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Romeo & Juliet Practice Questions

Question 1

40 marks

Read the following extract from Act 1 Scene 1 of Romeo and Juliet and then answer the question that follows.

At this point in the play, Benvolio has found Romeo alone after the street fight and is trying to discover why his cousin is so unhappy.

1BENVOLIO. Of love?
ROMEO. Out of her favour where I am in love.
BENVOLIO. Alas that love so gentle in his view,
Should be so tyrannous and rough in proof.
5ROMEO. Alas that love, whose view is muffled still,
Should, without eyes, see pathways to his will!
Where shall we dine? O me! What fray was here?
Yet tell me not, for I have heard it all.
Here’s much to do with hate, but more with love:
10Why, then, O brawling love! O loving hate!
O anything, of nothing first create!
O heavy lightness! serious vanity!
Misshapen chaos of well-seeming forms!
Feather of lead, bright smoke, cold fire, sick health!
15Still-waking sleep, that is not what it is!
This love feel I, that feel no love in this.
Dost thou not laugh?
BENVOLIO. No coz, I rather weep.
ROMEO. Good heart, at what?
20BENVOLIO. At thy good heart’s oppression.
ROMEO. Why such is love’s transgression.
Griefs of mine own lie heavy in my breast,
Which thou wilt propagate to have it prest
With more of thine. This love that thou hast shown
25Doth add more grief to too much of mine own.
Love is a smoke made with the fume of sighs;
Being purg’d, a fire sparkling in lovers’ eyes;
Being vex’d, a sea nourish’d with lovers’ tears:
What is it else? A madness most discreet,
30A choking gall, and a preserving sweet.
Farewell, my coz.

From Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare, Act 1 Scene 1.

(a)

Explore how Shakespeare presents the idea of love in this extract.

Refer closely to the extract in your answer.

(20)

(b)

In this extract, Romeo sees the signs of the fight between the Montagues and the Capulets and says “Here’s much to do with hate”.

Explain the importance of conflict elsewhere in the play.

In your answer, you must consider:

  • where conflict is shown
  • how conflict affects those involved.

You must refer to the context of the play in your answer.

(20)

Question 2

40 marks

Read the following extract from Act 1 Scene 5 of Romeo and Juliet and then answer the question that follows.

At this point in the play, Tybalt has recognised Romeo’s voice at the Capulets’ feast and wants to fight him.

1TYBALT. Uncle, this is a Montague, our foe;
A villain that is hither come in spite,
To scorn at our solemnity this night.
CAPULET. Young Romeo, is it?
5TYBALT. ’Tis he, that villain Romeo.
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-govern’d youth.
10I would not for the wealth of all the 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,
15An ill-beseeming semblance for a feast.
TYBALT. It fits when such a villain is a guest:
I’ll not endure him.
CAPULET. He shall be endur’d.
What, goodman boy! I say he shall, go to;
20Am I the master here, or you? Go to.
You’ll not endure him! God shall mend my soul,
You’ll make a mutiny among my guests!
You will set cock-a-hoop, you’ll be the man!
TYBALT. Why, uncle, ’tis a shame.
25CAPULET. Go to, go to!
You are a saucy boy. Is’t so, indeed?
This trick may chance to scathe you, I know what.
You must contrary me! Marry, ’tis time.
Well said, my hearts!—You are a princox; go:
30Be quiet, or—More light, more light!—For shame!
I’ll make you quiet. What, cheerly, my hearts.
TYBALT. Patience perforce with wilful choler meeting
Makes my flesh tremble in their different greeting.
I will withdraw: but this intrusion shall,
35Now seeming sweet, convert to bitter gall.

From Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare, Act 1 Scene 5.

(a)

Explore how Shakespeare presents the relationship between Capulet and Tybalt in this extract.

Refer closely to the extract in your answer.

(20)

(b)

In this extract, Tybalt believes that Romeo’s presence at the feast is an insult to his family’s honour.

Explain the importance of honour elsewhere in the play.

In your answer, you must consider:

  • where honour is shown
  • the effects of characters defending their honour.

You must refer to the context of the play in your answer.

(20)

Question 3

40 marks

Read the following extract from Act 2 Scene 2 of Romeo and Juliet and then answer the question that follows.

At this point in the play, Romeo has climbed into the Capulets’ orchard after the feast, and Juliet has discovered that he overheard her speaking of her love for him.

