Act 2 — Teaching Companion

This chapter's big question

When the very voices that warn against haste in Act II, Juliet's and the Friar's, become the ones who arrange a wedding within a day, does the act condemn the lovers' speed or concede that in Verona this love has no slower way to live?

The tension The act's wisest lines counsel patience, from Juliet's "too rash, too unadvis’d, too sudden" to the Friar's "Wisely and slow", which answers Romeo's "I stand on sudden haste"; the open push comes from Romeo, who asks the Friar to "marry us today" and fixes the hour at "this afternoon", while the cautious voices join and enable the speed, Juliet proposing marriage by morning and the Friar performing it the same day.

Today's focus

Follow how the act talks about speed: who warns, who hurries, and who helps.

The shape at a glance

The Chorus says the lovers must find ways to meet. Romeo leaps the orchard wall and his friends call for him in vain. In the garden Romeo and Juliet exchange vows, Juliet calls them too sudden, then asks him to send word of marriage tomorrow. At dawn the Friar gathers herbs, doubts Romeo's change of heart, and agrees to help. In the street Mercutio jokes, and the Nurse takes Romeo's plan for the afternoon. Juliet waits three hours for the Nurse, and the act ends at the Friar's cell.

A way in

Start with Juliet's "too sudden" and ask what she wants from Romeo instead of an oath.

Lesson plan

Retell The student retells the act in order, naming the time of day and who is on stage at each step. Correct the order before moving on: the wedding itself is not shown.

Imitate the author After copying Juliet's speech, the student writes four lines in her manner: a warning built on two images, then a goodnight that keeps repeating.

Debate One reader defends Romeo's view of joy in the cell scene, and the other the Friar's "love moderately." Each uses one line from the scene.

Purpose The student practices setting what a character says beside what the same character does, and treating any gap as something to interpret, not to score.

Three levels

Easier Read the window scene aloud together and talk through discussion questions 2 and 3 only.

On level Talk through all six discussion questions, then have the student write one critical-thinking thesis with two quotes, an objection and a revision.

Harder Ask the student to write a second thesis on another critical-thinking question and say which of the two the act supports better.

Discussion

1. The Chorus says Romeo, "held a foe," "may not have access" to Juliet, but "passion lends them power, time means, to meet." What kind of scenes does that set you up to expect, and what does it leave unsaid?Plot structure

What it asks What the Chorus promises the audience before the act begins, and what it says nothing about.

A strong answer The Chorus says Romeo, as a supposed enemy, "may not have access" to Juliet, and that her "means much less" to meet him. Then it turns: passion and time will lend them the means. A strong answer expects secret, risky meetings, and notices the Chorus says nothing about how fast the lovers will move or whether that will be wise.

2. Juliet stops Romeo's oath as "too rash, too unadvis’d, too sudden," then asks him to send word of marriage tomorrow. What is she after in each moment?Character

What it asks What Juliet wants when she refuses the oath and what she wants when she asks for marriage, and whether those are one want or two.

A strong answer First Juliet refuses: she stops Romeo's oath by the moon and calls the night's contract too sudden. Then she asks: if he means marriage, he is to send word tomorrow of where and when. One reading is that she wants a deed, not a word that may prove false. Another is that she is as eager as he is, since she gave her love before it was asked and calls the hours until nine "twenty years." A strong answer says what she is after in each moment and whether the two fit together.

3. Juliet says the orchard walls are "high and hard to climb" and her kinsmen "will murder thee." Romeo answers with love's power and "night’s cloak." What does the exchange show about how each of them sees the danger?Inference

What it asks How Juliet and Romeo each weigh the risk of his being in the orchard, judged by what each says in this one exchange.

A strong answer Juliet names two dangers, a high wall and kinsmen who "will murder thee." Romeo answers with love's power over "stony limits," with her eye as a greater peril than swords, and then with "night’s cloak." One reading is that he talks past the danger in figures that cannot stop a sword. Another is that he hears it and accepts it, saying his life would be better ended by their hate than lived without her love. A strong answer says what each of them thinks the danger is, and does not judge whether he should have come.

4. Friar Lawrence says the match "may so happy prove" as to "turn your households’ rancour to pure love." How do you weigh that reason against what he says earlier in the scene about young men's love?Moral reasoning

What it asks Whether the Friar's one stated reason for helping stands up beside the doubt he has just voiced about Romeo's love.

