Name: ___________________________
Period: ___________________________
Romeo and Juliet Reading Guide – Act I
Prologue and Act I Scene 1
1. Prologue means _______________________________________________________
2. The two feuding households are the _______________________ and the
____________________
3. The phrase “star-cross’d lovers” means that Romeo and Juliet are (a) passionate lovers (b) illfated, unlucky lovers (c) indifferent lovers (d) fortunate lovers
4. Only Juliet’s and Romeo’s ________________________ buries or ends their parents’ hate and
enmity.
5. So, the two-hour play is about ___________________________________________.
6. Act I, Scene 1 takes place on a public square or street in ________________________.
7. Gregory and Samson are servants of the _____________________________.
8. Gregory and Samson provoke _______________________, a servant of the Montagues by
__________________________________
9. Benvolio, a Montague cousin, tries to __________________ the fight.
10. Tybalt, a Capulet cousin, challenges Benvolio to a duel because he ____________________
11. Lord Capulet wants to join the fight, too, because Lord Montague “flourishes his blade in spite of
me” (line 74); in other words, Lord Montague_______________________________________
12. To “quench the fire of your pernicious rage / With purple fountains issuing from your veins”
(lines 81-82) means _________________________________________________________.
13. How many street brawls have there already been between the feuding families, according to
Prince Escalus?
14. What is the punishment if there’s more fighting between the Montagues and the Capulets?
15. Who is Lord Montagues’ adversary? _____________________________________
16. What word does Benvolio use to describe Tybalt and why? (lines 105-109)
17. What is Lady Montague worried about? (line 113)
18. When and where did Benvolio see Romeo? (lines 115-119)
19. What verb does Lord Montague use to tell how Romeo’s tears increase “the fresh mornings’s
dew”?
20. According to his father, what does Romeo do as soon as the sun rises? (lines 135-137)
21. Lord Montague describes Romeo’s mood as “black and portentous”. (line 134) Today,
portentous means self-important and arrogant. But, in the context of the dialogue, the word
means _________________________
22. In Benvolio’s question, “have you importun’d him by any means?” (line 147) the word
“importun’d” means pleaded or begged (b) questioned or asked persistently (c) demanded to
know (d) all are correct
23. List all oxymorons Romeo uses: (lines 171-178) 1.____________________________
2. _______________________________ 3. _______________________________
4. ______________________________ 5. ________________________________
6. _________________________________ 7. __________________________________
8. _________________________________ 9. _____________________________________
10. ________________________________ 11. ______________________________________
24. What do these oxymorons tell about Romeo’s state of mind? _______________________
25. What does Romeo mean when he says his “heart’s oppression”, or love sickness, is “love’s
transgression”? (lines 181-182)__________________________________________
26. What verb does Romeo use to tell Benvolio that his distress over Romeo’s love sickness only
increases Romeo’s depression”? (line 184)
27. Romeo’s love interest refuses to (lines 209-211 a. ______________________
b. ___________________________ c. ___________________________
28. When Romeo laments that his love interest will waste her beauty by not passing it on to her
posterity, he’s talking about her_______________________________________.
29. What does Benvolio advise Romeo to do?
Act I Scene 2
1. What does Paris want to accomplish while he visits with Juliet’s father?
2. How many children does Capulet have?
3. What is the servant who receives a paper from Capulet supposed to do ?(lines 34-37)
4. After Romeo reads the “guest list”, what do Romeo and Benvolio realize?
5. What does Benvolio mean in lines 87-89?
Act I Scene 3
1. Who is Susan?
2. When will Juliet turn 14?
3. In 25 words or less, explain what the nurse is saying in lines 16-49.
4. How old was Juliet’s mother when Juliet was born? (lines 71-73)
5. Name four ways Juliet’s mother compares Paris to a book? (lines 82-94)
1.
2.
3.
4.
Act I Scene 4
1. Write 2 events between lines 11-46 where you find Romeo depressed.
1.
2.
2. What are the “children of an idle brain”? (line 98)
3. Explain how Romeo’s monologue in lines 106-113 is an example of foreshadowing.
Act I Scene 5
1. Where does this scene take place?
2. What are the servants doing in the beginning of the scene and why?
3. What do Lord Capulet and his relative mean by saying that it has been some 30 years since they
wore a mask? (lines 30-36)
4. While he’s watching the dancers, what attracts Romeo’s attention?
5. Romeo uses several vivid images to describe her. What do they tell about her?
a. “Oh, she doth teach the torches to burn bright!” ________________________________
b. “…she hangs upon the cheek of night as a rich jewel in an Ethiop’s ear.”
________________________________________________________________________
c. “Beauty too rich to use, for earth too dear!”____________________________________
d. “…a snowy dove trooping with crows.”________________________________________
6. How does Tybalt recognize Romeo?
7. What is Tybalt’s reaction when he realizes that a Montague is among the guests?
8. What is Lord Capulet’s attitude toward the party crashers ?(Romeo and his friends) (lines 65-89)
9. What does Lord Capulet order Tybalt to do and why?
10. While Tybalt and Lord Capulet are speaking, what has Romeo managed to do?
11. What metaphors does Romeo use when addressing Juliet? (line 93)
12. What mental associations do you get from those metaphors?
13. What metaphor does Juliet use to address Romeo? (line 100)
14. What mental associations do you get from that metaphor?
15. How do Romeo and Juliet learn each other’s identities?
16. What does Juliet mean when she says, “My only love sprung from my only hate! Too early seen
unknown, and known too late!” (lines 138-139)