Act 2

Question 1

scene 1

Answer 1

searching for Romeo. late Sunday night. private scene. Romeo sneaks into the garden to find Juliet. His friends try to find him

Question 2

[He climbs the wall and leaps down within] scene 1

Answer 2

beginning of isolation of the protagonists. metaphorical leap - separation from family and friends

Question 3

“thou a pop’rin pear!” scene 1

Answer 3

Mercutio. contrast between Mercutio and tension as Romeo and Juliet next meeting talk of sex - sensitive

Question 4

scene 2

Answer 4

the balcony scene. sunday night to monday dawn. private scene. the quality of their love is highlighted by structural and linguistic contrast with Mercutio’s bawdy scene beforehand

Question 5

“what light through yonder window breaks it is the east and Juliet is the sun” scene 2

Answer 5

excessive use of light imagery from Romeo - to show beauty and Juliet is metaphorically his whole world

Question 6

“O that I were a glove upon that hand, that I might touch that cheek!” scene 2

Answer 6

extraordinary beauty in love. worshipful imagery. innocent, beautiful love. Romeo’s desire for physical closeness not bawdy

Question 7

“O Romeo, Romeo! wherefore art thou Romeo?” scene 2

Answer 7

Juliet is aware that him being a Montague would be a barrier to their love. divides that exist in their love

Question 8

“Romeo, doff thy name; and for thy name… take all myself” scene 2

Answer 8

Juliet’s soliloquy - inadvertently tells Romeo she would risk all. sexual desire - girl to woman. gives herself completely to him - body and soul

Question 9

“I’ll be new baptiz’d” scene 2

Answer 9

romeo. spiritual element - rebirth - baptised in his love for her - pure love/spiritual love

Question 10

“love’s light wings” scene 2

Answer 10

Romeo personifies love as the one who guided him - real love

Question 11

“if they do see thee, they will murder thee” “my life was better ended by their hate than death prorogued wanting of thy love” scene 2

Answer 11

reminded of conflict their love is borne of. fate and violence

Question 12

“dost thou love me?… O Romeo… I am too fond” scene 2

Answer 12

dutiful girl of act 1 vanished. naivete about her. breaking convention - she asks him to declare his love for her. speaking plainly - pragmatic quality to Juliet. vivid and sympathetic picture of a young girl in love

Question 13

“it is too rash, too unadvis’d, too sudden” scene 2

Answer 13

Juliet. tragic form. warnings of their fate and Juliet’s rising panic. Juliet worried by suddenness of their love or already a shadow of what is to come

Question 14

“wilt thou leave me so unsatisfied?” scene 2

Answer 14

Romeo. sexual love - pure love will be consummated

Question 15

“if that thy bent to love be honourable, thy purpose marriage, send me word to-morrow” scene 2

Answer 15

Juliet. introduces idea of marriage. shows maturity - practical and sentimental. bold goes against tradition - femininity

Question 16

“love goes toward love as school-boys from their books” scene 2

Answer 16

analogy from Romeo suggests he is still a boy and not yet a man. Juliet is the adult

Question 17

“parting is such sweet sorrow” scene 2

Answer 17

Juliet. parting is emphasised by sibilance.

Question 18

scene 3

Answer 18

the Friar becomes part of the secret. early monday morning. private scene

Question 19

Friar Lawrence’s soliloquy scene 3

Answer 19

to establish character - good natured and skilled in potions. life is fragile and easily lost - juxtaposition is foreshadowing. cyclical nature of life and death. full of rhyming couplets to show time is moving on

Question 20

“poison hath residence, and medicine power” scene 3

Answer 20

Friar Lawrence. poison and medicine metaphor for the situation in which Romeo and Juliet discover themselves

Question 21

“the canker death eats up that plant” scene 3

Answer 21

Friar Lawrence. learn about his world view - love and hate very closely linked and if hate predominates love will be destroyed

