Romeo & Juliet Information

Your test Cheat Sheet

Romeo• The son and heir of Montague and Lady

Montague.

• In his late teens.

• He is handsome, intelligent, and sensitive

• His only interest is love. At the beginning of the play he is madly in love with a woman named Rosaline, but the instant he lays eyes on Juliet, he falls in love with her and forgets Rosaline.

• He secretly marries Juliet, the daughter of his father’s worst enemy; he happily takes abuse from Tybalt; and he would rather die than live without his beloved.

• Romeo is also an affectionate and devoted friend to his relative Benvolio, Mercutio, and Friar Lawrence.

Juliet

• The daughter of Capulet and Lady Capulet.

• A beautiful thirteen-year-old girl

• She grows up quickly upon falling in love with Romeo, the son of her family’s great enemy.

• Juliet’s closest friend and confidant is her nurse, though she’s willing to shut the Nurse out of her life the moment the Nurse turns against Romeo.

Friar Lawrence

• friend to both Romeo and Juliet.

• Kind, civic-minded, a proponent of moderation, and always ready with a plan

• He secretly marries the impassioned lovers in hopes that the union might eventually bring peace to Verona.

• also an expert in the use of seemingly mystical potions and herbs.

Lord Capulet

• The patriarch of the Capulet family

• Father of Juliet

• husband of Lady Capulet

• enemy, for unexplained reasons, of Montague.

• He truly loves his daughter, though he is not well acquainted with Juliet’s thoughts or feelings, and seems to think that what is best for her is a “good” match with Paris.

Lord Montague

• Romeo’s father

• bitter enemy of Capulet

• At the beginning of the play, he is chiefly concerned about Romeo’s melancholy

Tybalt

• A Capulet, Juliet’s cousin on her mother’s side.

• Vain, fashionable, supremely aware of courtesy and the lack of it, he becomes aggressive, violent, and quick to draw his sword when he feels his pride has been injured.

• He loathes Montagues.

Prince Escalus

• The Prince of Verona.

• kinsman of Mercutio and Paris.

• As the seat of political power in Verona, he is concerned about maintaining the public peace at all costs.

Mercutio

• A kinsman to the Prince, and Romeo’s close friend.

• overflows with imagination, wit, and, at times, a strange, biting satire and brooding fervor.

• He can be quite hotheaded, and hates people who are affected, pretentious, or obsessed with the latest fashions.

• He finds Romeo’s romanticized ideas about love tiresome,

Benvolio

• Montague’s nephew, Romeo’s cousin and thoughtful friend

• he makes a genuine effort to defuse violent scenes in public places, though Mercutio accuses him of having a nasty temper in private.

• He spends most of the play trying to help Romeo get his mind off Rosaline, even after Romeo has fallen in love with Juliet.

Paris

• A kinsman of the Prince, and the suitor of Juliet most preferred by Capulet.

• Once Capulet has promised him he can marry Juliet, he behaves very presumptuous toward her, acting as if they are already married.

Balthazar

• Romeo’s dedicated servant, who brings Romeo the news of Juliet’s death, unaware that her death is a lie.

Nurse

• Juliet’s nurse, the woman who has cared for Juliet her entire life.

• A vulgar, long-winded, and sentimental character

• provides comic relief with her frequently inappropriate remarks and speeches

• the Nurse is Juliet’s faithful confidante and loyal intermediary in Juliet’s affair with Romeo

• The Nurse believes in love and wants Juliet to have a nice-looking husband, but the idea that Juliet would want to sacrifice herself for love is incomprehensible to her.

Rosaline

• The girl Romeo thinks he is in love with at the beginning of the play

• He goes to the Capulet party to see her, but sees Juliet and falls in love with her instead

Drama Terms

• Aside- a brief remark made to the audience, unheard by the other characters

• Monologue- a lengthy speech. Unlike a soliloquy, however, a monologue is addressed to other characters.

• Soliloquy- a lengthy speech in which a character; alone on stage, expresses his or her thoughts to the audience.

• Couplet- a pair of successive lines of verse, especially a pair that rhyme and are of the same length

Drama Terms, cont.

• Dramatic Irony- When the audience knows something that the actors don’t. (Ex: when everyone thinks Juliet is dead, but we know she took a sleeping potion)

• Iambic Pentameter- a pattern of unstressed, stressed syllables. Shakespeare uses this pattern of syllables to write Romeo and Juliet.

• Dramatic Foil- a character who contrasts another character in order to highlight particular qualities of the other character

The Shakespearean Stage

• Who would play characters like Juliet and the Nurse? Why? Young boys

• What was the name of the place where Shakespeare’s plays would be performed? The Globe Theatre

• When would Shakespeare’s plays be performed? Why? During the day, in order to have natural light

• Who ruled England at the time of Shakespeare? Queen Elizabeth I

• Approximately how much would it cost to see one of Shakespeare’s plays? $1.66

Quotes to Consider

• “That we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet!”

• “O that I were a glove upon that hand that I might touch her that cheek!”

• “Never there was a story of more woe than that of Juliet and her Romeo,”

Ideas to Ponder…

• What does it mean that Romeo and Juliet are “star cross’d lovers,” as seen in the prologue? They are fated to meet an unhappy end; fate is against them.

• Who do you think is ultimately responsible for Romeo and Juliet’s death? Think about the play as a whole and decide what events and actions lead to the tragic ending of the work.

• In what city does the play take place? Verona, Italy

• Who are the two feuding families? The Montagues & The Capulets

It’s all about the order!• The servants pick a fight in the town square.

• Romeo speaks to Juliet at her balcony, and they decide to marry.

• Romeo marries Juliet.

•Mercutio is killed.

• Tybalt is killed.

• Romeo is banished.

• Juliet takes a sleeping potion.

• Romeo kills himself.

• Juliet kills herself.