ACT I - Insight Questions

Personal Connections - Do you think Romeo and Juliet have more freedom or less freedom than teenagers today? Explain your position.

What is troubling Romeo at the beginning of the play?

• His parents didn't buy him the horse he wanted.

• He is troubled by his unrequited love for Rosaline.

• He got into a quarrel with Tybalt, the Prince of Cats.

• He was rejected by Juliet.

In ACT I, what is Paris's relationship to Juliet?

At the feast in Lord Capulet's mansion, what does Lord Capulet stop Tybalt from doing? Why does he stop him?

Match the following characters to the family they are aligned with:

• Montague

• Mercutio

• Capulet

• Tybalt

• Montague

• Benvolio

• Capulet

• Abra

PARAPHRASE the following lines of dialogue:

"Capulet: Content thee, gentle coz, let him alone.

'A bears him like a portly gentleman,

And, to say truth, Verona brags of him

To be a virtuous and well-governed youth.

I would not for the wealth of all this town

Here in my house do him disparagement.

Therefore be patient; take no note of him.

It is my will, the which if thou respect,

Show a fair presence and put off these frowns,

An ill-beseeming semblance for a feast."

What do you know about Romeo's and Juliet's lives at this point in the play? Explain citing details from the play that support your answer.

How are Romeo's and Juliet's circumstances both similar and different?

• Juliet

• Actively looking for love.

• Juliet

• Come from wealthy parents.

• Both

• Less Freedom.

• Romeo

• Not concerned with love.

• Romeo

• More Freedom.

What threats to Romeo and Juliet's love are evident in ACT I? Support your answer with details from the play.

• Tybalt is over-protective and jealous.

• Romeo cannot get over his ex Rosaline.

• They come from feuding families who are at war.

• Juliet is interested in Paris.

Summarize the following lines of dialogue:

"Juliet: My only love sprung from my only hate!

Too early seen unknown, and known too late!

Prodigious _{(monstrous; foretelling misfortune)} birth of love it is to me

That I must love a loathed enemy."