:3:89-94)
This passage reveals why the Friar agrees to Romeo’s
request. Explain his reasoning.
R&J Act II Scene 3 Activity - Page 3 of 3