Romeo and Juliet: plot, characters and context
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Lesson notes
Plot summary
- Prologue: The Chorus tells us two feuding families in Verona, the Montagues and Capulets, will lose their children, "a pair of star-crossed lovers", to death.
- Act 1: Romeo, a Montague, gatecrashes the Capulet party and falls in love with Juliet. They learn each other's names too late.
- Act 2: Juliet appears above at a window while Romeo speaks from below, often staged as a balcony scene. Friar Laurence secretly marries them, hoping to end the feud.
- Act 3: Tybalt kills Mercutio; Romeo kills Tybalt and is banished. Capulet insists Juliet marry Paris.
- Act 4: Juliet takes a potion to appear dead to avoid the marriage; Friar Laurence plans to tell Romeo.
- Act 5: Romeo does not get the message, hears Juliet is dead, buys poison and dies at her tomb. Juliet wakes, finds him dead and stabs herself. The families reconcile.
An upper window and enclosed orchard
Characters
- Romeo is passionate and often hasty; Juliet is young, questioning and increasingly determined. Mercutio uses wit; Tybalt responds aggressively to perceived insults. The Nurse and Friar offer support but make consequential choices. Capulet’s approach to Juliet’s marriage changes; Benvolio attempts peace.
How the conflict develops
Context
- Probably composed around 1595–96. Its imagined Verona and family conflict may be read alongside early modern concerns about household authority, marriage, honour and belief. Practices and views varied. Use religious language, family demands or references to stars as textual evidence rather than asserting one universal audience response.
Context must meet the text
Slides
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Practice questions
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1.In which city is the play set?
Easy- AVerona
- BLondon
- CVenice
- DRome
2.What are the two families called?
Easy- ATudor and Stuart
- BCapulet and Medici
- CMontague and Escalus
- DMontague and Capulet
3.Who marries Romeo and Juliet?
Easy- AThe Prince
- BThe Nurse
- CFriar Laurence
- DParis
4.What does the Prologue tell the audience?
Easy- Athe feud will continue
- Bthe lovers will die
- Cthe lovers will marry happily
- DTybalt will win
5.Who is banished from Verona?
Easy- ARomeo
- BJuliet
- CTybalt
- DParis
6.Who does Capulet want Juliet to marry?
Easy- ARomeo
- BTybalt
- CBenvolio
- DParis
7.Which plan does Juliet use to avoid the proposed marriage to Paris?
Easy- Aan immediate journey to England
- Ba confession to the Prince about Tybalt
- Ca potion that makes her temporarily appear dead
- Da public marriage ceremony with Paris
8.Why does Romeo not get Friar Laurence's message?
Easy- Ahe is asleep
- Bthe messenger is delayed by plague quarantine
- Che ignores it
- Dit is lost at sea
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