Suspense and Tension: Act 2, Scene 2

Open Ended

The Act 2 Prologue states that "passion lends them power, time means, to meet / Tempering extremities with extreme sweet."

To put these lines into your own words, you could say

 "Love empowers them, and time gives them the opportunity to meet, pairing dangers with pleasure."

1. 1. How might these lines connect to the unit theme of love and conflict?

2. 2. How does it create a feeling of tension?

Open Ended

Name two ways an author can build a feeling of tension in a text.

Open Ended

What is Dramatic Irony?

Multiple Choice

Look again at the lines from the play's Prologue, spoken by the Chorus.

From forth the fatal loins of these two foes

A pair of star-crossed lovers take their life;

Whose misadventured piteous overthrows

Do with their death bury their parents' strife.

How does this serve as an example of dramatic irony in Romeo and Juliet?

• A

• B

• C

• D

Multiple Choice

What is a soliloquy?

• A) A type of dialogue between two characters

• B) A speech made by a character alone on stage, revealing their inner thoughts

• C) A form of dramatic irony

• D) A type of conflict resolution strategy

Multiple Choice

What is an aside?

• A) A form of dramatic irony

• B) A type of dialogue between two characters

• C) A speech made by a character alone on stage, revealing their inner thoughts

• D) A brief remark made by a character to the audience or another character, unheard by others on stage

Open Ended

Explain the meaning of the underlined phrase? Use context clues to help you decode the language.

Open Ended

This famous line is often quoted and often misunderstood. Juliet is not asking where, but why.

With that in mind, paraphrase lines 33–36 in your own words.

How do these lines create tension in the scene?

Multiple Choice

How does Shakespeare's use of soliloquies and asides create tension for readers?

• A

• B

• C

• D