Act 1, Scene 1

1. Why do Tybalt and Benvolio fight?
   • “coward”(I,i,70)
   • “hate more than hell”(I,i,69)
   • Benvolio is “drawn”(I,i,64)
2. Several examples of puns are found in this scene. Locate at least 3 puns.
   • coals, collier, choler, collar (I,i,1-4) (swears joke)
   • we’ll be garbagemen but not put up with garbage
   • moved, move “Montegue moves me”(I,i,10)(poopy joke)
   • wall “thrust to the wall”(I,i,15)(rape jokes)
   • “heads of the maids”(I,i,23)(virginity jokes)
   • “stand”(I,i,27)(erection jokes)
     “naked weapon”(I,i,33) sword is mightier than the pen__.
   • “heartless hinds”(I,i,64) rear end jokes
3. To what does the expression “purple fountains” refer?
   • “pernicious rage”(I,i,81)
4. Prince Escalus foreshadows what will happen if the street brawls between the Montagues and the Capulets occur again. Quote and explain this statement.
   • “lives will pay the forfeit of the peace”(I,i,95)
   • If any Capulet or any Montague brawl, Old Capulet and Old Montague die.
5. Quote and explain the example of personification involving the sun.
   • “peer’d forth”(I,i,117) sun doesn’t  have eyes
   • “all-cheering sun”(I,i,131) sun doesn’t have cheer, no smile
   • “draw the shady curtains”(I,i,132) sun doesn’t have arms
6. Why is Romeo unhappy? Quote a line to support your answer.
   • “pens himself”(I,i,135) Montague suggest Romeo is troubled by feeling like a prisoner or a domestic beast.
     • prisoner? held against his will, Rosaline shuts him down, “love won’t let him be free”.
     • domesticated beast? no soul, no freedom, no self, like a child being grounded for for getting into the “cookie jar”.
7. What solution does Benvolio suggest to Romeo?
   • “forget to think of her”(I,i,222)
   • “examine other beauties”(I,i,224)
   • but Romeo says “Thou canst not teach me to forget”(I,i,234)

Act 1, Scene 2

1. Capulet, Juliet’s father, gives her age and a plan for Paris. Quote these two pieces of information.
   • not quite “fourteen”(I,ii,9)
   • “Two more summers … bride”(I,ii,10-11)
   • “to her consent”(I,ii,17)
2. Explain the humor in the servant’s speech. Explain why he asks Romeo to read the names.
   • He says he is as useless as a tailor with a last(I,ii,39) or a shoemaker with a yard(I,i,40), or a fisher with a pencil(I,ii,40) or a painter with a net(I,ii,41). He can’t read.
3. Romeo also reads aloud the invitation. What does Benvolio suggest to Romeo? Why?
   • “Go thither…”(I.ii,85) go to Capulet’s party
   • compare Rosaline to other “admired beauties of Verona”(I,ii,84)
   • think “thy swan a crow”(I,ii,87)
   • judge your “lady’s love against some other maid”(I,ii,97)

Act 1, Scene 3

1. How does Juliet react to her mother’s idea of marriage?
   • “It is an honour I dream not of”(I,iii,67)
2. What does Juliet agree to do about Paris’s wooing her?
   • “I’ll look to like, if looking liking move”(I,i,98)

Act 1, Scene 4

1. One piece of information about the setting – the time of day – is given by Romeo. Quote the clue, and give the time of day.
   • 8-10PM “torch”(I,iv,11)
2. Romeo says it is not a good idea to go to the feast because of a dream he had. Quote an example of foreshadowing.
   • “But ’tis no wit to go”(I,iv,49) – not smart idea
   • “expire the term”(I,iv,109) – Romeo foretells his own death
   • “untimely death”(I,iv,111) –  “”
3. Romeo’s uneasiness is very different from what Mercutio talks about. What is Mercutio describing, and what does this comment say about him.
   • Love causes one to be fearful, angry, guarded against dreams
   • “blisters”(I,iv,75) – pain in the lips
   • “drums”(I,iv,86) – pain in the ears
   • “enormous amounts of liquor”(I,iv,85) – hangovers
   • “maids lay on their backs”(I,iv,93) – sex
   • “good carriage”(I,iv,94) – childbirth
   • Merc is odd, fixated with negative consequences of dreaming about love.
   • Merc is cold and heartbroken, he is a buzzkill because his “buzz” has been “killed” many a time

Act 1, Scene 5

1. Since the guests are masked, how does Tybalt recognize Romeo?
   • “This, by his voice, should be a Montague”(I,v,54)
2. How does Tybalt react to Romeo’s presence? Also, tell what Tybalt’s uncle decides and what Tybalt does as a result.
   • “To strike him dead I hold it not a sin”(I,v,59) – Ty wants to kill him without consequence
   • “Therefore be patient. Take no note of him”(I,v,70)
   • “I will withdraw” but “convert to gall”(I,v,91-2) leave but deliver “bitterness” to Romeo.
3. How do Romeo and Juliet feel about each other? How do they feel after they learn that each is from an enemy family?
   • Anonymous Juliet: “You kiss by the book”(I,v,110) Juliet must mean this as a compliment, alluding to the Book of Love, but perhaps a new book that bypasses the requirements of chivalry before love is permitted
   • Anonymous Romeo: “Let lips do what hands do”(I,v,103) – let’s smoochy smoochy.
   • Later Juliet: “I must love a loathed enemy”(I,v,141)
   • Later Romeo: “My life is my foe’s debt”(I,v,118)