Act 5

Question 1

scene 1

Answer 1

miscommunication in Mantua. structure: private. later on wednesday. Mantua - Shakespeare breaking three unities

Question 2

scene 2

Answer 2

Friar Lawrence’s plan falls apart. private. wednesday day

Question 3

scene 3

Answer 3

a glooming piece. private and public. wednesday night/near dawn on thursday

Question 4

“I dreamt my lady came and found me dead” scene 1

Answer 4

Romeo. foreshadowing. increase catharsis because the plan is too close to working

Question 5

Balthasar scene 1

Answer 5

gives news to Romeo about Juliet lying dead but its a fake death but Romeo has no reason to doubt him.

Question 6

“is it e’en so? then I defy you, stars” scene 1

Answer 6

Romeo. key line. reminds audience of futility of actions - fate is written in stars

Question 7

Romeo’s soliloquy in scene 1

Answer 7

considers how best to die next to Juliet - eerie atmosphere. sense of tenderness- not sexual though. crotesque images of death - feasting on death. “well Juliet I will lie with thee to night” - wants to lie with her in death as much as he did in life - love is everlasting. “sharp misery had worn him to the bones” - ramping up images of horror and death or inexorable journey to tomb

Question 8

“fatal cannon’s womb” scene 1

Answer 8

Romeo. invoked images of death with images of hastiness - tragic speed. both life and death within 3 words - metaphor for speed of their love

Question 9

“my poverty but not my will consents” scene 1

Answer 9

apothecary. because of my poverty, I am forced against my will to agree. he is the opposite of the friar - he doesn’t discourage their suicide. shown in sharp relief to friar. uses apothecary to show friar as a better man. friar has best intentions for Romeo and Juliet

Question 10

“come, cordial” scene 1

Answer 10

Romeo addresses cordial. money is true evil. apostrophising poison sense that cordial is a companion and comfort - amplifies sense of isolation. a cordial was seen as something restorative so we could argue that the metaphor is that the cordial “restores” him to Juliet

Question 11

“unhappy fortune!” scene 2

Answer 11

Friar. fate. so we don’t judge Friar too harshly? refers to fate - still believe in role of fate in people’s life

Question 12

“Romeo hath had no notice of these accidents… poor living corse, clos’d in a dead man’s tomb!” scene 2

Answer 12

Friar. accidents are a suggestion of fate and how quickly things are unravelling. dead mans tomb is an ominous end

Question 13

scene 3

Answer 13

A glooming piece. private and public. Wednesday night/ near dawn on Thursday. its turning point in act3 scene 1 features the same cast of characters and here at the end once again reunited. difference - feuding bought them together at the start and sad reconciliation brings them together at the end

Question 14

‘obsequies’ scene 3

Answer 14

Paris. repetition of it - ceremony of mourning - just a formality for him??

Question 15

‘mattock’ scene 3

Answer 15

contrast to two mens mourning. Shakespeare reaffirming violence

Question 16

“a precious ring” scene 3

Answer 16

Romeo. wants to get into bed. never be separated. ring is a symbol of eternity.passion rushing him to inexorable doom

Question 17

“thou detestable maw, thou womb of death… thy rotten jaws” scene 3

Answer 17

Romeo. maw-stomach. extended metaphor of death’s hunger. crotesque image of being consumed by death and powerless to stop it

Question 18

scene 3 Romeo and Paris fight and Paris dies

Answer 18

paris’ death not important to tragedy hence a very quick death but Paris requests burial with Juliet - suggest deeper love than audience considered

Question 19

“one writ with me in sour misfortune’s book!” scene 3

Answer 19

Romeo’s tribute to Paris. caught up in the same web of fate

Question 20

“thou art not conquer’d; beauty’s ensign yet is crimson in thy lips and in thy cheeks” scene 3

Answer 20

Romeo. death has tried to conquer Juliet but her beauty has overcome. audience is frustrated she is not dead

Question 21

“death is amorous” scene 3

Answer 21

motif for 100s years. Romeo imagines that death is in love with Juliet and wants her for himself

Question 22

“eyes look your last. arms, take your last embrace. and lips, O you the doors of breath, seal with a righteous kiss” scene 3

Answer 22

romeo. anaphora suggests the totality of his farewell - poignant for audience - tragic we know she’s not dead

Question 23

“weary bark. here’s to my love! O true apothecary! thy drugs are quick . thus with a kiss I die” scene 3

Answer 23

Romeo’s last words. metaphor of ship after long voyage- tired doesn’t want to live anymore - reminded of everything. echo of Juliet’s drink of poison. gratitude, love, respect, celebration

Question 24

“a greater power than we can contradict hath thwarted our intents” scene 3

Answer 24

Friar blames fate

Question 25

poison is a friend to both Juliet and Romeo

Answer 25

scene 3

Question 26

"I will kiss thy lips... to make me die with a restorative.. O happy dagger!" scene 3

Answer 26

Juliet. led to death in order to reclaim their love. a restorative death will restore them to one another. symmetry in death - balance of kisses they exchange. echo of Romeo's final line

Question 27

[she stabs herself and falls on Romeo's body] scene 3

Answer 27

completion of lifes in death. bodies and souls reuniting at last. visual metaphor for families reuniting at end of play. focal point on stage

Question 28

"look how our daughter bleeds! this dagger hath mista'en" scene 3

Answer 28

Capulet is really confused

Question 29

Friar Lawrence's speech scene 3

Answer 29

explains all. paves way for reconciliation. parents need to know of children and forgive - why we have to have this speech. dilutes tragedy - don't feel as cathartic - sense of resolution. "let my old life be sacrific'd"

Question 30

"Capulet, Montague, see what a scourge is laid upon your hate, that heaven finds means to kill your joys with love!" scene 3

Answer 30

Prince. implicitly exonerates Friar, Nurse, romeo and Juliet - fate is the cause. link back to prologue

Question 31

"O brother Montague, give me thy hand" scene 3

Answer 31

Capulet. Ancient symbol of reconciliation

Question 32

"For never was a story of more woe than this of Juliet and her Romeo" scene 3

Answer 32

Prince. Play finished with rhyming couplet -perfectly rhymes gives couple the final focus of the play - feel a sense of catharsis but also hope for Verona's citizens and Romeo and Juliet