Name ___________________
Date _________ Period _____
Study Guide
Romeo and Juliet
1. Where was William Shakespeare born? _________________
2. What year was Shakespeare born? _______________
3. What is significant about Shakespeare’s birthday and the day he died?
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4. Approximately how many words did Shakespeare invent? ____________
5. Name three words Shakespeare invented.
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6. What is the name of the dictionary in which new words added to the English
language are recorded? ___________________________________________
7. What kind of poem is the Prologue to Romeo and Juliet? _____________
8. What function does the “Chorus” serve throughout Romeo and Juliet?
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9. What two things does the Prologue tell us about the ending of Romeo and Juliet?
1._____________________________________
2. _____________________________________
10.Where do Romeo and Juliet first meet?
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11.How many lines does a sonnet have? ______
12.How many syllables are in each line of a sonnet? ______
13.What are the last two rhyming lines of a sonnet called? ______________
14.How many sonnets did Shakespeare write? ______
15. How many sonnets are in Romeo and Juliet? ______
16.What do actors apply to their lines when they read Shakespearean sonnets in a
sing-song way?
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17. Makesure you know which part of sonnet lines to underline when actors speak
sonnets using the answer to #16 (above).
Example: I love to read good books all day and night,
Practice underlining sonnet lines on the following examples:
Two households, both alike in dignity,
In fair Verona, where we lay our scene,
From ancient grudge break to new mutiny,
Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean.
From forth the fatal loins of these two foes
A pair of star-crossed lovers take their life;
18. Make sure you know how to draw a diagram for an English sonnet. (Found in your
notes, the letters stacked and connected in different ways, showing which lines
rhyme together). Draw a sonnet diagram here:
19. Befamiliar with the following dramatic literary terms. (Found in your Holt
Reader on p. 311 and in notes you took in class.) Write the definition of each
below:
Play
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Tragedy
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Tragic hero
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Tragic flaw
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Comedy
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Dialogue
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Monologue
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Soliloquy
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Aside
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Props
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Be familiar with the following plot elements and what happens during each in
Romeo and Juliet. Name one event in each act that contributes to the action of
the play. Also write the literary term we associate with each act, (i.e.
exposition, etc.) Use your completed worksheet to help you with this part.
Act III:
Act II: Act IV:
Act I: Act V:
20. During which act of Romeo and Juliet does the play turn from a comedy to a
tragedy?
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21. What happens in the above act that turns the play from a comedy to a tragedy?
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22. Did Elizabethan playwrights use words or scenery, props, and lighting to create
their scenes? ___________________________________________
23.What is Romeo’s last name __________________ Juliet’s? __________________
24.Be familiar with the definitions of the following vocabulary words:
* (Look them up in an online dictionary if you need to)
Apothecary Procure
Banishment Rapier
Cell Shroud
Nurse Wherefore
Palmer Woo
25. Name
at least two themes and one motif from Romeo and Juliet, and provide an
example from the play that represents that theme.
Theme: _____________________________________
Example from play:
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Theme: _____________________________________
Example from play:
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Motif: ______________________________________
Example from play:
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