Romeo and Juliet End of Unit Study Guide
English 9
DIRECTIONS: Fill out the packet. This will be graded.
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Date _________ Period __________
ACT I
1. In the prologue, Romeo and Juliet are referred to as “star­crossed lovers.” How might this be foreshadowing?
2. To whom does the Prince say (scene 1, 104­105), “If ever you disturb our streets again, Your lives shall pay the forfeit
of the peace”?
What causes him to say it?
3. Who is Rosalind?
4. Why is Romeo upset during the middle of the first act?
5. In scene 3, describe what Lady Capulet wants to discuss with Juliet?
6. When Juliet says, “I’ll look to like, if looking liking move,” (I.iii.106) what does she mean?
7. What causes Mercutio’s soliloquy about Queen Mab? Describe what he talks about.
8. What party do Romeo and his friends crash?
9. Who does Romeo spot at the party? How does he react (provide line references)?
10. What type of person is Tybalt? How is he characterized in the play?
11. Describe Tybalt’s conversation with Lord Capulet about Romeo. What does it reveal about Lord Capulet’s views
about Romeo? What does it reveal about his attitude towards Juliet?
12. When Juliet says, “My only love sprung from my only hate! Too early seen unknown, and known too late,” (I.v.154)
what does she mean? Do you agree with her?
ACT II
1. Do Romeo’s friends know Romeo has found a new love at the party?
2. When Romeo says in, “What light through yonder window breaks? It is the East. And Juliet is the sun,” (II.i.2­3) where
is he? What is about to happen?
3. Analyze and find the meaning of this quote from Juliet:
“What’s in the name? That which we call arose by any other name would smell as sweet“(II.i.46­47).
4. Who is Friar Laurence?
5. What does Romeo want Friar Laurence to do?
6. What is Friar Laurence’s attitude toward Romeo and Juliet’s insistence that he marry them without delay?
ACT III
1. Who renews the feuding between the Montagues and the Capulets? Why?
2. Mercutio plays with language, especially in this scene. Explain how the following quotes taken from his fight with Tyba
are examples of figurative language:
a. “Good King of Cats, nothing but one of your nine lives that I mean to make bold withal,” (lines 80­81)
b. “Ask for me tomorrow, and you shall find me a grave man.” (lines 103­104)
c. “Why the devil came you between us? I was hurt under your arm.” (lines 106­110)
3. How is Mercutio’s proclamation: “A plague o’ both your houses,” an example of foreshadowing.
4. Which character attempts to serve as peacemaker?
5. Why does Romeo refuse to fight at Tybalt’s first challenge?
6. Why does Romeo finally fight Tybalt? Who wins?
7. Why is Juliet torn about how to feel when she hears about the death of Tybalt?
8. Who shows more maturity in reaction to the death of Tybalt: Romeo or Juliet? What does this reveal?
9. Explain this reaction by Romeo (scene 3, lines 15­17) at hearing he will be banished from Verona: “Ha, banishment?
Be merciful, say death; For exile hath more terror in his look, Much more than death. Do not say “banishment.” What
does banishment mean for Romeo?”
10. What does the nurse mean when she says to Juliet (scene 5, lines 252­254): “I think you are happy in this second
match, For it excels your first; or if it did not Your first is dead, or ‘twere as good he were.”
11. What is Juliet’s reaction to the Nurse’s advice in Scene 5?
ACT IV
1. Why do Paris and Juliet go to Friar Laurence at the beginning of Act IV? What happens?
2. Explain this quote from the Friar: (scene 1. lines 75­78) “Hold, daughter, I do spy a kind of hope, Which craves as
desperate an execution, As that is desperate which we would prevent.”
3. Explain the Friar’s plan for Juliet.
4. Why doesn’t Friar Laurence tell Juliet’s parents about her marriage to Romeo?
5. Explain this quote: “Death lie on her like an untimely frost; Upon the sweetest flower of all the field.” (IV.v.33­34)
6. Explain this quote: “All things that we ordained festival Turn from their office to black funeral.” (IV.v.94­95)
Act V
1. Why has Friar John been unable to deliver Friar Laurence’s letter to Romeo in Scene 2?
2. What news does Romeo receive in this first scene? How does Romeo react?
3. What does Romeo buy from the apothecary?
4. Why has Paris gone to the Capulets’ tomb?
5. Why does Paris feel justified in his determination to slay Romeo?
6. What does Romeo say to persuade Paris to leave?
7. What happens when Paris will not leave?
8. Explain this quote from scene 3, lines 75­76: “O, I am slain! If thou be merciful,
Open the tomb, lay me with Juliet.”
9. What two tragic discoveries does Friar Laurence find when he enters the tomb?
10. How does Juliet finally succeed in killing herself?
11. What people tell the tragic story of the lovers to their families?
12. How do old Montague and Capulet show that they have learned the prince of the hatred and feuding between them?
13. “For never was a story of more woe, Than this of Juliet and her Romeo.” (V.iii.334­335). Do you agree? Why or why
not?