Romeo & Juliet Exam:

Study Questions

In order to study for the final exam next week, read over all of the notes that you took in class, look through any related assignments, and think about your answers to questions 1-20. Read over all of the quotations from Acts I-V Quotations, and make sure you understand and recognize them. You may earn up to 10 points extra credit on the exam by writing down thorough answers to at least 17of the questions below.

1. Describe the Nurse's character and her relationship with Juliet.

2. What do Montague and Capulet say to each other at the end of the play that shows they have forgiven each other and that the feud will end?

3. Why do you think Shakespeare never explains how the quarrel between the Montagues and the Capulets began?

4. Describe how Lord Capulet's opinion about his daughter's marriage changes throughout the play.

5. What is iambic pentameter? How does Shakespeare's use of iambic pentameter contribute to the play?

6. What is a heroic couplet? What is a sonnet? How does Shakespeare's use of the sonnet contribute to the play?

7. What is a metaphor? Give an example from the play. How does Shakespeare’s use of metaphor contribute to the play as a whole?

8. What is a pun? Give an example from the play. How does Shakespeare’s use of puns contribute to the play as a whole?

9. Explain why Lord Capulet does not throw Romeo out of the party in Act I.

10. Why do you think the balcony scene in Romeo and Juliet is so famous?

11. What does Juliet think about the importance of names? Explain.

12.      Quote your favorite line from the play and explain why you like it.

13. What is dramtic irony? Give at least two examples from the play. How does the use of irony contribute to the play as a whole?

14. Reflect on Friar Laurence's personality and his role in the play. Did he make the right decisions?

15. How can you explain that Romeo & Juliet is a play not only for Elizabethan times, but also a play for modern times.

16. Define the term foil. List several of the foils in the play. Choose one set of foils and explain how they are a foil and how this foil contributes to the play as a whole.

17. What evidence is there that Romeo and Juliet's deaths were not in vain and that their deaths were the only way to bring peace between the Montagues and the Capulets?

18. What evidence is there that Romeo and Juliet's deaths were a useless tragedy and that they died in vain?

19. List several facts (at least 8) about Shakespeare's life and the time period he lived in.

20. What is Elizabethan English? How is it different from modern English? Why is it different?