Romeo and Juliet

• Act 1 scene 1

  Benvolio tells Montague what had happened
• Act 3 scene 1


  Benvolio tells the prince what has happened
• Act 5 scene 3


  Friar retells the who series of events
• Audience sees something happens


  It's retold
• The continued repetition of events reflects how they are inescapable
• Prince arrives in act 1 scene 1
• Prince arrives in act 3 scene 1
• Prince arrives in act 5 scene 3
• Intensification through parallel


  The process of events becoming more intense and serious as the play progresses
• Nurse


  Surrogate parent to Juliet
• Friar


  Surrogate parent to Romeo
• Nurse


  • Represents nurturing and comedy
  • Often speaks in blank verse (iambic pentameter) when being nurturing
  • Drops into prose (regular speech) when representing comedy
  • The fact that the nurse uses blank verse shows that she is an important character
• Nurture


  The nurse nurtures the relationship between Romeo and Juliet
• Act 2 scene 4


  Juliet sends nurse to meet Romeo
• Act 3 scene 2


  Nurse who sets up and takes rope ladder
• Act 3 scene 3

  Nurse sent to deliver a ring and a message to friars cell
• Act 3 scene 5

  Nurse warns Juliet that her mother is about to enter the room
• Act 3 scene 5


  Nurse stands up to Capulet saying "you are to blame to rate her so"
• Friar: '"Within the infant rind of this small flower Poison hath residence, and medicine power"'
• The quote is ironic as the potion sets Juliet to sleep which indirectly kills her and Romeo but was meant for good use
• The potion is also a poison that directly kills Romeo and Juliet
• The quote is foreshadowing
• Benvolio: '"put up your swords;you know not what you do"'
• Benvolio's quote


  Similar to Jesus saying "Father forgive them; they know not what they do"
• Benvolio


  His name translates to peace keeper
• Benvolio is unable to stop things that are fated to happen
• Benvolio tries to stop a fight in:

  1. Act 1 scene 1

  2. Act 1 scene 3
• Benvolio bends the truth in Act 3 scene 1 in order to protect Romeo from death
• Despite being a religious character and peacekeeper, Benvolio is unable to prevent things from happening
• 'O happy dagger! This is thy sheath' - Act V, Scene III
• 'I am fortified against all harms' - Act II, Scene IV
• 'A pair of star-crossed lovers take their life' - Prologue
• 'My only love spurns my devoted suit' - Act I, Scene V
• 'For never was a story of more woe than this of Juliet and her Romeo.' - Prince Escalus
• 'Death, not Romeo, takes my wife!' - Lord Capulet