A strong answer The Friar gives one reason for helping: the match "may so happy prove" as to "turn your households’ rancour to pure love." It looks past the two lovers to the whole city. But earlier in the scene, he said young men's love lies "not truly in their hearts, but in their eyes," and he calls Romeo a "young waverer." A strong answer weighs a hopeful reason against a doubt he voiced himself, and stays with the words he speaks in this scene.

5. Juliet waits three hours, and the Nurse answers her with aching bones and "Where is your mother?" What does the comedy of this delay do to your feeling about Juliet's hurry?Tone

What it asks Whose side the laughter takes in the garden scene, and what the delay does to how the audience feels about speed.

A strong answer Juliet's hurry is played for laughter: she says old folks are "heavy and pale as lead," and the Nurse answers with aching bones and "Where is your mother?" before she gives any news. One reading is that the joke is on the slow Nurse, and the audience feels Juliet's wait. Another is that Juliet's hurry is the joke, and the Nurse's tired body is the real pace of the day; when the news comes, it is short and plain. A strong answer says whose side the laughter takes and what the scene does to the feeling of hurry in the scenes around it.

6. Romeo says no sorrow can "countervail the exchange of joy" that one minute with Juliet gives. The Friar answers, "Therefore love moderately." Whose view of joy do you find wiser?Theme

What it asks Whose account of joy and risk is the wiser in the cell scene: Romeo's readiness to pay any cost or the Friar's call for moderation.

A strong answer Romeo says no sorrow can "countervail the exchange of joy" one minute with Juliet gives, and that death may do what he dare. The Friar answers that "violent delights have violent ends" and asks for moderate love: "Too swift arrives as tardy as too slow." One reading favors Romeo, who names the risk and accepts it. Another favors the Friar, who sees what Romeo's joy cannot afford to see. A strong answer says what each means by joy, and notes that the Friar's advice comes a few lines before he says "we will make short work," without deciding what the act makes of that.

Critical thinking

1. The Nurse warns Romeo against a "fool’s paradise," then answers his plan for a wedding that afternoon with "Well, she shall be there." Write a thesis on what becomes of her warning, use two of her lines, answer one objection, and revise.

What it asks Whether the Nurse's warning is met, set aside, or kept alive by her consent, judged from her own words in the street.

A strong answer The Nurse begins by telling Romeo that leading Juliet into a "fool’s paradise" or dealing double with her would be an ill thing. Romeo then asks her to bring Juliet to the Friar's cell that afternoon to be married, and she agrees. A thesis can say her warning was about deceit and that a marriage answers it. An objection is that she agrees at once and then asks whether his man is secret. A revision names which worry she lets go and which she keeps, using only what she says in this scene.

2. At dawn the Friar says "Virtue itself turns vice being misapplied." Write a thesis on what rule his herb speech sets out, use two lines from it, answer one objection, and revise.

What it asks What general rule the Friar draws from one weak flower, and whether it is a rule about use or about which power wins.

A strong answer At dawn the Friar says nothing is so vile that it does no good, and nothing so good that misuse cannot spoil it. He adds that one flower holds poison and medicine, and that where the worse power rules, the canker eats the plant. A thesis can say the rule is about use: what matters is how a thing is applied. An objection is the "two such opposed kings" that sit in every herb and every man, which makes it a rule about which side wins. A revision keeps both, and stays with what the speech says.

3. Benvolio says of Romeo, "Blind is his love, and best befits the dark"; Mercutio answers, "If love be blind, love cannot hit the mark." Write a thesis using both lines on how the friends read Romeo's love, answer one objection, and revise.

What it asks How Romeo's friends read his love, and how much they can know about it from outside the wall.

A strong answer Benvolio says Romeo's love is blind and suits the dark, and Mercutio answers that a blind love cannot hit the mark. A thesis can say the friends see love as a blindness that hides and misses. An objection is that they conjure Romeo by Rosaline's eyes, so they are mocking a love he has left behind, and they do not know what has drawn him over the wall. A revision says what the friends can tell from outside the wall and what they cannot, and does not use later scenes.

Vocabulary definitions