1. Algemene gegevens
a. Name author: Shakespeare, William
b. Title of book: Romeo and Juliet
c. Year of publication: 1595
d. Number of points: 3
e. Number of pages: around 280 2. Analyse van een aantal aspecten
a. Summarize in one sentence what the book is about. A forbidden love resulting in more people dying than was necessary. b. Write a summary in your own words of about 400-600 words.
The book starts with a prologue which gives away the whole story. This prologue describes the setting, telling the tale of two rivalling families in one city. These families, Montague and Capulet, have been fighting for ages and there isn’t a change of them stopping soon. Paris wants to marry the daughter of Capulet, Juliet. However, he thinks Julia is too young to get married. After some persuasion Capulet gives in and organises a party. He sends a knight to hand out the invites, but this man can’t read. When he is outside he asks the first stranger passing by to read out the names to him. This stranger happens to be Romeo, a Montague. Romeo is in love with Rosaline, a Capulet. After Romeo helps the knight with reading the names, he is invited to the party. Although Romeo Is a bit hesitant about going, since he’s a Montague after all, he ends up attending the party to see Rosaline. At the party, however, he sees a very nice and pretty girl, Juliet, and the feeling seems mutual. Whilst Romeo and Juliet get to know each other, Tybalt, a Capulet, sees and recognises Romeo, and goes on to tell sir Capulet about it. Capulet decides that for the sake of the party he is going to tolerate Romeo being there.
After the party has finished the infamous balcony scene takes place, Romeo appears in the garden of the Capulet family. At this point, Romeo and Juliet declare their love for each other, but at the same time realise they cannot marry because of the history of both of their families. The next morning Romeo decides he wants to marry her anyway, so he goes and visit Friar Laurence. With a bit of a struggle about maybe marrying Paris, Romeo and Juliet meet at the practice of Friar Laurence on Monday. Friar Laurence officiates their wedding. There is another small bump in their road of love and that’s the fact Juliet and Paris are supposed to get married in a few days. This is a bit of a problem since Juliet is already married to Romeo. Friar Laurence has an solution, he finds a poison which will put her asleep but make her seem death. They plan it in a way that on the day of the wedding between Paris and Juliet, she would seem dead. He sends someone to inform Romeo about this plan. On the day of the wedding Juliet indeed seems death so that part of the plan works out. However, Romeo is not informed she isn’t really death, since the messenger wasn’t able to reach him. Balthasar, on the other hand, was able to meet Romeo, but tells him Juliet is dead, since he wasn’t part of the plan. Romeo goes to visit the body, but not before buying a lethal poison himself. When he arrives in Verona, he meets Paris down at the crypt. Paris thinks Romeo is visiting as some sort of a prank, so he starts a fight. Somewhere during this fight Romeo kills Paris and after a quick peck on Juliet’s lips he takes his poison and dies. Friar Laurence appears because he knows Juliet is about to wake up and intends to stay with her until Romeo arrives. When he sees Romeo just as Juliet wakes up, he urges Juliet to leave before leaving himself. Juliet stays, sees Romeo being death, grabs a knife and kills herself.
The story ends in a truce between the Montague and the Capulet family. c. Describe the theme in one word.
Love d. Describe the main character in detail. Use about 50 words.
Romeo: He is the only son of Montague and his wife. A intense lover who is highly romantic. He would do about anything to prove his love or get the girl he is in love with, for example go to the house of his enemies to tell her he loves her. Another thing proving he’s an intense lover, is the fact he was willing to die for love.
Juliet: Like Romeo an only child, but from Capulet and his wife. She was a fourteen-year-old girl and like many girls in that time, very dependent on the men in her life. Be it her father to give her away to Paris or Friar Laurence to find a solution to her problem. She is smart, however, proven by the fact that when she speaks with Romeo, her sentences are just as beautifully composed as his. e. Describe two minor characters.
Friar Laurence: He is the man who assisted in the marriage between Romeo and Juliet as well as helping with the potion. Where Romeo thinks it is because of his wish to make the two lovebirds happy, it is actually a very political move to end the ‘war’ between the two families.
Mercutio: A friend of Romeo and some sort of a joker. Constant stream of jokes and puns. He is a very rational man, saying his death is not a part of fate but just because some specific person killed him. f. Describe the place(s) where the story is set in detail.
The story is set in ‘fair Verona’ an Italian city which still exists today. Both of the families live here and apart from the moment where Romeo is banished all acts take place in Verona. g. When does the story take place? The story takes place sometime before the 16th century and lasts from Sunday till Thursday, which is quite a short time for two people to fall in love and get married. h. Who is the person who tells the story (the narrator)?
Since it is a play, the point of view is that of the audience who is watching the play, but parts shown are someway either Romeo or Juliet’s point of view. i. Give an explanation of the title.
Romeo and Juliet are the names of the protagonists.
j. Is the book just meant as a story or is the author trying to bring across a message? If so: why? If not: why not?
Personally, the lesson I got from it is, nothing is good or bad. The fact that Romeo and Juliet had to die was tragic, however it ended an ongoing feud between two families. So things aren’t necessarily good nor evil. 3. Leesbeleving en evaluatie
Write a personal evaluation of your book in which you answer the following questions (explain all your answers in detail): a. What is your opinion about the book?
