Romeo and Juliet
by William Shakespeare
               
What did it say?                                     Can you repeat that?

Prologue

1



5




10




Two households both alike in dignity,
In fair Verona where we lay our scene
From ancient grudge, break to new mutiny,
Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean:
From forth the fatal loins of these two foes,
A pair of star-corss's lovers take their life:
Whose misadventured piteous overthrows,
Doth with their death bury their parents strife.
The fearful passage of their death-marked love,
And the continuance of their parents' rage,
Which but their children's end nought could remove,
Is now the two hours' traffic of our stage.
The which if you with patient ears attend,
What here shall miss, our toil shall strive to mend.














The play is set in the pretty city of Verona.  (Verona is in Italy.)
There are two noble families, that are equal in rank.  Members
of each group have killed each other.  These deaths have started
the very old grudge again. One of the families (the Capulets)
have a daughter and the other family (the Montagues) have a son.
Their children are destined to fall in love.  In the end, the only way
they can be together is in death.  The children's deaths ends their
parents' grudge.   

The play is two hours long.  It tells the story of the lovers
(Romeo and Juliet).  

If you are patient and listen, we (the actors) will show you
any information that is not here.


Directions: Read both of the prologues.  The one of the left is the play version.  The one on the right has been summarized for you.  Answer the following questions.

1. How long is the play?
!
    a. 2 hours
    b. 2 days
    c. 2 minutes

2. In line 5, foes is another word (or a synonym) for? (Remember our new vocabulary!)
!
3.  When Shakespeare refers to Romeo and Juliet's love as a death-mark'd love (line 9) he is actually saying
!
    a.  Their love will cause death to everyone
    b.  The lovers will kill eachother.
    c.  Their love would never be accepted by their families, so they must die to be together.

Complete the following sentences with contrasting (different/opposite) information.  Choose the answer that does not belong.

4.  The love of Romeo and Juliet contrasts with the ...... between the Montagues and Capulets.
!
    a. anger or hate
    b. feud
    c. frienship

5.  On the one hand, we have the Capulets.  On the other ......
!
    a. we have the Montagues
    b. we have the Prince of Verona
    c.  we have Romeo, his family, and his family's followers.




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