Romeo and Juliet

• Prologue


  Tells us that Romeo and Juliet's fate is predetermined and only their deaths can reconcile their warring families
• Act 1 Scene 1

  1. The two families hate each other, they only stop fighting when the Prince intervenes and threatens them with death

  2. Romeo thinks he's in love with Rosaline but she doesn't love him
• Act 1: Scene 2

  
  

  Paris wants to marry Juliet to improve his social status
• Act 1: Scene 3- Juliet's nurse and mother


  Seem keen for her to marry Paris
• Act 1 Scene 4


  1. Mercutio's Queen Mab speech

  2. Persuades Romeo to go to the Capulet ball

  3. Romeo and Juliet meet and fall in love
• Act 1: Scene 5 - Romeo falls in love with Juliet

  But they should really be hating each other
• Act 2 Scene 2 (Balcony Scene)


  1. Juliet says she will send a messenger to see if Romeo still wants to marry her

  2. Romeo goes to Friar Laurence and gets him to agree to marry them the next day
• Act 2 Scene 6


  Friar Laurence performs the marriage ceremony for Romeo and Juliet
• Friar Laurence and Romeo/Juliet


  Hope the love will bring peace between the feuding Capulets and Montagues
• Act 3 Scene 1


  1. Tybalt kills Mercutio, Romeo then kills Tybalt in revenge

  2. Romeo is banished from Verona
• Juliet's conflicted feelings


  Compares Romeo to a black raven disguised in the white feathers of a peaceful dove
• Act 3 Scene 5


  1. Capulet decides Juliet should marry Paris in 3 days time

  2. Juliet goes to Friar Laurence who gives her a potion to make her appear dead
• Act 4: Scene 3- Juliet takes the potion


  To escape the marriage to Paris and be with Romeo
• Act 5 Scene 3


  1. Romeo arrives at the Capulet tomb, finds Juliet's body and kills himself

  2. Juliet then stabs herself to death
• The deaths of Romeo and Juliet finally convince their families to abandon hate and embrace love, they are reconciled
• Romeo


  Chaotic and destructive
• Juliet


  Cautious and concerned
• In the 1996 Baz Luhrmann version, we see a different interpretation of the scene; Juliet starts on the balcony but then comes downstairs, placing her and Romeo on the same level.
• Juliet's position in the balcony scene

  Could symbolise the power of their love
• During the reign of Mary I, England was a Catholic country. However, all this changed with the death of Mary and the accession of Elizabeth I in 1558 and because she had been educated as a Protestant she reversed the religious changes of Mary, making the country Protestant.
• Elizabeth I was fairly lenient in enforcing Protestantism, but did forbid Catholics from worshipping openly.
• This led to some Catholic groups rising up and rebelling against the Queen. During her reign, groups supported by Catholic countries including Spain threatened the Queen's reign and even life on several occasions.
• Italy in the 14th century, by contrast, was a Catholic country.
• Elizabethan audience's view of the characters

  Misguided and foolish for following this 'old religion'
• Friar Lawrence


  Untrustworthy as he represents a Catholic leader
• Romeo calls Friar his 'Father'
• Friar Lawrence in a parent figure to both R+J yet is the one to give them the poison which kills them.
• Poison is a recurring symbol in Romeo and Juliet. We know that Juliet will take poison to fake her death, and Romeo will also drink poison to kill himself in Act 5.
• When Friar Laurence first appears on stage, he is mixing a compound using a flower. The Friar suggests that, depending on how it's used, a flower can be healing or poisonous.
• By the end of this scene, the Friar believes that he has the power to 'heal' the grudge between the households and turn 'rancour' to 'pure love'.
• However, as we know, the Friar's plan will actually lead to the deaths of Romeo and Juliet. Just like the flower he is describing, the Friar has the power to 'heal' or to 'slay'.
• Elsewhere in the play...

  • In Act 1 Scene 3, we learn that Juliet is closer to the Nurse than her mother.
  • In Act 2 Scene 3, we learn that Romeo is closer to the Friar than to his parents.
  • Where else in the play do we see the motif of poison?
  • Where do we see symbolism of physical barriers?