Download Name English 1 Romeo and Juliet: Act 1 Analysis Directions

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English 1
Romeo and Juliet: Act 1 Analysis
Directions: Answer the study guide questions on a separate sheet of paper. They do not have
to be typed, but neatness counts. Use your textbook to help you with the answers.
Act 1: Scene 1
1. In Act 1, Scene 1, explain the play on words with the words "collar" and "collier". Remember,
Shakespeare uses puns as comic relief.
2. Why is the main message of the Prince's speech? What punishment does he threaten the
Montagues and Capulets with?
3. How is Romeo feeling as seen in the following lines spoken by Montague? Describe his mood:
"Many a morning hath he there been seen,/With tears augmenting the fresh morning dew./Adding to
clouds more clouds with his deep sighs".
4. What is the "metaphor" in the following line: "And private in his chamber pens himself, /Shuts up
his windows, locks far daylight out/And makes himself an artificial night"?
5. What does Benvolio mean when he says, "Alas, that love, so gentle in his view,/Should be so
tyrannous and rough in proof!"?
6. Why does Romeo use a series of oxymorons/paradoxical phrases to describe love?: "O brawling love!
O loving hate!/O any thing, of nothing first create!/O heavy lightness! serious vanity!"
7. Describe Romeo's metaphor in the following lines: "Love is a smoke raised with the fume of sighs;
Being purged, a fire sparkling in lovers' eyes"
8. Describe the "allusion" to Greek mythology in Romeo's lines: "Well, in that hit you miss: she'll not be
hit/With Cupid's arrow; she hath Dian's wit;/And, in strong proof of chastity well arm'd"
9. What advice does Benvolio give Romeo about the woman he is in love with? Do you agree with his
advice?
Act 1 Scene 2:
10. How does Capulet feel about Paris's offer to marry his daughter, Juliet? How do you know?
11. What is the Servant's conflict in the following lines: "I am/sent to find those persons whose names
are here/writ, and can never find what names the writing/person hath here writ. I must to the learned.-In good time." How does his conflict affect the plot of the play?
12. Why does Romeo want to go to the Capulet's ball (party)?
13. What does Benvolio mean when he says, "Go thither; and, with unattainted eye,/Compare her face
with some that I shall show,/And I will make thee think thy swan a crow."? (Consider the metaphor in
the underlined portion)
Act 1 Scene 3:
14. What is the purpose of the Nurse's longwinded, prattling talk about Juliet as a baby?
15. How does Juliet feel about getting married? How does Juliet's mother feel about her daughter
getting married?
16. What do Lady Capulet and the Nurse compare Paris to? What does this metaphor tell you about
their feelings about Paris?
17. Lady Capulet encourages Juliet to marry Paris by saying, "So shall you share all that he doth
possess,/By having him, making yourself no less." What does she mean? Then explain the Nurse's pun in
the lines, "No less! nay, bigger; women grow by men."
18. What does Juliet mean when she tells her mother (in regard to marrying Paris) "I'll look to like, if
looking liking move:/But no more deep will I endart mine eye/Than your consent gives strength to make
it fly"?
19. Based on Juliet's response from #18 above, what do you think of Juliet's attitude towards her mother
and marriage in general?
Act 1 Scene 4:
20. Describe Romeo's pun on the words "sole" and "soul" in the following lines, "Not I, believe me: you
have dancing shoes/With nimble soles: I have a soul of lead/So stakes me to the ground I cannot move."
(Consider the two meanings of the word)
21. What is the metaphor in the following lines spoken by Romeo? What is his mood in these lines?: I am
too sore enpierced with his (Cupid's) shaft/To soar with his light feathers, and so bound,/I cannot bound
a pitch above dull woe:/Under love's heavy burden do I sink"
22. What does Mercutio mean when he says, "If love be rough with you, be rough with love;
Prick love for pricking, and you beat love down"? What is his attitude about love in comparison to
Romeo?
23. What metaphor does Mercutio use about light and darkness? How does it relate to Romeo's mood?
24. Describe Mercutio's pun (play on words) about dreamers ("That dreamers often lie").
25. What are Romeo's feelings as seen in the following lines? Describe his mood and how he is
foreshadowing future events: "I fear, too early: for my mind misgives/Some consequence yet hanging in
the stars/Shall bitterly begin his fearful date/With this night's revels and expire the term".
26. Romeo's heart is taken by Juliet's beauty immediately. Describe the imagery in his words. Then
underline the simile about her beauty. Next, double underline the metaphor.:
"O, she doth teach the torches to burn bright!
It seems she hangs upon the cheek of night
Like a rich jewel in an Ethiope's ear;
Beauty too rich for use, for earth too dear!
So shows a snowy dove trooping with crows"
27. How does Capulet react when Tybalt tells his uncle that Romeo, a Montague, is at their party? What
does this tell you about Capulet's character indirectly?
28. Describe what is happening in Romeo's lines, "Sin from thy lips? O trespass sweetly urged!
Give me my sin again."
29. What does Romeo mean when he says, "Is she a Capulet?/O dear account! my life is my foe's debt"?
30. What does Juliet mean when she says, "My only love sprung from my only hate!/Too early seen
unknown, and known too late!"? Why is this statement a paradox?