Quiz Prep for Act 3

Fact Questions:

1. Who is killed in ACt 3 and who does the killing?

2. Why is Tybalt looking for Romeo in ACt 3?

3. Why does Mercutio fight on Romeo's behalf?What is Romeo's punishment for killing Tybalt?

4. How does Juliet react to the news of Tybalt's death and Romeo's banishment?

5. Why does Romeo kill Tybalt?

6. Who curses the Montagues and Capulets and why?

7. How do Juliet's parents hope to mend the family reputation after Tybalt's death?

8. What will happen to Juliet if she refuses to marry Paris?

9. How does Romeo react to his banishment?

10. What is Friar Laurence's plan for Romeo?

11. What does the Nurse counsel Juliet to do after Tybalt's death?  

12. What is the setting of the second Balcony scene? (where, when, what has just happened?)

13. Who does Romeo go to after killing Tybalt?

14. Why are Juliet's parents angry with her?

15. What is the difference between a nightingale and a lark (in the balcony scene)?

Thinking Question: (this part will be open book, and I will give you one of the four characters to write about)

For one of the following characters, explain how they have changed in Act 3. Be specific in terms of character, actions, motivations, and emotions. Use specific lines from the play to back up your ideas and analyze those lines to show how they are solid evidence of the change you describe.

Romeo, Juliet, Nurse, Juliet's father

Romeo and Juliet Quiz 2 Prep

SOME but NOT ALL of these questions will be on Monday's quiz -- and no other questions will be added besides these!

Romeo and Juliet: Reading Quiz for Act 2

1. Agree with the following statement and use specific details to support your argument:

 Friar Lawrence is a peacemaker.

2. Disagree with the following statement and use specific details to support your argument:

Friar Lawrence is a peacemaker.

3. Why do you think the Nurse agrees to help Romeo and Juliet? Use specific examples to illustrate her motivation and back up your ideas.

4. In Act 2, Scene 6, when Juliet enters Friar Lawrence’s cell to be married, she greets Friar Lawrence by saying “Good even to my ghostly confessor” (line 21). Explain what this line means, and explain what literary device Shakespeare is using in this line. Why is this line significant?

5. How might a director of a play version of Romeo and Juliet (not a film version) show that Friar Lawrence is both a man of the church/God as well as a somewhat subversive figure who also believes in the power of Nature, Science, and human beings taking control of their own destinies.

6. Compare two film versions of the balcony scene. Briefly explain what is similar and what is different. Which do you find more believable and why? Use specific examples.

7. Imagine that after the balcony scene, Romeo and Juliet go somewhere and write in their diaries. Explain how you would stage this scene and write a 100 word diary entry for each of these two characters. Be sure that the entries are both creative and believable.

8. Discuss a contrast that the play sets up (it can be in terms of a theme, two characters, etc.). Why is this contrast being explored? What is its importance or significance as part of the play?

9. Discuss a way that Shakespeare uses comic relief in the play? Give one specific example. Why do you think this example is important to the play besides simply providing relief from the tragedy?

10. How do you think Juliet’s father will react if he finds out his daughter has gone behind his back to marry Romeo? What about Juliet’s mother? Explain your answers.

11. In the famous balcony scene, Juliet says: "O Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo? /Deny thy father and refuse thy name,/Or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love,/And I'll no longer be a Capulet." Explain how you would read this line, and underline what words you would emphasize. Also, explain your reasoning behind this choice. What type of emotion, character, and/or meaning are you trying to convey with this line delivery?

Study Guide for Romeo and Juliet Quiz 1

Some, but not all, of the following questions will be on your quiz:

Comprehension Questions

1. Who speaks the Prologue?
2. What is the purpose of the Prologue and what do we learn in it?
3. Where does the play take place?
4. What are the names of the two families involved in the feud?
5. Who is shown to be more of a peacemaker than a fighter in the opening of the play?
6. At the end of the street fight in 1.1, what does Escalus threaten to do if the Montagues and Capulets get into another fight?
7. How do Romeo and Benvolio learn that Rosaline will be invited to the party at the Capulet house?
8. Who is Romeo's best friend?
9. Who is Romeo's crush in the opening of the play?
10. When Tybalt spies Romeo at the ball, what does he want to do? What does he actually do and why?
11. Who is Juliet's best friend and confidante?
12. What is Tybalt's relationship to Juliet?

13. After the Nurse tells Romeo that Juliet is a Capulet, he responds:

                Is she a Capulet?/ Oh dear account! My life is my foe’s debt.

    What do these lines suggest about how Romeo feels about having fallen in love with Juliet?

14. When Paris asks Juliet's father for permission to marry, Lord Capulet responds:

           My will to her consent is just a part./And she agree, within her scope of choice/Lies my consent and fair according voice

What does this mean? What role does Juliet have in the decision, according to her father?
15. Do Romeo and Juliet kiss at the ball?

Thinking Questions

         1. How do you think that Juliet’s Nurse and Romeo’s friend Mercutio are alike? Use specific details to back up your ideas.

