#854. Interpreting quotes in Romeo and Juliet

Literature, level: Senior
Posted Sat Feb 13 18:57:05 PST 1999 by Rick Cohoon (rcohoon@net66.com).
Lovington High School, Lovington, IL
Materials Required: A text of the play
Activity Time: 20-25 minutes
Concepts Taught: interpreting Shakespeare, recognizing great literary quotes

As a review of an act or even of the whole play, copy certain major quotes from the play on a transparency or on the board and put blanks in them. For example: "Juliet: What's in a _________? That which we call a ________ by any other name would smell as ________..."

Ask the students first to fill in the blanks with the appropriate word from the script. Then have the students go back and re-read the full quote along with the passage before and after it. Tell the students to explain in modern English what this passage is saying. Teach them to use context clues to determine what they already know about the dialogue to infer what the passage means.