Palm to palm
PALM TO PALM
Romeo In Act 1 Scene 5 Romeo and Juliet meet for the first time
(lines 92–109).
•• In pairs, one person read Romeo, and one read Juliet.
Juliet
Good pilgrim, you do wrong your hand too much,
Which mannerly devotion shows in this,
For saints have hands, that pilgrims’ hands do touch,
And palm to palm is holy palmers’ kiss.
Romeo
Have not saints lips, and holy palmers too?
Juliet
Ay, pilgrim, lips that they must use in prayer.
Romeo
•• Juliet, every time your line rhymes with Romeo’s line, take two
steps forward.
O, then, dear saint, let lips do what hands do;
They pray (grant thou) lest faith turn to despair.
Juliet
Saints do not move, though grant for prayers’ sake.
1 Which character makes the first move?
Romeo
Then move not, while my prayer’s effect I take.
•• After your first read-through, identify the last word of each line, and
whether it is part of a rhyme.
•• Now stand opposite each other to read the text aloud.
•• Every time your line rhymes with another of your lines, take one
step forward.
•• Romeo, every time your line rhymes with Juliet’s line, take two
steps forward.
Romeo and Juliet: Worksheet 6: Palm to palm
[To Juliet.] If I profane with my unworthiest hand
This holy shrine, the gentle sin is this,
My lips, two blushing pilgrims, ready stand
To smooth that rough touch with a tender kiss.
2 Is there a pattern in the movement?
b)Romeo’s personality?
4 What metaphors do the characters use to express their feelings
and intentions?
Globe Education Shakespeare: Romeo and Juliet
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100
105
[They kiss.]
3 What does this scene reveal about
a)Juliet’s personality?
95
Thus from my lips, by thine, my sin is purged.
Juliet
Then have my lips the sin that they have took.
Romeo
Sin from my lips? O trespass sweetly urged!
Give me my sin again.
[They kiss.]
Juliet
You kiss by th’ book.
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