romeo and juliet monologue assignment

Romeo and Juliet Monologues

The Romeo and Juliet monologues below are the best known and most significant monologues from the play in the order that they’re spoken, along with the speaker, act and scene. This page has only Romeo and Juliet monologues; you can find the top Romeo and Juliet soliloquies here. Not sure the difference between the two? Read this article.

Monologue spoken by Romeo in Act 1, Scene 1:

Alas, that love, whose view is muffled still, Should, without eyes, see pathways to his will! Where shall we dine? O me! What fray was here? Yet tell me not, for I have heard it all. Here’s much to do with hate, but more with love. Why, then, O brawling love! O loving hate! O any thing, of nothing first create! O heavy lightness! serious vanity! Misshapen chaos of well-seeming forms! Feather of lead, bright smoke, cold fire, sick health! Still-waking sleep, that is not what it is! This love feel I, that feel no love in this. Dost thou not laugh?… Why, such is love’s transgression. Griefs of mine own lie heavy in my breast, Which thou wilt propagate, to have it prest With more of thine: this love that thou hast shown Doth add more grief to too much of mine own. Love is a smoke raised with the fume of sighs; Being purged, a fire sparkling in lovers’ eyes; Being vex’d a sea nourish’d with lovers’ tears: What is it else? a madness most discreet, A choking gall and a preserving sweet.

Monologue spoken by Lady Capulet in Act 1, Scene 3:

What say you? can you love the gentleman? This night you shall behold him at our feast; Read o’er the volume of young Paris’ face, And find delight writ there with beauty’s pen; Examine every married lineament, And see how one another lends content And what obscured in this fair volume lies Find written in the margent of his eyes. This precious book of love, this unbound lover, To beautify him, only lacks a cover: The fish lives in the sea, and ’tis much pride For fair without the fair within to hide: That book in many’s eyes doth share the glory, That in gold clasps locks in the golden story; So shall you share all that he doth possess, By having him, making yourself no less

Monologue spoken by Mercutio in Act 1, Scene 4:

O, then I see Queen Mab hath been with you. She is the fairies’ midwife, and she comes In shape no bigger than an agate stone On the forefinger of an alderman, Drawn with a team of little atomies Over men’s noses as they lie asleep; Her wagon spokes made of long spinners’ legs, The cover, of the wings of grasshoppers; Her traces, of the smallest spider web; Her collars, of the moonshine’s wat’ry beams; Her whip, of cricket’s bone; the lash, of film; Her wagoner, a small grey-coated gnat, Not half so big as a round little worm Pricked from the lazy finger of a maid; Her chariot is an empty hazelnut, Made by the joiner squirrel or old grub, Time out o’ mind the fairies’ coachmakers. And in this state she gallops night by night Through lovers’ brains, and then they dream of love; O’er courtiers’ knees, that dream on curtsies straight; O’er lawyers’ fingers, who straight dream on fees; O’er ladies’ lips, who straight on kisses dream, Which oft the angry Mab with blisters plagues, Because their breaths with sweetmeats tainted are. Sometimes she gallops o’er a courtier’s nose, And then dreams he of smelling out a suit; And sometimes comes she with a tithe-pig’s tail Tickling a parson’s nose as ‘a lies asleep, Then dreams he of another benefice. Sometimes she driveth o’er a soldier’s neck, And then dreams he of cutting foreign throats, Of breaches, ambuscadoes, Spanish blades, Of healths five fathom deep; and then anon Drums in his ear, at which he starts and wakes, And being thus frighted, swears a prayer or two And sleeps again. This is that very Mab That plats the manes of horses in the night And bakes the elflocks in foul sluttish hairs, Which once untangled much misfortune bodes. This is the hag, when maids lie on their backs, That presses them and learns them first to bear, Making them women of good carriage. This is she! (Romeo interrupts, and then the monologue concludes:) True, I talk of dreams, Which are the children of an idle brain, Begot of nothing but vain fantasy, Which is as thin of substance as the air And more inconstant than the wind, who woos Even now the frozen bosom of the north, And, being anger’d, puffs away from thence, Turning his face to the dew-dropping south.

