1. Explain the Significance of the Chance Happening in Scene I

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Romeo and Juliet

Act III Worksheet

1. Explain the significance of the chance happening in scene i.

2. What causes the fatal sword fight between Mercutio and Tybalt in scene i?

3. Explain: “They have made worm’s meat of me.”

4. Why does Romeo kill Tybalt?

5. Romeo’s killing of Tybalt is the turning point of the play–the point when something happens that turns the action toward either a happy ending (a comedy) or an unhappy ending (a tragedy). What actions does the killing set in motion, with what possible tragic consequences?

5. Why does Prince Escalus exile Romeo rather than give him the death penalty?

6. Now the young lovers are in serious trouble. What does Juliet threaten in scene ii after hearing of Romeo’s banishment?

7a. What is the friar’s plan to help Romeo and Juliet in scene iii?

b. What might his motivation be?

8. Scene ii has shown how Juliet reacts to misfortune; scene iii shows how Romeo reacts to misfortune. Which of them makes the more favorable impression on you? Why?

9. Explain: “These times of woe afford no time to woo.”

10. A new complication has arisen by the end of scene iv. What plans have Juliet’s parents made for her?

11. How does the nurse offend Juliet in this act and cease to by her ally? How does this development add to the tragedy of the events that follow?

12. Explain: “Some grief shows much of love, but much grief shows still some want of wit.”

13. Does the last scene in this act remind you of encounters between parents and their teenage children that you’ve seen in movies or on TV shows or that you’ve read about in novels? Do Juliet and her parents remind you of real-life teenagers today?

14. Romeo and Juliet are dynamic characters, characters who change during the course of the play. Describe how the lovers have changed in this act? What hard lessons have they learned about love?

15. Did you notice that there is no prologue to Act III? Yet in this act we have some of the strongest action of the play. Fill in the blanks to summarize the main events of the act. (For extra points try writing it in the form of a sonnet.)