Revise 'Romeo and Juliet' - AQA

May 15th 2019                       Afternoon

AO1: you know the play really well and you have your own ideas about it 

AO2: you can talk about language and structure and that this is a play written for a reason

AO3: you know this is a tragedy and what makes it a tragedy.  You can talk about what the play tells us about its context.

AO4: you can spell, punctuate and paragraph accurately.  





Make sure you know who is who. Tragedies are always named for the main character/s - the protagonist/s. 
Romeo and Juliet: no matter what the question is about, you need to talk about them.  It's their play. (AO1)
Romeo Montague and Juliet Capulet

The other main characters are:-

Mercutio: neither a Montague nor a Capulet, but a friend to Romeo. His name tells you something about his character which is mercurial (someone whose mood or behaviour is changeable and unpredictable, or someone who is clever, lively, and quick). He dies at the beginning of Act 3.

Tybalt Capulet:  Juliet's cousin who name means 'bold' but he shares it with a popular character in folk tales of the time where Tybalt/Tibert is 'the prince of cats'. (Now we might call him Top Cat or Garfield.)  He also dies at the beginning of Act 3.

Benvolio Montague: Romeo's cousin, his name means 'peacemaker'.  

The Nurse: servant in the Capulet family she is a comic character and is often played like the Dame in pantomime.  She is presented as not very clever and extremely talkative. 

Friar Laurence: the confessor to both Romeo and Juliet who wants to see the end of the Montague/Capulet feud and sees their marriage as a way of achieving this.

Lord Capulet: Juliet's father who initially seems to care for his daughter but later insists she marry against her will. He is the head of the Capulet family.

Lady Capulet: Juliet's mother who is actually very young (around 27). Her character reflects her comparative youth and immaturity.

Lord and Lady Montague: Romeo's parents feature only briefly at the beginning and Lord Montague at the end of the play. Lady Montague dies of grief off stage when Romeo is banished. 

Paris: cousin to The Prince and intended to be Juliet's husband. He dies, killed by Romeo, in Act 5.

Prince Escalus: his name means 'balance' or 'scales' and Shakespeare uses it more than once for a character who weighs things in the balance before coming to a decision. 

Rosaline Capulet: never appears in person. Her name was thought to mean 'lovely rose' (a rose by any other name would smell as sweet) and she was Romeo's first Petrarchan crush, though he had never met her. His reason for gate crashing the Capulet ball was to catch a glimpse of this 'love'. 

Themes (AO1)
Fate vs free will
Love
Ambiguity
Old vs young (2018)
Masculinity and violence (2017)

Motifs (AO2)
Light and dark/Day and night: The grey-eyed morn smiles on the frowning night
Plants: look at Friar Laurence's first speech
Stars: I defy you, stars.
Sun and moon: it is the east and Juliet is the sun

 Motifs usually illustrate themes, but don't get them confused! 

A quick note on AO3 - context.
Don't worry about it!
Examiners don't want a history lesson or a paragraph on the patriarchal society. 

If you focus on the task, you'll cover context. Telling me that 'Romeo and Juliet' is a tragedy covers AO3. Saying what is tragic puts you up to higher grades, but telling me about Aristotle when you probably haven't read his definition and explanation of tragedy ain't gonna impress me one bit. In any case, the task is about Shakespeare, not Aristotle. 

A quick note on 'literary terms'.
Use language with which you are comfortable - don't shoehorn in terms which you think are impressive for the sake of it. 'Harmartia' used incorrectly does you no favours. 
It's a play so understanding that an 'audience' hears a play (a spectator watches) and what a soliloquy is for, is far more important and effective than obscure terminology. 


SO:
Think about themes
Think about motifs
Make sure you know the play
Make sure you know who's who and don't confuse your Montague with your Capulet
Make sure you have your own ideas about the play and the characters
and
Answer the question!