Monologue spoken by Juliet in Act 2, Scene 2

‘Tis but thy name that is my enemy; Thou art thyself, though not a Montague. What’s Montague? it is nor hand, nor foot, Nor arm, nor face, nor any other part Belonging to a man. O, be some other name! What’s in a name? that which we call a rose By any other name would smell as sweet; So Romeo would, were he not Romeo call’d, Retain that dear perfection which he owes Without that title. Romeo, doff thy name, And for that name which is no part of thee Take all myself.

Monologue spoken by Mercutio in Act 2, Scene 4:

More than prince of cats, I can tell you. O, he is the courageous captain of compliments. He fights as you sing prick-song, keeps time, distance, and proportion; rests me his minim rest, one, two, and the third in your bosom: the very butcher of a silk button, a duellist, a duellist; a gentleman of the very first house, of the first and second cause: ah, the immortal passado! the punto reverso! the hai! The pox of such antic, lisping, affecting fantasticoes; these new tuners of accents! ‘By Jesu, a very good blade! a very tall man! a very good whore!’ Why, is not this a lamentable thing, grandsire, that we should be thus afflicted with these strange flies, these fashion-mongers, these perdona-mi’s, who stand so much on the new form, that they cannot at ease on the old bench? O, their bones, their bones! Without his roe, like a dried herring: flesh, flesh, how art thou fishified! Now is he for the numbers that Petrarch flowed in: Laura to his lady was but a kitchen-wench; marry, she had a better love to be-rhyme her; Dido a dowdy; Cleopatra a gypsy; Helen and Hero hildings and harlots; Thisbe a grey eye or so, but not to the purpose. Signior Romeo, bon jour! there’s a French salutation to your French slop. You gave us the counterfeit fairly last night.

Monologue spoken by Mercutio in Act 3, Scene 1:

Why, thou wilt quarrel with a man that hath a hair more, or a hair less, in his beard, than thou hast: thou wilt quarrel with a man for cracking nuts, having no other reason but because thou hast hazel eyes: what eye but such an eye would spy out such a quarrel? Thy head is as fun of quarrels as an egg is full of meat, and yet thy head hath been beaten as addle as an egg for quarrelling: thou hast quarrelled with a man for coughing in the street, because he hath wakened thy dog that hath lain asleep in the sun: didst thou not fall out with a tailor for wearing his new doublet before Easter? with another, for tying his new shoes with old riband? and yet thou wilt tutor me from quarrelling!

Monologue spoken by Juliet in Act 3, Scene 2:

O serpent heart, hid with a flowering face! Did ever dragon keep so fair a cave? Beautiful tyrant! fiend angelical! Dove-feather’d raven! wolvish-ravening lamb! Despised substance of divinest show! Just opposite to what thou justly seem’st, A damned saint, an honourable villain! O nature, what hadst thou to do in hell, When thou didst bower the spirit of a fiend In moral paradise of such sweet flesh? Was ever book containing such vile matter So fairly bound? O that deceit should dwell In such a gorgeous palace!

Monologue spoken by Friar Laurence in Act 4, Scene 1:

Hold, then; go home, be merry, give consent To marry Paris: Wednesday is to-morrow: To-morrow night look that thou lie alone; Let not thy nurse lie with thee in thy chamber: Take thou this vial, being then in bed, And this distilled liquor drink thou off; When presently through all thy veins shall run A cold and drowsy humour, for no pulse Shall keep his native progress, but surcease: No warmth, no breath, shall testify thou livest; The roses in thy lips and cheeks shall fade To paly ashes, thy eyes’ windows fall, Like death, when he shuts up the day of life; Each part, deprived of supple government, Shall, stiff and stark and cold, appear like death: And in this borrow’d likeness of shrunk death Thou shalt continue two and forty hours, And then awake as from a pleasant sleep. Now, when the bridegroom in the morning comes To rouse thee from thy bed, there art thou dead: Then, as the manner of our country is, In thy best robes uncover’d on the bier Thou shalt be borne to that same ancient vault Where all the kindred of the Capulets lie. In the mean time, against thou shalt awake, Shall Romeo by my letters know our drift, And hither shall he come: and he and I Will watch thy waking, and that very night Shall Romeo bear thee hence to Mantua. And this shall free thee from this present shame; If no inconstant toy, nor womanish fear, Abate thy valour in the acting it.

