Waiting for her wedding night, Juliet says, "Come, night, come Romeo... Give me my Romeo, and when he shall die, / Take him and cut him out in little stars." Why is this hard to watch? (Act 3, Scene 2)

The Nurse comes back wringing her hands: "Ah, well-a-day, he's dead, he's dead, he's dead!" Juliet hears it as news of Romeo. What does the audience know that Juliet does not? (Act 3, Scene 2)

Juliet comes home from the Friar and agrees to marry Paris. Capulet hires cooks and says, "My heart is wondrous light / Since this same wayward girl is so reclaim'd." Where is the irony? (Act 4, Scene 2)

On the wedding morning the Nurse calls, "Why, love, I say! Madam! Sweetheart! Why, bride!" and then screams that her lady is dead. What does the audience know at that moment? (Act 4, Scene 5)

Paris comes to the Capulet tomb with flowers and says, "Sweet flower, with flowers thy bridal bed I strew." What does the audience know that Paris does not? (Act 5, Scene 3)

In the tomb Romeo says over Juliet, "Death that hath suck'd the honey of thy breath, / Hath had no power yet upon thy beauty. / Thou art not conquer'd." Why is this unbearable to watch? (Act 5, Scene 3)

On the way to the Capulet feast Romeo says, "my mind misgives / Some consequence yet hanging in the stars, / Shall bitterly begin his fearful date / With this night's revels." What is he claiming? (Act 1, Scene 4)

Tybalt falls, Benvolio warns that the Prince will doom him to death, and Romeo cries, "O, I am fortune's fool!" What does that line claim about what has just happened? (Act 3, Scene 1)

Balthasar reports that Juliet's body lies in the Capulet vault, and Romeo answers, "Is it even so? Then I defy you, stars!" What is Romeo setting himself against? (Act 5, Scene 1)

Romeo climbs down from her window and Juliet says, "O Fortune, Fortune! All men call thee fickle... Be fickle, Fortune; / For then, I hope thou wilt not keep him long / But send him back." What is she doing? (Act 3, Scene 5)

Juliet wakes in the tomb beside a dead Romeo, and Friar Lawrence says, "A greater power than we can contradict / Hath thwarted our intents." What is his account of the failure? (Act 5, Scene 3)

Capulet has already set the wedding for Thursday. Pleased with Juliet's obedience, he tells his wife, "We'll to church tomorrow" - Wednesday. What does moving it up one day produce? (Act 4, Scene 2)

Friar John never reaches Mantua: searchers seal up the house he is visiting, suspecting "the infectious pestilence." What does the undelivered letter produce? (Act 5, Scene 2)

The stabbed Mercutio asks Romeo, "Why the devil came you between us? I was hurt under your arm," and Romeo answers, "I thought all for the best." What does the exchange establish? (Act 3, Scene 1)

Romeo tells the Friar, "O let us hence; I stand on sudden haste," and the Friar answers, "Wisely and slow; they stumble that run fast." What does the play do with that advice? (Act 2, Scene 3)

Her father orders her to church on Thursday and threatens to disown her, yet Juliet never gives her parents the one fact that would end the argument. What is it? (Act 3, Scene 5)

Romeo fears a consequence "hanging in the stars," Juliet would cut him out "in little stars," Romeo cries "I defy you, stars," and in the tomb shakes off "the yoke of inauspicious stars." What does the repetition do?

A Chorus returns between the acts to say that Romeo "to his foe suppos'd he must complain" and that "passion lends them power, time means, to meet." What does this second speech accomplish? (Act 2)

The feast is Sunday night; Monday brings Tybalt's death and Romeo's banishment; Thursday's wedding is then pulled forward to Wednesday. What does packing the action into these few days accomplish?

The play closes with the Prince: "See what a scourge is laid upon your hate, / That heaven finds means to kill your joys with love!" and "All are punish'd." What does ending this way accomplish? (Act 5, Scene 3)