STAGE
Romeo and Juliet
2 William Shakespeare
Introduction
This ungraded summary is for the teacher’s use only
and should not be given to students.
The story
The city of Verona is plagued by an age-old feud
between the Capulet and Montague families which
regularly erupts into violence.
Romeo, son of the Montagues, is not usually
involved. He is preoccupied with love for the
unattainable Rosaline. When he discovers that she Juliet tells her father that she is reconciled to
has been invited to a party at the Capulets’ house, the idea of marrying Paris. When Juliet goes to bed,
he immediately decides to gatecrash the party, with she drinks the poison as instructed. The next day,
his friends Mercutio and Benvolio. While there, he is as intended, her body is discovered. Her distraught
recognised by Tybalt, Lord Capulet’s nephew, who is parents and bridegroom carry her to the church and
furious at the intrusion. place her in the tomb next to Tybalt.
At the party, Romeo meets Juliet, the Capulets’ However, Father Lawrence’s plan goes wrong.
only daughter, and they fall in love at once. They are A servant who witnessed the scene brings news
dismayed when they realise they are from feuding to Romeo of Juliet’s death. By the time Father
families, but decide to marry in secret. The priest, Lawrence’s messenger arrives in Mantua – carrying a
Father Lawrence, agrees to help, hoping that their letter which explains that Juliet will soon wake up – it
marriage will bring the feud to an end. is too late. Romeo has already left, determined to do
Meanwhile, the angry Tybalt, searching for Romeo, two things: to see Juliet’s body, and to die. He buys
starts a fight with Mercutio. As Benvolio and Romeo poison from an impoverished apothecary, giving the
try to keep them apart, Tybalt stabs Mercutio fatally: man all his gold, and rides through the night.
Romeo, overcome with anger and guilt, kills him and Arriving at the tomb, Romeo meets Paris, who
flees to Father Lawrence’s house. Prince Escalus challenges him, thinking that the young Montague has
arrives at the scene and announces that Romeo is come to deface the Capulets’ burial-place. They fight,
banished and can never return to Verona. and Paris is killed. Romeo breaks into the tomb, kisses
Juliet reassures Romeo, through her Nurse, that Juliet for the last time, drinks the poison, and dies.
she still loves him despite everything. It is at this point that Father Lawrence arrives,
Paris, a friend of the Prince’s, is in love with Juliet. unaware that his plan has gone wrong. He is horrified
Lord Capulet had previously told him that his daughter to see Romeo’s body in the tomb. As Juliet wakes up,
was too young and not ready for marriage; now, with he tells her to run away, doing the same himself. But
the death of her cousin Tybalt, he is changing his mind. she decides to stay with Romeo and die. She kisses
Not realising that Juliet has already married, he decides him, and then kills herself with a knife hidden in her
that she will marry Paris as soon as possible. Juliet is clothes.
horrified and asks Father Lawrence for his help. She Soon the alarm is raised, and Prince Escalus arrives
threatens suicide, and in desperation, he comes up at the scene, along with the Capulet and Montague
with a plan. She is to take a strong sleeping potion families. Confronted with the bodies of their children,
the night before the wedding. When her parents find as well as those of Paris and Tybalt, they decide, once
her, they will believe her to be dead, and will place her and for all, that their feud is over. They will build a
body in the family tomb. She will not wake up until the statue, in gold, to commemorate the young couple.
next night. A message will be sent to Romeo so that
he can rescue her from the tomb and return to Mantua
with her in secret.
134
STAGE
Romeo and Juliet
2 Pre-reading activity
Word search
Match these words with the definitions below.
argument, daughter, enemy, execute, family, fight, hate, kill, kiss, knife, love, mask, medicine,
message, peace, poison, priest, son, stab, sword, tomb, wedding
Definitions
1 something that can kill you, or make you very ill, if you eat or drink it ______
2 to touch someone you love with your lips ______
3 child (a boy) ______
4 when two people marry, often in a church ______
5 to hit, hurt or try to kill someone ______
6 angry shouting that sometimes happens when people don’t agree ______
7 news or information that one person sends to another ______
8 short, sharp metal object; it can be used to cut things or hurt people ______
9 child (a girl) ______
10 something that hides your face ______
11 the opposite of ‘friend’ ______
12 a very long kind of knife, used for fighting ______
13 group of relatives who live together (for example, mother, father and children) ______
14 to hurt someone with a knife ______
15 a large stone room; people put bodies here ______
16 opposite of ‘to love’ ______ Now find the words in the
17 when people live quietly, with no fighting ______ wordsearch below.