1JULIET. If they do see thee, they will murder thee.
ROMEO. Alack, there lies more peril in thine eye
Than twenty of their swords. Look thou but sweet,
And I am proof against their enmity.
5JULIET. I would not for the world they saw thee here.
ROMEO. I have night’s cloak to hide me from their eyes,
And but thou love me, let them find me here.
My life were better ended by their hate
Than death prorogued, wanting of thy love.
10JULIET. By whose direction found’st thou out this place?
ROMEO. By love, that first did prompt me to enquire;
He lent me counsel, and I lent him eyes.
I am no pilot; yet wert thou as far
As that vast shore wash’d with the farthest sea,
15I should adventure for such merchandise.
JULIET. Thou knowest the mask of night is on my face,
Else would a maiden blush bepaint my cheek
For that which thou hast heard me speak tonight.
Fain would I dwell on form, fain, fain deny
20What I have spoke; but farewell compliment.
Dost thou love me? I know thou wilt say Ay,
And I will take thy word. Yet, if thou swear’st,
Thou mayst prove false. At lovers’ perjuries,
They say Jove laughs. O gentle Romeo,
25If thou dost love, pronounce it faithfully.
Or if thou thinkest I am too quickly won,
I’ll frown and be perverse, and say thee nay,
So thou wilt woo. But else, not for the world.
In truth, fair Montague, I am too fond;
30And therefore thou mayst think my ’haviour light:
But trust me, gentleman, I’ll prove more true
Than those that have more cunning to be strange.

From Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare, Act 2 Scene 2.

(a)

Explore how Shakespeare presents the character of Juliet in this extract.

Refer closely to the extract in your answer.

(20)

(b)

In this extract, Romeo hides under “night’s cloak” and Juliet is afraid her family will find him.

Explain the importance of secrecy elsewhere in the play.

In your answer, you must consider:

  • where secrecy is shown
  • the effects of keeping secrets.

You must refer to the context of the play in your answer.

(20)

Question 4

40 marks

Read the following extract from Act 2 Scene 3 of Romeo and Juliet and then answer the question that follows.

At this point in the play, Romeo has come to Friar Lawrence’s cell early in the morning to ask him to marry him to Juliet that same day.

1FRIAR LAWRENCE. Holy Saint Francis! What a change is here!
Is Rosaline, that thou didst love so dear,
So soon forsaken? Young men’s love then lies
Not truly in their hearts, but in their eyes.
5Jesu Maria, what a deal of brine
Hath wash’d thy sallow cheeks for Rosaline!
How much salt water thrown away in waste,
To season love, that of it doth not taste.
The sun not yet thy sighs from heaven clears,
10Thy old groans yet ring in mine ancient ears.
Lo here upon thy cheek the stain doth sit
Of an old tear that is not wash’d off yet.
If ere thou wast thyself, and these woes thine,
Thou and these woes were all for Rosaline,
15And art thou chang’d? Pronounce this sentence then,
Women may fall, when there’s no strength in men.
ROMEO. Thou chidd’st me oft for loving Rosaline.
FRIAR LAWRENCE. For doting, not for loving, pupil mine.
ROMEO. And bad’st me bury love.
20FRIAR LAWRENCE. Not in a grave
To lay one in, another out to have.
ROMEO. I pray thee chide me not, her I love now
Doth grace for grace and love for love allow.
The other did not so.
25FRIAR LAWRENCE. O, she knew well
Thy love did read by rote, that could not spell.
But come young waverer, come go with me,
In one respect I’ll thy assistant be;
For this alliance may so happy prove,
30To turn your households’ rancour to pure love.
ROMEO. O let us hence; I stand on sudden haste.
FRIAR LAWRENCE. Wisely and slow; they stumble that run fast.

From Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare, Act 2 Scene 3.

(a)

Explore how Shakespeare presents the relationship between Romeo and Friar Lawrence in this extract.

Refer closely to the extract in your answer.

(20)

(b)

In this extract, the old Friar criticises how quickly young men fall in and out of love.

Explain the importance of youth and age elsewhere in the play.

In your answer, you must consider:

  • where youth and age are presented
  • how the young and the old affect each other.

You must refer to the context of the play in your answer.

(20)

Question 5

40 marks

Read the following extract from Act 3 Scene 1 of Romeo and Juliet and then answer the question that follows.

