PART TWO PLOT AND ACTON

ACTI PROLOGUE: BUILDING

ANTICIPATION IN THE AUDIENCE

CHECKPOINT 1A0 SUMMARY

Count up how many The audience are told of a quarrel between two fanilies in Verona
references there are The families are the Montagues and the Capulets.
to life and to death
in the Prologue. The quarrel has become increasingly violent,
What does this We learn that the bitterness and fighting will only be ended through the
suggest about the death of the Montague son and the Capulet daughter who were lover
seriousness of the
"ancient grudge
and the 'new
mutiny'? WHY IS THIS PROLOGUE IMPORTANT?
A We learn that the story is to be about a love affair but one that is
doomed from the start.
B The lovers are from feuding families.
C The feud ends with their deaths.
KEY THEME: FATE (A01
The Prologue uses the theme of fate in that it allows the audience an
overview of the actions of Romeo and Juliet before they happen, as if
everything that happens to them has been preplanned or preordained by
fate. It suggests their destiny is fixed from the moment of their births as it
refers to the 'fatal loins' of their parents.
The Prologue also refers to Romeo and Juliet as the 'star-crossed lovers'
(line 6), again suggesting their destiny has somehow been written in the
stars and that their ruling planets are at odds with each other - just like
their families are at odds with one another. The Prologue suggests their
deaths will be the only way that their 'parents' rage' (line 10) will end.

AIMING HIGH: COMMENT ON THE STRUCTURE

OF THE PROLOGUE
Draw attention to the use of the sonnet form for the Prologue. The
fourteen-line structure was a classical form used in Elizabethan love
poetry and is used here to neatly explain the tragic love story to follow.
Interestingly, the last fourteen lines of the play also use the sonnet form.
This is a cohesive structural feature - to end the play, using the same

form with which it started. These lines, however, are spoken by the
lovers' fathers, with the concluding six lines given by the Prince,
reminding us of the loss of the two young lives and their love, which
could have been a force for peace.

KEY QUOTATION: TRAGIC SUICIDE (A02

The Chorus offers a summary of the forthcoming action when we are
told, 'From forth the fatal loins of these two foes/A pair of star-crossed
lovers take theirlife (1.Prologue.5-6). This establishes the dramatic
tension for the audience as they are pre-warned of a tragic suicide and
can only helplessly witness the tale unfold.
10 ROMEO AND JULIET
 PLOT AND ACTION PART TNO

ACT I SCENE 1: TROUBLE ON THE

STREETS OF VERONA
SUMMARY
Capulet's servants meet servants from the Montague household and
provoke them.
Benvolio, a Montague, aims to keep the peace, but fiery Tybalt, cousin
to the Capulets arrives and there is a fight on the streets of Verona.
The fight is stopped by the Prince, who is not pleased about the
disturbance.
Benvolio recounts the events to the Montagues, who ask where their
son Romeo is - he has been keeping himself to himself and Benvolio
vows to find out why.
Romeo reveals to Benvolio that he is in love with a girl (Rosaline) who
will not return his feelings. Benvolio advises him to find someone new.

KEY CONTEXT 03
WHY IS THIS SCENE IMPORTANT? Petrarch was an
Italian poet, who
A A street fight shows how bitter the dispute is between the feuding families. wrote many
B Benvolio attempts to stop the fighting but Tybat encourages it. Complex love
sonnets and was
C The scene establishes the state's concern over the family feuding.
very influential for
D We realise that it is to Benvolio that Romeo will tell his true feelings.
poets writing during
E Romeo reveals that he is desperately and miserably in love Queen Elizabeth I's
reign. The poetry
KEY CHARACTERS: BENVOLIO AND TYBALT 40 that sprang from
this was known as
Tybalt's first appearance establishes him as one who enjoys a fight: "Have courtly love poetry
and presented the
at thee, coward!' (line 66). He challenges Benvolio and immediately adds poet as the male
to the seriousness and intensity of the brawl. His language is bitter and lover who views his
vicious. Benvolio, however, has just been trying to break up the fight, lady as unattainable
and tries to encourage Tybalt to do the same: '1 do but keep the peace. and affects to be
Put up your sword, Or manage it to part these men with me. (line 67) lovesick, while the
Benvolio seems more measured and more thoughtful. It is to him that object of his love
adopts a cool and
Montague looks for an honest appraisal of the fight and for help in
disdainful attitude
discovering what is troubling his son. Benvolio listens to Romeo and towards him.
offers him consolation and advice, showing his pragmatic characte.

AIMING HIGH: THE LANGUAGE OF COURTLY LOVE

Romeo describes his unrequited love for Rosaline (lines 169-81) using
oxymoron or contradictory words (e.g. 'cold fire') and antithesis
(Here's much to do with hate, but more with love', line 175), which
are typical of poems written in the Petrarchan or courtly love tradition.
These techniques aim to describe the bittersweet nature of love. Romeo's
words suggest that love turns order into chaos and he has lost his sense
of who he really is, This is not Romeo, he's some other where.' (line 198).
However, the play itself is also about oppositional forces -the families
themselves and opposing themes of love and hate - so Romeo's language
helps to establish those oppositions in the first scene in a very subtle way.

OMEO AND LTET 11