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					ACT ONE QUESTIONS – Romeo and Juliet

1.    How do Samson and Gregory re-ignite the feud (1.1.1-73)? What do we learn about the town and what
      is happening there? How would Samson and Gregory react to the idea of true love?

2.    How do Old Capulet and Old Montague respond to the fighting (1.1.68-73)? How do their wives

3.    What is the Prince's response to the fighting (1.1.74-96)? Which side is he on? What does he threaten?

4.    Who is Romeo? Where has he been through all this, how has he been behaving, and what is bothering
      him when he appears (1.1.109-231)?

5.    Does Benvolio learn whom Romeo loves? How truly serious is Romeo's love? What complication makes
      the woman he has chosen a less than perfect love object (1.1.201-217)?

1.    How old is Juliet (1.2.9)? What is Capulet's attitude toward Juliet's marriage (1.2.7-17 and the two
      additional lines in 2)? Who wants to marry her? (Note that "County" is a version of "Count." What we
      have here is a member of the old Italian nobility seeking the hand of a rich city man's daughter, a city
      man who is rich because of commerce, not land.)

2.    What will happen that night? Why is it important that we know this?

3.    How is Capulet going to deliver his invitations (1.2.32-35)? How much success is he likely to have

4.    What happens when the servant meets Benvolio and Romeo (1.2.43ff)? Why is this meeting important
      for the play? Why would Romeo be especially interested in attending? What has Benvolio learned since
      we saw him at the end of 1.1? (See 1.2.82-83.) Why does Benvolio want Romeo to go to the feast? What
      does he think will happen?

1.    What sort of world does the Nurse live in? How, ultimately, would that world respond to true love?
      How do you think Juliet feels during the Nurse's long story about her?
2.    Why has Lady Capulet actually come to talk to Juliet (1.3.65-67)? How old is Lady Capulet (1.3.74-75)? Is
      she Capulet's first wife? (See the two lines in note 2 to 1.2.13).

      Does this suggest older and now dead children? Or merely other children he had with Lady Capulet?
      One answer appears at 3.5.164-165.)

3.    How does Juliet behave to her mother? (See especially 1.3.99-101.)

1.    How are Romeo and the others planning to get into the Capulet feast? How eager is Romeo to

2.    How does Mercutio answer Romeo's fears based on his dream (1.4.53-103)? Note the role of dreams and
      visions throughout the play. What does the Queen Mab speech add to the play? What does it add to the
      character of Mercutio?

3.    Is Romeo any happier? (See 1.4.106-113.) What images does he think of? What ending does he foresee
      for himself?

1.    What does Old Capulet learn about himself in his opening lines (1.5.14-38)?

2.    Meanwhile, what has happened to Romeo (1.5.39-50)? How does Tybalt respond, and how does Capulet
      respond to Tybalt (1.5.51-89)? How do things look for the future between Tybalt and Romeo?

3.    Note the formality of the first meeting between Romeo and Juliet (1.5.90-107), including the sonnet
      beginning at l. 90. What is the effect of making their first meeting this formal and poetic?

4.    How does Romeo find out that Juliet is a Capulet (and not merely a guest from a family friendly to the
      Capulets)? (See 1.5.108-115.)

5.    How does Juliet find out who Romeo is (1.5.125-138)? What is her reaction? What does she already think
      of as a possible fate (1.5.131-132)? Notice l. 129: why didn't Romeo dance? Is Juliet's lie to the Nurse at
      1.5.139-140 typical of her or is it something new?

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