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The Practical English Teacher

Free Resources for Secondary English Teachers

Free Resources for Romeo & Juliet

Updated: Jul 27, 2022

I have always been very lucky to work with smart and caring coworkers. On this blog, I only share materials that I created individually, so I don't have a ton of my own materials to share for Romeo & Juliet. This is because when I taught Romeo & Juliet , my best lessons came from my coworkers and the book Shakespeare Set Free. If you are teaching Romeo & Juliet for the first time, drop everything and go buy this book. Someone who had taught in my classroom before me had left it on the bookshelf, and I opened it in a planning panic. Besides my coworkers (both of whom had theater experience), this book was the most helpful in helping me enact active and fun lessons during my Romeo & Juliet unit.

SO, what this all means is that I cannot share my whole Romeo & Juliet unit, but below are some activities that I created that may be helpful to you.

Pre-Reading Activities for Romeo & Juliet

Action Ranking-Rank actions based on how serious of an offense they are

Agree/Disagree Discussion (You can also turn this into a more active activity by having kids move to one side of the room or other other based on whether they "agree" or "disagree" with the statement)

Character Cut-Outs (paid product) : Introduce the plot of Romeo & Juliet and the main characters by having students complete this "Character Cut-Out Activity." Basically, students cut representations of each character out of old magazines to help them start learning the characters. The TpT product has a PowerPoint and graphic organizers to walk you through the activity.

Romeo & Juliet Reader's Theater

One of the main pieces of feedback from my coworkers was to have the kids act out Romeo & Juliet using Reader's Theater. I was not comfortable with this at all at first since I have no theater background, but eventually, even I figured it out. Also, there are a million variations on Reader's Theater (ie: changing the scene and language, etc.), but I have stuck with the basics.

The handouts below are from a few years of trial & error. One page is directions for the kids on how to do Reader's Theater and the other pages are charts that show how I divided up Romeo & Juliet and assigned the scenes to kids. Overall, when we started an act, I would give the kids an overview of the act and then assign them a scene. Sometimes, some scenes were very long and some scenes were very short, so I would divide up the scenes as needed to try and give each group and equal amount of work. Then, students had to get into their groups and create the script for their scene, and lastly, they would have to present their assigned scene to the class. There is a rubric that you can use as a starting point for grading. You may want to add more detail to it, depending on your grading preferences. The charts below still have my student names on them so that you can see how I assigned kids; you just need to delete my kids and add yours and then you'll be good to go.

Basic Acting Techniques PowerPoint

Reader's Theater Directions

Reader's Theater Rubric

Romeo & Juliet Act II Group Assignments (I started with Act 2 for Reader's Theater because we read Act I together as a class to get used to the language. The page numbers were from the textbooks we had that-Holt Elements of Literature )

Romeo & Juliet Act III Group Assignments

Romeo & Juliet Act IV Group Assignments

Romeo & Juliet Act V Group Assignments

Romeo & Juliet Scene Summary Charts

After each group presented their scene, I would give the rest of the class time to summarize the scene on a graphic organizer. The kids who presented the scene had to field any questions from their classmates about plot points that their classmates were confused about. I always warned the presenters that if their classmates had no clue what happened in their scene, then they did not do a good job bringing the scene to life in their presentation. The q & a was also a good time for me to gauge who in the presentation group did all the work, as the kid who stepped up to answer the questions was typically the only one who understood what was going on, overall.

Act I Summary Chart

Act II Summary Chart

Act III Summary Chart

Act IV Summary Chart

Act V Summary Chart

Romeo & Juliet Handouts & Activities

Understanding Syntax

Act 1 Questions

Small Review Activities for the Balcony Scene (paid product)

Close Reading of Friar Lawrence's Soliloquy (Act 2, Scene 3)

Romeo & Juliet Character Review

Romeo & Juliet Act II Quiz

Written Conversations: For this activity, put students into groups of four and give each of them a different "question." This makes it so that when students pass their papers, they are discussing different questions all at once. Give the everyone 5-10 minutes to respond to their given question, and then have students pass their paper clockwise. The next student has to respond to the ideas of the first student. Repeat this one more time, and then have the students pass the "conversations" back to the original owner.

