Grade 9 Analysis

Question 1

A2S5 vs A2S3

Answer 1

A2S3 - Romeo describes his love for Juliet in verse, which suggests that his language is more poetic and he is more infatuated with her. This suggests that his feelings for her were more exaggerated/less genuine.
A2S5 - Juliet speaks to the Nurse in prose, which suggests that her feelings are more genuine. However, she isn’t necessarily in love with him - Juliet ‘hath not seen the change of fourteen years’ implying an immaturity/lack of wisdom.

Question 2

Beginnings vs endings

Answer 2

Final action of the play takes place in a graveyard, signifying death, but it also happens at dawn, which symbolises a new beginning. Earlier on in the play, Romeo calls the crypt a “womb of death”. The oxymoron implies that their deaths are the new dawn for peace, as well as being a subtle reminder of Romeo and Juliet’s youth at their time of death.

Question 3

“Now art thou Romeo” quote

Answer 3

Spoken by Mercutio. Implies that the Romeo introduced to the audience isn’t Romeo’s true personality and that he isn’t always a lovesick teenager. Implies that Romeo’s infatuation was so strong that it forces him to lose his true identity.

Question 4

Deaths of Romeo and Juliet

Answer 4

The reconciliation arguabky isn’t a true reconciliation - Montague and Capulet still want to paint the picture that they are the better of the two. Montague says that “I can give thee more”, whereas Capulet says that his statue will be “as rich” as Montague’s.

Question 5

Paris + Juliet vs Romeo + Rosaline

Answer 5

Each love is unrequited. As a result, when Romeo kills Paris in Act 5, it reflects the fact that he has killed the version of himself that was in love with Rosaline. Romeo therefore severs any part of himself that wasn’t in love with Juliet.

Question 6

Significance of religion

Answer 6

• Some may have interpreted Romeo’s desire to avert fate (‘shake the yoke of auspicious stars’) as sinful because it interferes with God’s plan.

Question 7

Shakespeare’s use of emotion

Answer 7

Uses emotion to increase suspense in the play. Whilst the prologue indicates that there will be sadness, the first half of the play is very happy. As the comic character, Metcutio’s death marks a change in the tone of the play from humorous to dark and sinister.

Question 8

Sonnets

Answer 8

Sonnets are poems with strict rules usually associated with love. The fact that Romeo and Juliet’s first conversation is written as a sonnet suggests that they naturally fit into these rules and that they were fated to be together from the beginning.