Although the language was a bit hard to understand from time to time I really liked it. Mostly, because I had read Pyramus and Thisbe during my Latin education and it was very interesting to see all the similarities, but also the differences. b. Would you recommend the book to your classmates?
Yes, but I would also recommend to read a quick summary beforehand. Since the play is spoiled in the prologue anyway, it makes it easier to understand the play. c. Which part did you like best or was most important in the development of the story? Quote (citeer) a passage or sentence from the book which you found most impressive or touching.
Honestly, I liked the language used in the prologue and ‘where civil blood makes civil hands unclean’ is in my opinion one of the most beautiful sentences in the whole play. d. Which part disappointed you most?
Well I get the idea of telling the whole tale in the prologue but I would have liked it better if the play wasn’t spoiled.
4. Finally, roughly how much time did you spend reading the book?
I read it in about a day over the summer holidays so I guess around 4 hours.
a. Name author: Shakespeare, William
b. Title of book: Romeo and Juliet
c. Year of publication: 1595
d. Number of points: 3
e. Number of pages: around 280 2. Analyse van een aantal aspecten
a. Summarize in one sentence what the book is about. A forbidden love resulting in more people dying than was necessary. b. Write a summary in your own words of about 400-600 words.
The book starts with a prologue which gives away the whole story. This prologue describes the setting, telling the tale of two rivalling families in one city. These families, Montague and Capulet, have been fighting for ages and there isn’t a change of them stopping soon. Paris wants to marry the daughter of Capulet, Juliet. However, he thinks Julia is too young to get married. After some persuasion Capulet gives in and organises a party. He sends a knight to hand out the invites, but this man can’t read. When he is outside he asks the first stranger passing by to read out the names to him. This stranger happens to be Romeo, a Montague. Romeo is in love with Rosaline, a Capulet. After Romeo helps the knight with reading the names, he is invited to the party. Although Romeo Is a bit hesitant about going, since he’s a Montague after all, he ends up attending the party to see Rosaline. At the party, however, he sees a very nice and pretty girl, Juliet, and the feeling seems mutual. Whilst Romeo and Juliet get to know each other, Tybalt, a Capulet, sees and recognises Romeo, and goes on to tell sir Capulet about it. Capulet decides that for the sake of the party he is going to tolerate Romeo being there.
The story ends in a truce between the Montague and the Capulet family. c. Describe the theme in one word.
Love d. Describe the main character in detail. Use about 50 words.
Romeo: He is the only son of Montague and his wife. A intense lover who is highly romantic. He would do about anything to prove his love or get the girl he is in love with, for example go to the house of his enemies to tell her he loves her. Another thing proving he’s an intense lover, is the fact he was willing to die for love.
Juliet: Like Romeo an only child, but from Capulet and his wife. She was a fourteen-year-old girl and like many girls in that time, very dependent on the men in her life. Be it her father to give her away to Paris or Friar Laurence to find a solution to her problem. She is smart, however, proven by the fact that when she speaks with Romeo, her sentences are just as beautifully composed as his. e. Describe two minor characters.
Friar Laurence: He is the man who assisted in the marriage between Romeo and Juliet as well as helping with the potion. Where Romeo thinks it is because of his wish to make the two lovebirds happy, it is actually a very political move to end the ‘war’ between the two families.
Mercutio: A friend of Romeo and some sort of a joker. Constant stream of jokes and puns. He is a very rational man, saying his death is not a part of fate but just because some specific person killed him. f. Describe the place(s) where the story is set in detail.
The story is set in ‘fair Verona’ an Italian city which still exists today. Both of the families live here and apart from the moment where Romeo is banished all acts take place in Verona. g. When does the story take place? The story takes place sometime before the 16th century and lasts from Sunday till Thursday, which is quite a short time for two people to fall in love and get married. h. Who is the person who tells the story (the narrator)?
Since it is a play, the point of view is that of the audience who is watching the play, but parts shown are someway either Romeo or Juliet’s point of view. i. Give an explanation of the title.
Personally, the lesson I got from it is, nothing is good or bad. The fact that Romeo and Juliet had to die was tragic, however it ended an ongoing feud between two families. So things aren’t necessarily good nor evil. 3. Leesbeleving en evaluatie
Write a personal evaluation of your book in which you answer the following questions (explain all your answers in detail): a. What is your opinion about the book?
Although the language was a bit hard to understand from time to time I really liked it. Mostly, because I had read Pyramus and Thisbe during my Latin education and it was very interesting to see all the similarities, but also the differences. b. Would you recommend the book to your classmates?
Yes, but I would also recommend to read a quick summary beforehand. Since the play is spoiled in the prologue anyway, it makes it easier to understand the play. c. Which part did you like best or was most important in the development of the story? Quote (citeer) a passage or sentence from the book which you found most impressive or touching.
Honestly, I liked the language used in the prologue and ‘where civil blood makes civil hands unclean’ is in my opinion one of the most beautiful sentences in the whole play. d. Which part disappointed you most?
Well I get the idea of telling the whole tale in the prologue but I would have liked it better if the play wasn’t spoiled.
4. Finally, roughly how much time did you spend reading the book?
I read it in about a day over the summer holidays so I guess around 4 hours.
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