Literary Terms w. Examples from Romeo & Juliet

Intro to Puns

Romeo & Juliet Literary Terms PowerPoint

Romeo and Juliet Multiple Choice Unit Test (no answer key)- The formatting is all crazy and I don't know where the answer key is, but the questions are good. Mix of plot and analysis.

Other Books That Connect to Romeo & Juliet

There are so many great books that you can use in place of Romeo & Juliet OR as an extension of your Romeo & Juliet studies. Below are some of my current favorites.

Romeo & Juliet Movies

Again....there are so many. Here are just a few.

There's almost an endless amount of resources out there for Romeo and Juliet , but hopefully these are still helpful for someone. If you have any resources that you would like to share with others, please post them in the comments below.

Free Resources
Classic Literature

Juliet's Monologues From Shakespeare's Tragedy

Basics & Advice
Playwrights
Play & Drama Reviews
Best Sellers
Classic Literature
Shakespeare
Short Stories
Children's Books
M.A., Literature, California State University - Northridge
B.A., Creative Writing, California State University - Northridge

Who is the protagonist of " Romeo and Juliet "? Do both titular characters share that role equally?

Typically, stories and plays focus on one protagonist and the rest are supporting characters (with an antagonist or two thrown in for good measure). With "Romeo and Juliet," some might argue that Romeo is the main character because he gets more stage time, not to mention a couple of sword fights, too.

However, Juliet experiences a great deal of family pressure, as well as an ongoing inner conflict. If we label the protagonist as the character that experiences the deepest level of conflict, then maybe the story is really about this young girl, swept up by her emotions and caught up in what will become the most tragic love story in the English language.

Here are some key moments in the life of Juliet Capulet . Each monologue reveals the growth of her character.

Act 2, Scene 2: The Balcony

In her most famous speech and her first monologue, Juliet wonders why the newfound love (or is it lust?) of her life is cursed with the last name Montague , the long-standing enemy of her family.

This scene takes place after Romeo and Juliet met at the Capulet's party. Romeo, infatuated, wandered his way back into Capulet's gardens right to Juliet's balcony. At the same time, Juliet comes out, unaware of Romeo's presence, and ponders her situation out loud.

The monologue beings with the now-famous line:

O Romeo, Romeo! Wherefore art thou Romeo?

This line is often misinterpreted as Juliet asking about Romeo's whereabouts. However, "wherefore" in Shakesperean English meant "why." Juliet is thus questioning her own fate of falling in love with the enemy.

She then continues to plead, still thinking she is alone:

Deny thy father and refuse thy name; Or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love, And I'll no longer be a Capulet.

This passage reveals that the two families have an antagonist history , and Romeo and Juliet's love would be difficult to pursue. Juliet wishes Romeo would give up his family but is also ready to give up hers.

To soothe herself, she rationalizes as to why she should continue to love Romeo, saying that a name is superficial and does not necessarily make up a person.

'Tis but thy name that is my enemy; Thou art thyself, though not a Montague. What's Montague? it is nor hand, nor foot, Nor arm, nor face, nor any other part Belonging to a man. O, be some other name! What's in a name? that which we call a rose By any other name would smell as sweet;

Act 2, Scene 2: Declarations of Love

Later in the same scene, Juliet discovers that Romeo has been in the garden all along, overhearing her confessions. Since their emotions aren't a secret anymore, the two star-crossed lovers profess their affections openly.

Here are some lines from Juliet's monologue and an explanation in modern English.

Thou know'st the mask of night is on my face, Else would a maiden blush bepaint my cheek For that which thou hast heard me speak to-night Fain would I dwell on form, fain, fain deny What I have spoke: but farewell compliment!

Juliet is glad it is night time and Romeo cannot see how red she is from the embarrassment of breaking conventions and letting him overhear all she has said. Juliet wishes she could have kept up her good manners. But, realizing it is too late for that, she accepts the situation and becomes more straightforward.

Dost thou love me? I know thou wilt say 'Ay,' And I will take thy word: yet if thou swear'st, Thou mayst prove false; at lovers' perjuries Then say, Jove laughs. [...]

In this passage, Juliet displays the disposition of a person in love. She knows that Romeo loves her, but at the same time is anxious to hear it from him, and even then she wants to make sure he isn't simply falsely exaggerating.