At this point in the play, Romeo has refused to fight Tybalt, so Mercutio has drawn his sword against Tybalt instead.

1ROMEO. Draw, Benvolio; beat down their weapons.
Gentlemen, for shame, forbear this outrage,
Tybalt, Mercutio, the Prince expressly hath
Forbid this bandying in Verona streets.
5Hold, Tybalt! Good Mercutio!
[Exeunt Tybalt with his Partizans.]
MERCUTIO. I am hurt.
A plague o’ both your houses. I am sped.
Is he gone, and hath nothing?
10BENVOLIO. What, art thou hurt?
MERCUTIO. Ay, ay, a scratch, a scratch. Marry, ’tis enough.
Where is my page? Go villain, fetch a surgeon.
[Exit Page.]
ROMEO. Courage, man; the hurt cannot be much.
15MERCUTIO. No, ’tis not so deep as a well, nor so wide as a church door, but ’tis
enough, ’twill serve. Ask for me tomorrow, and you shall find me a
grave man. I am peppered, I warrant, for this world. A plague o’ both
your houses. Zounds, a dog, a rat, a mouse, a cat, to scratch a man to
death. A braggart, a rogue, a villain, that fights by the book of
20arithmetic!—Why the devil came you between us? I was hurt under your
arm.
ROMEO. I thought all for the best.
MERCUTIO. Help me into some house, Benvolio,
Or I shall faint. A plague o’ both your houses.
25They have made worms’ meat of me.
I have it, and soundly too. Your houses!
[Exeunt Mercutio and Benvolio.]
ROMEO. This gentleman, the Prince’s near ally,
My very friend, hath got his mortal hurt
30In my behalf; my reputation stain’d
With Tybalt’s slander,—Tybalt, that an hour
Hath been my cousin. O sweet Juliet,
Thy beauty hath made me effeminate
And in my temper soften’d valour’s steel.

From Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare, Act 3 Scene 1.

(a)

Explore how Shakespeare presents the character of Mercutio in this extract.

Refer closely to the extract in your answer.

(20)

(b)

In this extract, Romeo is distraught that his friend Mercutio has been fatally wounded fighting on his behalf.

Explain the importance of friendship elsewhere in the play.

In your answer, you must consider:

  • where friendship is shown
  • the effects of friendship on the characters.

You must refer to the context of the play in your answer.

(20)

Question 6

40 marks

Read the following extract from Act 3 Scene 5 of Romeo and Juliet and then answer the question that follows.

At this point in the play, Juliet has refused to marry Paris and her father has become furious with her.

1CAPULET. God’s bread, it makes me mad!
Day, night, hour, ride, time, work, play,
Alone, in company, still my care hath been
To have her match’d, and having now provided
5A gentleman of noble parentage,
Of fair demesnes, youthful, and nobly allied,
Stuff’d, as they say, with honourable parts,
Proportion’d as one’s thought would wish a man,
And then to have a wretched puling fool,
10A whining mammet, in her fortune’s tender,
To answer, ‘I’ll not wed, I cannot love,
I am too young, I pray you pardon me.’
But, and you will not wed, I’ll pardon you.
Graze where you will, you shall not house with me.
15Look to’t, think on’t, I do not use to jest.
Thursday is near; lay hand on heart, advise.
And you be mine, I’ll give you to my friend;
And you be not, hang, beg, starve, die in the streets,
For by my soul, I’ll ne’er acknowledge thee,
20Nor what is mine shall never do thee good.
Trust to’t, bethink you, I’ll not be forsworn.
[Exit.]
JULIET. Is there no pity sitting in the clouds,
That sees into the bottom of my grief?
25O sweet my mother, cast me not away,
Delay this marriage for a month, a week,
Or, if you do not, make the bridal bed
In that dim monument where Tybalt lies.
LADY CAPULET. Talk not to me, for I’ll not speak a word.
30Do as thou wilt, for I have done with thee.
[Exit.]

From Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare, Act 3 Scene 5.

(a)

Explore how Shakespeare presents Capulet’s attitude towards his daughter in this extract.

Refer closely to the extract in your answer.

(20)

(b)

In this extract, Capulet threatens to throw Juliet out of his house if she will not obey him and marry Paris.

Explain the importance of obedience elsewhere in the play.

In your answer, you must consider:

  • where obedience is presented
  • the effects of characters obeying or disobeying others.

You must refer to the context of the play in your answer.