18 to end someone’s life ______ H L O A P O I S O N P Y
19 to like someone very much ______ M O E X E C U T E Z R E
20 to kill someone who has done something very
E V Y K A Q E S O N I R
bad ______
M E D I C I N E C D E L
21 if you are ill, this can make you well again ______
E M P S E R E U M A S K
22 a person who works for the church, a religious
S T A S V U M G D U T L
leader ______
S I K L Y W Y N E G B U
A R G U M E N T A H I F
G Y R T I D L H A T E A
E S W O R D O C R E C M
H T E M K I L L X R S I
N A W B K N I F E T I L
E B U F I G H T L I B Y
To the teacher
Aim: To introduce some of the key vocabulary 11 enemy, 12 sword, 13 family, 14 stab, 15 tomb,
Time: 15–20 minutes 16 hate, 17 peace, 18 kill, 19 love, 20 execute,
Key: 1 poison, 2 kiss, 3 son, 4 wedding, 5 fight, 21 medicine, 22 priest
6 argument, 7 message, 8 knife, 9 daughter, 10 mask,
135 © OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS PHOTOCOPIABLE
STAGE
Romeo and Juliet
2 While reading activity
What next?
Look at these possibilities for what will happen before the end of the play. Mark the
appropriate answer with a tick (). Then add three more of your own suggestions and
mark these as well.
CERTAINLY PERHAPS PROBABLY CERTAINLY
HAPPEN HAPPEN NOT HAPPEN NOT HAPPEN
1 Juliet marries Paris.
2 Juliet divorces Romeo.
3 Juliet kills Paris.
4 Juliet kills herself.
5 Romeo meets Rosaline in
Mantua.
6 Romeo comes back to
Verona and is executed.
7 Romeo kills Paris.
8 Romeo kills himself.
9 Juliet runs away to Mantua
to see Romeo.
10 Benvolio dies in a fight.
11 Lord Capulet discovers that
Juliet is married, and kills
Romeo.
12 Lord Montague and Lord
Capulet become friends.
13
14
15
To the teacher
Where: At the end of Act 3 these things will happen or not. The students are not
Aim: To help students predict using the knowledge of expected to predict accurately how the story will
what they have just read develop. Once they have filled in their charts, they
Time: 15–20 minutes should keep them and see how accurately they have
Organization: Give each student, or group of students, predicted as the story develops.
a copy of the worksheet. Ask them to predict whether
PHOTOCOPIABLE © OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS 136
STAGE
Romeo and Juliet
2 After reading activity
Who said what?
QUOTATION WHO? WHO TO? WHAT IS HAPPENING?
1 ‘You’re too old. You haven’t 7LOd .L[`WP_ 7Z]O .L[`WP_ ?SP .L[`WP_^ L]P SLaTYR L [L]_d
danced for twenty years.’
2 ‘Stop fighting now, or I will
execute all of you!’
3 ‘She doesn’t love anyone. She says
that she’s never going to marry.’
4 ‘My daughter is very young. I
don’t want her to marry yet.’
5 ‘Excuse me, sir – can you read
out these names for me?’
6 ‘I want you to try very, very hard
to love him.’
7 ‘If my cousin finds you here, he’ll
kill you.’
8 ‘You must love her, and stay with
her, for the rest of your life.’
9 ‘You’ve killed my friend. Now
I’m going to kill you!’
10 ‘Anyone who drinks this will
sleep for two days.’
11 ‘Here, have all my gold. I don’t
need it.’
12 ‘If I kiss you, perhaps I will die
too.’
To the teacher
Aim: To revise the plot and develop a feel for character to Benvolio, about Rosaline, explaining why he is
and dialogue unhappy; 4 Lord Capulet to Paris, who wants to marry
Time: 15–20 minutes Juliet; 5 Capulet’s servant to Romeo, showing him a
Organization: Give each student, or group of students, guest list; 6 Lady Capulet to Juliet, persuading her
a copy of the chart. Ask them to identify who said these to marry Paris; 7 Juliet to Romeo, when he visits her
words, who to, and what was happening at the time or after the party; 8 Father Lawrence to Romeo, about
what they were talking about. Afterwards, go through marrying Juliet; 9 Romeo to Tybalt, who has just killed
the answers as a class and generate discussion about Mercutio; 10 Father Lawrence to Juliet, giving her a
how the quotations fit into the story. bottle of medicine; 11 Romeo to the shopkeeper in
Key: 1 Lady Capulet to Lord Capulet, during a party Mantua, buying poison to commit suicide; 12 Juliet to
at their house; 2 Prince Escalus to a crowd of Romeo’s body, when they are both in the tomb
people who are fighting in the street; 3 Romeo
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