Act 4, Scene 3: Juliet's Choice

In her last longer monologue, Juliet takes a big risk by deciding to trust in the friar's plan to fake her own death and wake within the tomb, where Romeo should be waiting for her. Here, she contemplates the potential danger of her decision, unleashing a combination of fear and determination.

Come, vial. What if this mixture do not work at all? Shall I be married then to-morrow morning? No, no: this shall forbid it: lie thou there. (Laying down her dagger.)

As Juliet is about to take the poison, she wonders what would happen if it doesn't work and she is afraid. Juliet would rather kill herself than marry someone new. The dagger here represents her plan B.

What if it be a poison, which the friar Subtly hath minister'd to have me dead, Lest in this marriage he should be dishonour'd, Because he married me before to Romeo? I fear it is: and yet, methinks, it should not, For he hath still been tried a holy man.

Juliet is second-guessing whether or not the friar is being honest with her. Is the potion a sleeping potion or a lethal one? Since the friar married the couple in secret, Juliet is nervous that he might be now trying to cover up what he did by killing her in case he gets in trouble with either the Capulets or Montagues. In the end, Juliet calms herself by saying the friar is a holy man and wouldn't trick her.

How if, when I am laid into the tomb, I wake before the time that Romeo Come to redeem me? there's a fearful point! Shall I not, then, be stifled in the vault, To whose foul mouth no healthsome air breathes in, And there die strangled ere my Romeo comes?

Thinking of other worst-case scenarios, Juliet wonders what would happen if the sleeping potion wore off before Romeo could remove her from the tomb and she suffocated to death. She ponders that if she wakes up alive, she might be so afraid of the darkness and all the dead bodies, with their horrible smells, that she might go crazy.

But in the end, Juliet rashly decides to take the potion as she exclaims:

Romeo, I come! This do I drink to thee.

Romeo's Monologues From "Romeo and Juliet
Ismene's Monologue From Antigone
Best Non-Hamlet Monologues From "Hamlet"
Mercutio Monologues
Best Speeches From Shakespeare's Henry V
Antigone's Monologue Expresses Defiance
Jocasta's Monologue From "Oedipus the King"
"Pygmalion" Monologues and Scenes
Creon's Monologue from 'Antigone'
Classic Monologue from "Oedipus the King"
Nora's Monologue from "A Doll's House"
Eliza Doolittle's Final Monologues from 'Pygmalion'
Medea's Monologue by Euripides
Torvald Helmer's Monologue From 'A Doll's House'
Dorine's Monologues in Moliere's "Tartuffe"
Cyrano de Bergerac's Comedic Monologue

StageMilk / Monologues Unpacked / Romeo Monologue (Act 2, Scene 1)

Romeo Monologue (Act 2, Scene 1)

Let’s talk Romeo and Juliet, a tale as old as time. There’s not an actor out there who doesn’t yearn to play one of these characters – but today we’ll be unpacking Romeo’s monologue in Act 2, Scene 1. Let’s dig in.

Romeo Montague , a sworn enemy of the Capulets has attended a masked ball at the house of Capulet where he meets and shares a first kiss with Juliet Capulet. I would argue that Romeo falls in love with Juliet, instantly upon seeing her.

“Did my heart love till now? Forswear it, sight, for I ne’er saw true beauty till this night”.

After the party, Romeo steals away from his friends, Mercutio and Benvolio, to seek out Juliet.

The monologue takes place beneath the balcony of Juliet’s Bedroom, inside the walls of the Capulet grounds. This is an incredibly dangerous place for Romeo to be. If caught, he could be killed.

Thought Breakdown

So we know what has just happened and where we are in the story. So now let’s break down Romeo’s thoughts.

When approaching a monologue, I break it into ‘bite size’ pieces. These are based on the thoughts of the character. I find it useful to break a monologue down in this way to help myself find indications into what the character’s state of mind might be. Here we see Romeo using descriptive metaphor and imagery to help him describe the wonder that is Juliet.

Beat Change: Space Thought Change: /

Here is the original text. I have added spaces at what I consider the major beat changes and a / where I see a clear thought change . This is somewhat subjective, but I believe if you can clearly understand these shifts you will be well on your way.

