Literature Romeo and Juliet Flashcards
Describe the form of a Shakespearean sonnet
14 lines long
3 quatrains and a couplet
10 syllables per line
What is an antagonist?
The bad guy
Who is the antagonist in Romeo and Juliet?
The families and the feud
Tybalt
What is a protagonist?
The good guy
Who is the antagonist in Romeo and Juliet?
Romeo
Juliet
Describe the conventions of Petrarchan Love?
A man idealizing a woman he believes he loves but cannot engage with her
The man lives only for the woman and will die without love
What is true about the woman in Petrarchan love?
She must be chaste
Who began writing in the Petrarchan form?
Poet Francesco Petrarch
In what time period was Petrarch writing?
(1304-1374)
What did Petrarchan poetry establish?
Many Western literary conventions about love
How is Romeo first introduced?
Fragile Depressed Reserved Emotional Sensitive
In A1, why does Shakespeare not name the girl Romeo is doting over?
It allows the audience to believe that Romeo is doting over Juliet. This makes him seem like hasty and an obsessive lover when he switches to Juliet
What does repetition of the exclamation “O” suggest?
This shows the characters despair and conflict
What do Romeo’s oxymorons in A1.S1 and S4 suggest?
They suggest that Romeo is conflicted by love
How is Rosaline presented in Romeo and Juliet?
She is only referred to as an object of beauty
We are not introduced to her at any point
This suggests that she is an absent Petrarchan object of his love
How are the Nurse and Friar Lawrence presented in Romeo and Juliet?
They are Romeo and Juliet’s parental figures
Why could Friar Lawrence and the Nurse seen as to blame for Romeo and Juliet’s marriage?
They were the parental figures
The law at the time stated that you needed parental consent to marry
What does BENVOLIO’s name suggest?
Benvolio = Benevolence
All good
Loving
What does MERCUTIO’s name suggest?
Mercutio = Mercury
Roman God of eloquent and profound wot
Ever changing
Hot Headed
Describe Iambic Pentameter
A heart beat rhythm used to read the 10 syllables per line used in sonnets and throughout verse
What is an Iamb?
Two syllables, more stress on the second syllable
When were women believed to be witches in the Elizabethan times?
If they were overly sexual
If they delivered babies
(Other female biological features - lactating, childbirth, periods)
What was the only true power of Elizabethan England?
Virginity
Describe the form of a Petrarchan Sonnet?
14 lines
An Octave and Sestet
10 Syllables per line
What is the rhyming structure of a Petrarchan Sonnet?
In the octave:
ABBAABBBA
In the Sestet:
CDECDE
What is an octave?
8 lines
What is a sestet?
6 lines
What is a quatrain?
4 lines
What is a couplet?
2 lines
What is the rhyming structure of a Shakespearean Sonnet?
Quatrain(s): ABAB CDCD EFEF Couplet: GG
How does Mercutio see women?
Objects of sex
How long passes between A1.S1 to A2.S2?
A single day
What does the speed of all of the events in the play show?
Romeo’s temperamental and reactive nature
