Act I: The brawl and the ball
Why would two servants risk a fight that belongs to their masters?
How does Juliet respond to Paris's interest, and what room for decision does she seem to have?
Romeo says that only now has he seen true beauty, after suffering so much for Rosaline: is it a different love, or merely another object for the same desire?
Act II: The garden and the wedding
Juliet thinks Romeo's name is not part of him: what does a family name mean to the one who is born into it?
Friar Laurence agrees to marry the young couple out of hope of ending the families' feud: is that reason enough for a hastily arranged marriage?
At the moment of marrying the two, the friar speaks of violent pleasures that end in violence: do Romeo and Juliet seem to hear him?
Act III: Mercutio, Tybalt, and the banishment
Romeo refuses Tybalt's challenge and, minutes later, is the one who challenges him. What changed between one moment and the next?
Friar Laurence calls banishment mercy, and Romeo calls it torture. Who is right, based on what each one knows and feels?
Capulet, his wife, and the Nurse react in different ways to Juliet's refusal. What does each reaction show about her place in the house?
Act IV: The potion of apparent death
Juliet tells the friar she prefers the knife to marrying Paris. What does the friar see in this disposition, and what does he do with it?
Before drinking, Juliet moves from practical fears to visions of horror. What does this passage say about the state she is in?
Why does Friar Laurence console the parents with words about heaven, if he knows Juliet is alive?
Act V: The tomb and the reconciliation
Romeo decides to return to Verona the very moment he hears the news. What does he know and what does he not know at that moment?
Romeo asks Paris to flee, and the fight happens anyway. What does the play show of each man in this scene?
The whole work
The Prologue calls the lovers star-crossed, and in Act V Romeo defies the stars. What do the scenes show of decision, and what do they show of chance?
Among the families, the Prince, the friar, and the lovers themselves, who answers for what happens in the tomb?
Friar Laurence warns that those who run fast stumble. Is the haste that of the lovers or of the world around them?
In Act I, Capulet says his will is only part of Juliet's consent; in Act III, he demands obedience. What changed between one scene and the other?
Why does the reconciliation of the houses come only with the death of the children?