Shakespeare’s Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet
Act 1 Study Guide
Characters: Montagues, Capulets, Others
Use the cast list on page 627 to organize character names into the three
“houses” below. Every character must go into one of the three houses!
Lord Capulet
Lady Capulet
romeo
Juliet
Lord Montague
Tybalt
Lady Montague
Nurse
Romeo
Peter
Benvolio
Sampson
Balthasar
Gregory
Abram,
House Montague House
An OldCapulet
Man
Prince Escalus
Mercutio
Friar Laurence
Friar John
Count Paris
Others
Reading Strategy: Summarize
Show understanding of Act 1, scene 1 by filling in the blanks in the summary
below.
William Shakespeare’s Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet is set in the 1300s in
verona
_________________________, a city in northern Italy. In the early morning, two
capulet
_________________________ servants armed with swords and shields cross paths with two
fight
Montague servants, and the four men _________________________. Benvolio, a
capultet
Montague, and Tybalt, a _________________________, join in the fight. Lords Montague
and Capulet join the fight until police and townspeople separate them. The ruler of
Prince Escalus
Verona, _________________________, warns that if the two families fight again, they will
death
pay a high price: _________________________. Afterwards, Lord Montague and Lady
romeo
Montague ask Benvolio about their son, _________________________. Benvolio reveals
that Romeo has been acting sad lately. When Romeo comes near, his parents leave so
Benvolio can talk to him. Romeo reveals that he is upset because he is in
love
_________________________ rosaline
with a girl named _________________________, but she will
never love him back because she has vowed to remain chaste, or pure. Benvolio
promises to help Romeo forget her.
Literary Element: Foil
Foil: character who provides a strong contrast to another character; characters
who are opposites in some way.
The characters below are foils. Choose one pair and list their differences and
similarities in the Venn diagram to illustrate their opposite and shared
characteristics.
benvolio
tybalt
both are
a capulet
he is montague
nephew of juliet
nephews of the
is a troublemaker
nephew of romeo main characters
he is a peacemaker
Gregory and Sampson are foils.
Benvolio and Tybalt are foils.
Mercutio and Romeo are foils.
Literary Element: Oxymoron
Circle the examples of oxymoron within the passage below.
Oxymoron: figure of speech in which opposite ideas are combined.
ROMEO. Alas that love, whose view is muffled still,
Should without eyes see pathways to his will!
Where shall we dine? O me! What fray was here?
Yet tell me not, for I have heard it all.
170 Here’s much to do with hate, but more with love.
Why then, O brawling love, O loving hate,
O any thing, of nothing first create!
O heavy lightness, serious vanity,
Misshapen chaos of well-seeming forms,
175 Feather of lead, bright smoke, cold fire, sick health,
Still-waking sleep, that is not what it is!
This love feel I, that feel no love in this.
Dost thou not laugh?
Literary Element: Pun
Circle the examples of pun within the passage below. Use page 628 to help
you.
Pun: humorous play on words, usually involving words that sound alike or have
similar meanings (like merry and marry).
SAMPSON. Gregory, on my word, we’ll not carry coals.
GREGORY. No, for then we should be colliers.
SAMPSON. I mean, and we be in choler, we’ll draw.
GREGORY. Ay, while you live, draw your neck out of the collar.
Literary Element: Simile and Metaphor
Decide if each quotation creates a comparison by using simile or metaphor.
Simile: figure of speech that uses like or as to compare seemingly unlike things.
Metaphor: figure of speech that makes a comparison between two unlike things
without using the words like or as.
“What, art thou drawn among these heartless hinds?” (1.1.61)
metaphor
“What, drawn, and talk of peace? I hate the word/As I hate hell, all Montagues,
and thee.” (1.1.65-66)
simile
“Love is a smoke made with the perfume of sighs.” (1.1.185)
metaphor
Literary Element: Iambic Pentameter, Blank Verse, and Prose
Label each passage as iambic pentameter, blank verse, or prose.
Iambic pentameter: rhyming poetic meter in which each line has ten syllables
and can be divided into five metric “feet” containing one unstressed and one
stressed syllable within each foot.
Blank verse: unrhymed iambic pentameter.
Prose: literature that is written in sentences and paragraphs (in other words,
everything that is not poetry)
GREGORY. The quarrel is between our masters and us their men.
SAMPSON. ‘Tis all one. I will show myself a tyrant. When I
20 have fought with the men, I will be civil with the maids;
I will cut off their heads.
prose
blank verse
PRINCE. Rebellious subjects, enemies to peace,
Profaners of this neighbor-stained steel—
Will they not hear? What, ho! You men, you beasts,
That quench the fire of your pernicious rage
80 With purple fountains issuing from your veins!
On pain of torture, from those bloody hands
Throw your mistemper’d weapons to the ground
And hear the sentence of your moved prince.
BENVOLIO. At thy good heart’s oppression.
iambic pentameter
180 ROMEO. Why, such is love’s transgression.
Griefs of mine own lie heavy in my breast,
Which thou wilt propagate, to have it press’d
With more of thine. T his love that thou has shown
Doth add more grief to too much of mine own.
