tone

• What is the tone of Romeo and Juliet towards the young lovers?

  Sympathetic to their plight
• What does the play suggest about sexual desire and everlasting love?

  They are given equal weight
• What was rare and controversial at the time the play was written?

  Onstage kissing
• How is Juliet's character presented in the play?

  Sympathetically, despite her age
• How old is Juliet in the play?

  Thirteen
• What does Juliet express longing for in the play?

  Her wedding night
• What does the play's tone suggest about sex for characters?

  It is natural and inevitable
• Who indulges in sexual wordplay in the play?

  Mercutio
• What does the Nurse sometimes fail to recognize in her lines?

  The secondary sexual meaning
• How does the tone of the play help us sympathize with the lovers?

  It accepts the facts of life
• What does the tone of the play celebrate?

  The central love story
• How are Romeo and Juliet initially perceived in the play?

  As frivolous characters
• What does Juliet worry about regarding her feelings for Romeo?

  Being perceived as promiscuous
• What traditional figures do tragedies usually feature?

  Noble figures like kings or generals
• What does Shakespeare suggest by choosing ordinary teens as protagonists?

  Their story is worthy and important
• How do Romeo's friends and Juliet's family contribute to the play?

  They value the characters
• What does the poetic language in the balcony scene imply?

  The lovers' plight is of lasting import
• How are sex and love portrayed in Romeo and Juliet?

  As positive, natural forces
• What is the play's tone towards violence?

  Highly critical of it
• What leads to the tragic end of the play?

  Violence, not sex
• Who boasts about being violent in the play?

  Samson
• What is the main form of violence in Romeo and Juliet?

  Dueling
• Which characters die in duels?

  Mercutio, Tybalt, and Paris
• What causes the duels in the play?

  The feud between Montagues and Capulets
• What is the consequence of the violent disagreement between the two families?

  Needless death and suffering
• What does Romeo and Juliet show about grief?

  It follows violence and death
• What does the ending of the play suggest about the resolution of the feud?

  It comes at a high price
• How is the tone described at the end of the play?

  Elegiac, suggesting pain outweighs benefits