Review Questions from page 855 of literature books

1. In your opinion, what really caused the tragedy of Romeo and Juliet? Was it fate or real human errors? Draw a web showing all the people or forces that might be responsible.

2. What coincidences in Scenes 1 and 2 conspire to wreck the friar’s plans? Did any of these coincidences seem unbelievable to you?

3. In which scene of this act did you feel the dramatic irony peaked? Explain why.

4. The climax of a play is its most intensely emotional moment, when we know how the conflict will end. In a tragedy it is that moment when we feel overcome with horror, sadness, fear, or regret. The climax of Shakespeare’s plays always comes in the final act. When in this act would you say the climax of this play takes place? What were your feelings at this moment?

5. Look back at the prince’s speech about love killing the families’ joys (Scene 3). It seems ironic that love could kill, but how in this play did love kill joy? In what way is the whole play about the way heaven scourged, or punished, people for hating? Suppport your generalization with details from the text.

This letter doth make good the friar's words,
Their course of love, the tidings of her death:
And here he writes that he did buy a poison
Of a poor 'pothecary, and therewithal
Came to this vault to die, and lie with Juliet.
Where be these enemies? Capulet! Montague!
See, what a scourge is laid upon your hate,
That heaven finds means to kill your joys with love.
And I for winking at your discords too
Have lost a brace of kinsmen: all are punish'd.

6. What does Romeo and Juliet reveal to you about the destructive effects of hatred? In a few sentences, state the theme of the play as you see it.