But soft! What light through yonder window breaks? / It is the East, and Juliet is the sun! /

Arise, fair sun, and kill the envious moon, Who is already sick and pale with grief, That thou her maid art far more fair than she. /

Be not her maid, since she is envious: / Her vestal livery is but sick and green, And none but fools do wear it. Cast it off! /

It is my lady; O, it is my love! O that she knew she were! /

She speaks, yet she says nothing. What of that? / Her eye discourses; I will answer it. / I am too bold; ’tis not to me she speaks. /

Two of the fairest stars in all the heaven, Having some business, do entreat her eyes To twinkle in their spheres till they return. /

What if her eyes were there, they in her head? / The brightness of her cheek would shame those stars As daylight doth a lamp; / her eyes in heaven Would through the airy region stream so bright That birds would sing and think it were not night. /

See how she leans her cheek upon her hand! / O that I were a glove upon that hand, That I might touch that cheek! /

Modern Translation

Looking at a modern translation of the speech helps me to understand some of the imagery that Romeo is using. I make note of any recurring images that stand out. Here I notice that Romeo is really urging Juliet to be like the sun and less like the moon. This light and dark metaphor is carried on throughout the whole play. Before meeting Juliet, Romeo is described, locking himself inside his room and ‘shutting fair daylight’ out. After Romeo meets Juliet, this all changes. Now everything is about light, specifically, Juliet’s light; represented by the sun. The sun is hot and passionate whereas the moon is cold, sick and pale (representing chastity).

But quiet! What is that light coming through the window over there? It is the east, and Juliet is the sun.

Arise beautiful sun and kill the jealous moon, Who looks sickly and pale being upset, Because you, her servant are so much more beautiful than she is.

Don’t be her maiden-servant, since the moon is jealous: Her virginal clothing is nothing but sick and green, And only fools wear virginal clothes, throw them off!

It is my lady, Oh, it is my love! O I wish she knew she was!

She’s speaking and yet saying nothing. So what? Her eye is speaking, I will answer it! I am too reckless. She’s not speaking to me.

Two of the most beautiful stars in all the heavens, For some reason, urge her eyes, To twinkle in the space they left in the universe, until they get back.

What if her eyes were in the universe, those stars in her head? Her cheek is so bright that is would put those stars to shame, The way the sun does with a torch, her eye in heaven Would through space shine so brightly, That birds would sing and think it wasn’t night time.

Look at how she leans her cheek upon her hand! I wish I were a glove on that hand, so that I could touch that cheek!

Unfamiliar Words/Phrases.

Soft : Quiet.

Yonder : distant.

Breaks : Appears through.

Moon : Symbol of chastity.

Maid : A Nun – someone devout and chaste.

Vestel Livery: The clothing of a virgin. Relating to the Roman Goddess Vesta.

Spheres : Orbits. Stars were believed to be contained within spheres that rotated around the earth.

Discourses : Speaks.

Lamp : A torch.

Conclusion

Romeo is young, passionate and impulsive – even comical. Not necessarily a buffoon but his naive, young love can be funny. Deep love brings out the best and the worst in people and this is the very beginnings of two stars colliding – two bright candles that will burn out long before their time.

Being in enemy territory, Romeo shows great courage in the face of death and fearless in his pursuit of Juliet. Having said that, there is also great opportunity for comedy during the monologue. The audience and Romeo are in on a game that Juliet is not. She does not discover his presence until later in the scene. This dramatic irony allows for a million possibilities on how you might play out the monologue and the scene that follows.

In the context of the play this is only the second time we encounter the two lovers on stage together. Considering they only share five scenes (including the tomb scene where they both perish) there is no time to waste! I feel that there is an urgency about the monologue and with the language and imagery, the audience can get a glimpse of what it might be like to experience Romeo’s intense love and passionate love for Juliet.

This monologue is a wonderful opportunity for an actor to showcase their ability to handle heightened language and imagery and more over… to have fun!

About the Author

Damien Strouthos is an actor, writer and director. A WAAPA graduate from 2012, over the past decade he has worked professionally for Bell Shakespeare, Belvoir Theatre Company and Sydney Theatre Company. Some of his Film and Television credits include, I am Woman (2019), Frayed ABC (2018) and Wonderland (Channel 10 (2013)). Damien's greatest passion is the process of creating and telling stories.