        2. Describe the personality of Tybalt and explain his role in the feud. Use specific lines from the text to back up your ideas.

     3. Juliet tells her mother that she will “look to love” at the ball. What does that mean? In your opinion, does that influence how she reacts to Romeo when they meet? Explain your answer.

     

     4. How does Romeo change after he meets Juliet? Show a specific example of this change.

 5. Do Romeo and Juliet really fall in love at first sight? Explain your answer and use evidence from the text to back it up.

Staging Questions

 1. In the film version of Romeo and Juliet we saw in class, what strategies does the director use to make the “love at first sight” plot believable? Was it successful? Explain your answer.

2. If you were acting the role of Juliet in the play, how would you show her youth and innocence but also make her love believable? Be specific and include information about elements such as costuming, makeup, lighting, sound, acting, voice, line delivery, body language, and relationships to other characters on the stage.

           3. If you were to stage the play, how might you depict the Montagues and Capulets to show that they are of similar class status and wealth but also make them recognizably different from each other and show the audience that they are enemies? You can talk about placement on the stage, costuming, props, body language, style of speaking or any other dramatic elements. 

      4. In the version we saw in class, what was Benvolio's objective in the opening scene? What lines and action indicated this? Did he achieve his objective? Why or why not? Be specific in your answer.

Important Terminology from the First Two Weeks of Class

1. world of the play
2. given circumstances
3. setting
4. motivation
5. objective
6. backstory
7. immediate past
8. historical past
9. potential future
10. relationships
11. character strengths
12. character vulnerabilities
13. character development
14. plot
15. obstacles
16. conflict
17. rising action
18. climax
19. falling action
20. resolution
21. denoument
22. 5-act play structure
23. stage directions
24. soliloquy
25. monologue
26. dialogue
27. tragedy
28. comedy
29. stage directions
30. iambic pentameter

Motivation

Motivation is very important in theater -- as an actor, you need to know your objective (what you want) and your motivation (why you want it). This informs everything you do and say when on stage.

I found a great blog post about motivation on a blog called Your Stage Coach, written by Rebecca Osman. Visit the blog here and read the post below:

What’s Your Motivation?

Why are you here?  Why are you reading this post, visiting this website?  What’s your motivation?

I learned one of the cardinal rules of acting while rehearsing a high school play.  I already knew that as an actor you must do what the director tells you.  You must move where the director tells you to move on stage–and you must do it when (on such and such a line OR by this line) the director tells you to.  When the director told me to cross (theater speak for move) upstage on a particular line, I did it.  The next time we ran the scene, I moved exactly where the director told me to move on the exact line the director told me to move on.  When the scene was over the director said, “Rebecca why did you cross on that line?” What??!!  I had done exactly what he told me to do!  “Because you told me to….?”  I was a straight A student, a teacher’s pet, a goody two shoes.  I was VERY good at doing exactly what I was asked and delivering what was expected of me.

“That’s not a reason.”

Uncomfortable, confused silence.

“You, Rebecca the actor, moved on that line because I, the director, told you to.  Why did Maria, your character, move then?  Find a reason.”

In Acting, your Motivation is the reason you–as the character–say the words the playwright wrote and move where the director tells you to move, the reason you DO what you do on stage.  For when you do anything on stage that is not “in character” it is not believable; the audience sees YOU, the actor, rather than the character in the play they are watching.  Once the audience is conscious of YOU the actor, rather than the character, they can no longer suspend their disbelief–and accept that you ARE the character–as they watch the play.

Lesson learned:  An actor must move when and where the director says to, but never BECAUSE the director says to.  An actor must find an inner motivation for her character to do everything the director says that she–the actor–must do.

Have you ever done something because you were told to do it?  There are times in your life when you must do something because someone–a parent, boss, or doctor–tells you to do it.  But if you do it BECAUSE you were told to do it, you get very little out of the experience.  Instead find a reason that motivates you.  For example, you attend a mandatory team building workshop for work.  If the ONLY reason or motivation for being there is because your boss told you to attend, how open will you be to trying activities that may place you out of your comfort zone?  How engaged and responsive will you be to the training, discussion or activities?  Will you be a positive contributor to the group experience or will your energy have a negative impact?  Instead, find a reason to be there that works for you, that motivates YOU.  Perhaps it is to learn something new, to get to know your co-workers better, or to experiment with being outside of your comfort zone.  Perhaps it is to enjoy being out of the office and away from your desk.  While this might not seem as compelling a reason to participate in the workshop as any of those previously mentioned, it is MUCH more compelling than “because my boss told me to go.”  You’ll find yourself far more open to participating–and thus get more out of the experience–if you are committed to enjoying yourself, rather than simply being in the room.  Let “I was told to attend” be the impetus, but not the reason for being there.

What are you doing because someone–perhaps a parent, boss, or doctor–has told you to do it?  Find a better reason!  Find a motivation that works for you.