Question 22

Friar Lawrence

Answer 22

thinks about wider society of Verona not Romeo specifically

Question 23

“one hath wounded me that’s by me wounded” scene 3

Answer 23

Romeo. traditional idea of being hit with cupid’s arrow but it foreshadows violence. goes on to say “holy physic” - healer of bodies and souls through juxtaposition of the two words

Question 24

“old tear that is not wash’d off yet” scene 3

Answer 24

Friar. metaphor for wider idea of how quickly Romeo changes as a lover and his hasty decisions

Question 25

“doth grace for grace and love for love allow” scene 3

Answer 25

Romeo to Friar. reciprocal love

Question 26

“turn your households rancour to pure love” scene 3

Answer 26

Friars motives about Verona - peace - remould state through church

Question 27

“they stumble that run fast” scene 3

Answer 27

Friar to Romeo. fate. foreboding and foreshadowing - Romeo’s impatience contributes to their doom

Question 28

scene 4

Answer 28

jokes and a wedding. 12 noon on monday. private scene but in arena.

Question 29

Mercutio in scene 4

Answer 29

establishing himself as the comic of the play - adds to tragedy when he dies. mocking romeo then they enjoy light hearted banter as Romeo picks up on puns and shows how giddy he has become since he is in love - wit for wit how well matched they are

Question 30

“now art thou sociable, now art thou Romeo” scene 4

Answer 30

anaphora from Mercutio shows how courtly love made Romeo unrecognisable

Question 31

“my young lady bid me enquire you out; what she bid me say I will keep to myself” scene 4

Answer 31

gone to see Romeo. familial love. Nurse. repetition demonstrates Nurse’s protective nature which contrasts with the coldness of Juliet’s mother

Question 32

Nurse in scene 4

Answer 32

Earthly common sense wisdom - Shakespeare might make us question her wisdom later on as she gives Juliet advice to be a bigamist

Question 33

scene 5

Answer 33

Juliet waits for news. Early Monday afternoon. private scene.

Question 34

Juliet’s soliloquy in scene 5

Answer 34

compare this soliloquy to act 2 scene 2 there she was worried about haste - now she is desperate for Romeo. “sun beams” “hath the wind-swift Cupid wings” - imagery of light - wants her lover. “but old folks - many feign as they were dead” -establishes contrast of generation - old people more considered and have wisdom to take time. Shakespeare makes us feel how Juliet is feeling - impatient

Question 35

“hie you hence to Friar Lawrence’ cell; there stays a husband to make you a wife” scene 5

Answer 35

Nurse. encouraging Juliet. wants Juliet to be happy - alliterate - image of the sanctity of marriage -image of religion that binds them together - sexual desire and spiritual desire both connected. antithesis of Friar - Nurse lives moment by moment but both characters are flawed

Question 36

“hie to high fortune!” scene 5

Answer 36

Juliet. classic tragic trope - point where fortune is the greatest so the tragedy unfolds

Question 37

scene 6

Answer 37

A secret marriage. later monday afternoon. private scene. The scene of marriage is full of images of fate and death - not on stage shows sudden love and swift death - love is more important than their marriage.

Question 38

“love-devouring death” scene 6

Answer 38

Romeo. foreshadows his own words after Juliet has died - uses same personification of death

Question 39

“violent delights have violent ends” scene 6

Answer 39

Friar. big can burn out quickly. passion burning out. tragic irony. danger of love

Question 40

“blazon it” scene 6

Answer 40

Romeo asks Juliet to ‘blazon’ her love -still sense of courtly lover - about himself

Question 41

“my true love is grown to such excess I cannot sum up sum of half my wealth” scene 6

Answer 41

Juliet. metaphor for exchange of vows

Question 42

“holy church incorporate two in one”marriage scene 6

Answer 42

Friar. marriage sonnet shared between Romeo and Juliet and final 3 lines to Friar. form of unrhymed sonnet - metaphor for the spiritual way Friar Lawrence is bringing them together - idyllic, quiet, secret world. Huge contrast with next scene - world torn apart