Romeo and Juliet

Use these activities to engage all types of learners, while requiring that they refer to and incorporate details from the text over the course of the activity. 

ACTIVITY 1: “Rap Shakespeare”

Iambic pentameter is a poetry meter that closely mimics the natural cadence or pattern of everyday speech.

Watch this 5-minute TED-Ed animation that sums up meter, line stress, and iambic pentameter for review.

Then hear from the Hip Hop Shakespeare Company for a 2-minute how-to on rapping the Bard.

Part A: Find two lines of dialogue in the play that represent pure or close-to-pure iambic pentameter by reading them aloud.

• Write the lines with gaps between each syllable.
• Analyze the meter of these lines and provide scansion marks over each syllable. Do this by drawing a / over each syllable that gets vocal emphasis (stress) and a U over each syllable that is not emphasized. You should see this pattern evolve:

U  /  U  /  U  /  U  /  U  /

Now, consider the use of emphasis in modern, everyday speech. Read the following line aloud to hear the natural stress pattern:

Today for lunch we’re having taco bowls.

With scansion marks, it looks like this:

U    /    U     /       U     /      U   /   U      /

To day for lunch we’re hav ing ta co bowls.

• Try switching the syntax (order) of the words slightly. Read aloud, then rewrite with scansion marks:

For lunch today we’re having taco bowls.

We’re having taco bowls for lunch today.

• For practice, try scanning these lines:

I missed the quiz because my bus was late.

My sister wants to be an astronaut.

Part B:  Craft original writing in iambic pentameter and present it aloud.

• Write an 8- to 10-line mini-scene in which Person A tries to convince Person B that Person’s B’s preoccupation over some event or person is not worth the stress (paralleling Benvolio’s counsel to Romeo about Rosalind). Use modern language and everyday conversation in your original scene—but write it in iambic pentameter. Scan the lines with scansion marks.
• If time permits, coach two peers to deliver the lines to the class.
• Your actors may rap the lines, as well, Hip Hop Shakespeare-style.

Teaching Suggestion: Analyzing Shakespeare’s use of iambic pentameter by reading it aloud can help students to understand his imagery, his meaning, and the passions of his characters. Have willing students slow or speed up the pace of the line, exaggerate the stressed syllables, or experiment with the expression of the line.

Paired Text Extension

Poets utilize iambic pentameter today as well. Read Alice Oswald’s “A Short Story of Falling,” a contemporary poem in iambic pentameter.

• Whereas Shakespeare might have used iambic pentameter to represent the passions of the human heart, to what kind of tone or mood does the meter of this poem contribute? Discuss your ideas and rationale in a piece of free-writing.

Teaching Suggestion: Generally, the iambic pentameter of “A Short Story of Falling” can represent the cyclical, rhythmical, natural balance of water in the environment, and offers a tone that is soothing, steady, and consistent. This contrasts with Shakespeare’s use of the meter, who often uses it to represent a variety of emotions, characterizations, and changes of pace and expression.

ACTIVITY 2: “Who, Want, When, Where, Why”

Actors of all historical time periods use words, actions, and expression to pursue a character’s objective (goal). A character’s objective can change from line to line or scene to scene.

Part A: Reread Act I, Scene 5, Lines 54-95 with a partner. Discuss together and prepare responses:

• Reflect on and then create a T-chart on Lord Capulet’s and Tybalt’s objectives:

What is each man trying to do? What tactics does he use to try to get what he wants?

• Even though Lord Capulet and Tybalt pursue opposite objectives, what is similar about their actions or tactics in this scene?

Part B: Choose a scene from the play in which there is clear conflict between two characters. Obtain or produce a printed copy of the scene on which you can highlight lines and handwrite notations.

• Determine each character’s objective in the scene; note goals and tactics the characters use to get what they want in the margin space near appropriate lines.
• As time permits, rehearse the lines of the scene with a scene partner. Prepare a simple performance of the scene with staging, movement, and expression. After you have given your lines to the class, share the objective you pursued and the tactics you used.

Teaching Suggestion: Clarify to students that objectives are often stated as infinitive action verbs in terms of someone or something: “to convince Tybalt to keep the peace.” Gerunds can handily name a character’s tactics: e.g., persuading, reprimanding, insulting, coercing, pleading. Try Theatrefolk for simple staging tutorials on stage directions and blocking notations for the classroom.

Paired Text Extension

A monologue is a lengthy speech by one character; a soliloquy is a monologue spoken by one character alone on stage (or when no other characters can hear).

• Reread one of Juliet’s monologues in the play, such as Act III, Scene 2, Lines 101-131 or Act IV, Scene 3, Lines 15-59. Then read Beneatha’s monologue from A Raisin the Sun, a 1959 play by Lorraine Hansberry. Create a T-chart comparing the two characters, and including reflections on the language and tone of the monologues themselves.

Teaching Suggestion: A 2018 journalistic essay provides background on the plot and origins of Hansberry’s play, and provides a helpful summary of Beneatha’s monologue that will aid students in comparing and contrasting her dreams, disappointments, identity, and gender relationships with Juliet’s. Guide students to address the contrasts in the speeches themselves (tone, language, style, and voice) that result from differences in time period and playwright.