DISCUSSION QUESTIONS: ROMEO AND JULIET

Compare and Contrast

1. Study the characters Benvolio and Mercutio, including the meaning behind their names. What
are the differences in their functions, words, and fates in the play?

Relational

1. At what point in the story did things begin to go wrong? Whose fault was this? Discuss how the
choices of the following characters affected the outcome of the play: Romeo, Juliet, Friar
Lawrence, Mercutio, Lord Capulet, Tybalt.
2. Were Romeo and Juliet really in love? Romeo only first caught sight of Juliet about an hour or
two before they decided to get married; they had only spoken for at most ten minutes. Was
their love as Juliet said, “too rash, too unadvised, to sudden”? Can love at first sight be true
love?
3. The cause of the “ancient grudge” between the Montagues and the Capulets is never
explained. Why do you think Shakespeare chose not to tell us? What do you think might have
been the cause? What do you think would have happened had Romeo and Juliet gone to their
parents and explained their love and asked their families to work out their differences?

Textual

1. Read the balcony scene of Act 2 Scene 2. Who is in control of this conversation, Romeo or
Juliet? Look for other examples in the text to support your idea of who is the stronger
character.
2. In Act 3 Scene 1 who is really responsible for Mercutio’s death: Mercutio, who provoked the
fight, Tybalt who stabbed him, or Romeo who got between them? How would you stage this as
a director?
3. In the Prologue the audience is told how the story will end, “a pair of star-crossed lovers take
their life.” Does knowing the ending change our reactions as we watch or read the play?

Shakespeare’s World

1. In 1582 at the age of eighteen, Shakespeare married a woman who was several years older
than him. She gave birth to a child seven months later. Assuming Shakespeare had personal
experience with young and passionate love, what does this play say about his attitude about
twelve years later when he wrote the play?
2. In one of the earliest manuscripts of Romeo and Juliet someone wrote enter Will Kemp instead
of enter Peter in Act 4 Scene 5. William Kemp was a popular comedic actor in Shakespeare’s
troupe, the Lord Chamberlain’s Men. What does this tell us about Shakespeare’s writing
process? How would writing for specific actors affect the types of characters he wrote?
3. How do you think the actors, all male, would have overcome the challenges of performing this
very dramatic script to a widely diverse audience (some very rich and some very poor), in the
middle of the day, with no special effects? What would they have to do to keep their attention?
How does Shakespeare’s arrangement of the action help?