Romeo and Juliet Act Four (study guide)

Year 9 Questions for this week:

ACT FOUR - SCENE ONE

Juliet is no longer the obedient child. The events of the past few days have caused her to mature. With no hope of help from her mother or the nurse she is now taking matters into her own hands. She gives the excuse that since she has displeased her father, she is going to Friar Laurence to confess her sin and be absolved. (Notice how she deals with Paris at the opening of this scene.) Once Paris is gone Juliet pleads with Friar Laurence to help her out of her predicament.

Explain in detail the plan they arrange

ACT FOUR - SCENE TWO

1. What day is it now?

2. Juliet is so convincing in her deception that her father decides to
move the wedding day up from Thursday to Wednesday. What Complication does this change foreshadow?

ACT FOUR - SCENE THREE

1. Complete this paraphrase of Juliet's soliloquy (lines 14-58)

Farewell! God knows when we shall ________ again. Oh, I'm so ___________ that my _________ runs cold. I'll call them back to ____________ me. Nurse! - But what can she do? I must do this alone. Come vial. But what if the potion doesn't _________ and I have to ___________ Paris after all? I'll use this ________ on myself first!  What if the Friar gave me ____________ to kill me so that no one will find out that he already ____________ me to Romeo?  No, the Friar is proven to be a _________ man.  He would not do that.  But what if I ________ ____ before ________ comes to take me away? That's scary. Will I not ________ in the vault before ________ comes? Or if I ________, my imagination will run ________ in that horrible place where the bones of my _____________ have been ________ for hundreds of years; where _________ yet recently burned lies ___________ in his shroud; where __________ visit at some hours of the _________.  Oh! Wouldn't those horrible _________ and ______ drive a living person __________? If I __________ will I not be so disturbed in the midst of these hideous __________ that I play with my forefather's _________ or pull ___________ burial clothes off, and then in a fit of madness dash out my __________ with my _________ _______?

Oh look! I think I see my cousin's (Tybalt's) _________ looking for __________ who cut him up with his __________. Stay back, ____________ stay back! Romeo, I come! I __________ this (potion) to you.

2. List Juliet's fears as she is about to drink the potion.

A.

B.

C.

D.

E.

ACT FOUR - SCENE FOUR

The Capulets are busy preparing for Juliet's wedding. The Nurse is told to wake Juliet up and get her ready.

ACT FOUR - SCENE FIVE

The nurse discovers Juliet's apparently lifeless body, and the happy day for the Capulets becomes a day of sorrow.

Explain the dramatic irony in Friar Laurence's speech (lines 65-83)