2. What is another historical context for the name Paris? (not about the city) In mythology, Paris was the male beauty who abducted Helen of Troy.
3. Explain the Queen Mab monolouge. The main point of the passage is that the dreams Queen Mab brings are directly related to the person who dreams them—lovers dream of love, soldiers of war, etc. and Romeo needs to put aside his melancholy for Rosaline and come to the Capulet feast.
4. List and briefly describe 2 themes within the play.
Individual Vs. Society: Battle between the responsibilities and actions demanded by social institutions and those demanded by the private desires of the individual.
The Forcefulness of Love: Love is a violent, ecstatic, overpowering force that supersedes all other values, loyalties, and emotions.
Love as a Cause of Violence: It is only through death that Romeo and Juliet can preserve their love, and their love is so profound that they are willing to end their lives in its defense.
Inevitability of Fate: Events are not mere coincidences, but rather manifestations of fate that help bring about the unavoidable outcome of the young lovers’ deaths.
5. Is Juliet too young to marry? Why or why not? How old is she? Scholarly research has determined that this was an unusually young age for girls to marry in Elizabethan England. Juliet's own mother claims to have given birth to her at age 13. Juliet is 13.
6. Explain the purpose of the Prologue. To set the scene for tragedy by presenting the two young protagonists as the victims of fate whose lives are marred from the outset by the feud between their families.
7. How many new words/phrases did Shakespeare coin/create? More than 500.
8. Who did Romeo love at the beginning of the play? Who was Juliet supposed to marry? Romeo was in love with Rosaline and Juliet was to marry Paris.
9. Which two characters are related, but are not Capulets or Montegues? The Prince of Verona and Paris are cousins.
10. Who usually played the roles of women in Shakespeare's plays? Young boys/men who had not yet gone through puberty and older men occasionally played comic female roles but they had to shave their beards
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