Grades 9 and 10 - Literature - High School - Romeo and Juliet - Language — Flashcards

MCQs on the language in Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare. The language in Romeo and Juliet s not entirely light and fanciful, but is instead full of violence and dark passion. Much of the play centers on the contrast between the visible and public and the hidden and private, and so the language, too, contains multiple meanings which repay careful reading.

Characters in Romeo and Juliet are sharply delineated by their linguistic choices, with recognizable words and phrases being picked up and echoed by other characters in different circumstances throughout the play.

The themes of Romeo and Juliet re evident through the plot and actions of characters, and often more subtly through the repetition of related language. One useful revision technique would be to collect examples of vocabulary related to each of the themes of the play. Consider which character uses each of these collected examples and what the implications might be for their specific choices.

An audience’s understanding and interpretation of a play is, of course, affected by its performance, including each individual actor’s pace, tone and gesture.  Although in reading you do not have access to these aspects of the play, the written language is the foundation and substance through which its meaning is conveyed.