(20)

Question 7

40 marks

Read the following extract from Act 4 Scene 3 of Romeo and Juliet and then answer the question that follows.

At this point in the play, Juliet is alone in her bedroom on the night before her wedding to Paris, about to drink the sleeping potion Friar Lawrence has given her.

1JULIET. What if it be a poison, which the Friar
Subtly hath minister’d to have me dead,
Lest in this marriage he should be dishonour’d,
Because he married me before to Romeo?
5I fear it is. And yet methinks it should not,
For he hath still been tried a holy man.
How if, when I am laid into the tomb,
I wake before the time that Romeo
Come to redeem me? There’s a fearful point!
10Shall I not then be stifled in the vault,
To whose foul mouth no healthsome air breathes in,
And there die strangled ere my Romeo comes?
Or, if I live, is it not very like,
The horrible conceit of death and night,
15Together with the terror of the place,
As in a vault, an ancient receptacle,
Where for this many hundred years the bones
Of all my buried ancestors are pack’d,
Where bloody Tybalt, yet but green in earth,
20Lies festering in his shroud; where, as they say,
At some hours in the night spirits resort—
Alack, alack, is it not like that I,
So early waking, what with loathsome smells,
And shrieks like mandrakes torn out of the earth,
25That living mortals, hearing them, run mad.
O, if I wake, shall I not be distraught,
Environed with all these hideous fears,
And madly play with my forefathers’ joints?
And pluck the mangled Tybalt from his shroud?
30And, in this rage, with some great kinsman’s bone,
As with a club, dash out my desperate brains?
O look, methinks I see my cousin’s ghost
Seeking out Romeo that did spit his body
Upon a rapier’s point. Stay, Tybalt, stay!
35Romeo, Romeo, Romeo, here’s drink! I drink to thee.
[Throws herself on the bed.]

From Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare, Act 4 Scene 3.

(a)

Explore how Shakespeare presents Juliet’s fears in this extract.

Refer closely to the extract in your answer.

(20)

(b)

In this extract, Juliet imagines waking among the dead in her family’s tomb.

Explain the importance of death elsewhere in the play.

In your answer, you must consider:

  • where death is presented
  • the effects of death on the characters.

You must refer to the context of the play in your answer.

(20)

Question 8

40 marks

Read the following extract from Act 5 Scene 3 of Romeo and Juliet and then answer the question that follows.

At this point in the play, Romeo has broken into the Capulet tomb, where he finds Juliet, who he believes is dead.

1ROMEO. How oft when men are at the point of death
Have they been merry! Which their keepers call
A lightning before death. O, how may I
Call this a lightning? O my love, my wife,
5Death that hath suck’d the honey of thy breath,
Hath had no power yet upon thy beauty.
Thou art not conquer’d. Beauty’s ensign yet
Is crimson in thy lips and in thy cheeks,
And death’s pale flag is not advanced there.
10Tybalt, liest thou there in thy bloody sheet?
O, what more favour can I do to thee
Than with that hand that cut thy youth in twain
To sunder his that was thine enemy?
Forgive me, cousin. Ah, dear Juliet,
15Why art thou yet so fair? Shall I believe
That unsubstantial death is amorous;
And that the lean abhorred monster keeps
Thee here in dark to be his paramour?
For fear of that I still will stay with thee,
20And never from this palace of dim night
Depart again. Here, here will I remain
With worms that are thy chambermaids. O, here
Will I set up my everlasting rest;
And shake the yoke of inauspicious stars
25From this world-wearied flesh. Eyes, look your last.
Arms, take your last embrace! And, lips, O you
The doors of breath, seal with a righteous kiss
A dateless bargain to engrossing death.
Come, bitter conduct, come, unsavoury guide.
30Thou desperate pilot, now at once run on
The dashing rocks thy sea-sick weary bark.
Here’s to my love! [Drinks.] O true apothecary!
Thy drugs are quick. Thus with a kiss I die.
[Dies.]

From Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare, Act 5 Scene 3.

(a)

Explore how Shakespeare presents the character of Romeo in this extract.

Refer closely to the extract in your answer.

(20)

(b)

In this extract, Romeo wants to “shake the yoke of inauspicious stars”, believing that fate has been against him.

Explain the importance of fate elsewhere in the play.

In your answer, you must consider:

  • where fate is shown
  • how fate affects the characters.

You must refer to the context of the play in your answer.

(20)