Romeo and Juliet Activities: Language (KS4)

Add to My Resources Remove from My Resources

Here you can find resources designed around the 2019 Playing Shakespeare with Deutsche Bank production of Romeo and Juliet. Created for young people, students are able to follow along with the production online on the Globe's dedicated Romeo and Juliet microsite.

If students are new to the play, we suggest you start with these introductory Key Stage 3 Lesson Plans. If you would like to teach the play in greater detail, we recommend you use the advanced activities which can be found in the Key Stage 4 or Key Stage 5 areas.

We will be updating this section week by week, so be sure to check back for more activities soon. 

Read the article, 'Love and Hate in Romeo and Juliet', by Chris Nayak. Chris highlights two major speeches in which the title characters express themselves using oxymora. Let's look at these in more detail.

Divide a page in half and create a table with two headings: Romeo and Juliet.

Start with Romeo's speech in Act 1, Scene 1, lines 168-174. List all the oxymora that he uses. At this point in the play, who is Romeo talking about? What is causing Romeo to feel this way?  Add this explanation underneath your list. Annotate the oxymora with all the connotations you can think of linked to each word.

Now look at Juliet's speech in Act 3, Scene 2, lines 73-85. List all the oxymora that she uses.

Who is Juliet talking about here? At this point in the play, what two types of love that Julier feels are in conflict? Given the previous question, why is this significant? What do these oxymora suggest about the intensity of Juliet's feelings? Add this explanation underneath your list. Annotate the oxymora with all the connotations you can think of linked to each word.

Now that you have your lists, explanations and annotations, compare Romeo and Juliet's use of oxymora. Are there any patterns to each of them? (Hint: look at light and darkness, religious images, nature) Whose oxymora are more effective at conveying their conflicted emotions (i.e. which creates a stronger impression on you)? Why?

Return to Chris’ article, and consider: without the hate in the play, would Romeo and Juliet love each other as much? Make references to the structure of the play to support your ideas.

Finally, consider: what is the relationship between the intensity of the desire and not being able to fulfil it?

Downloads

Want to download these resources and more? Log in or sign up to Teach Shakespeare.

Notes

Log in or sign up to add your own notes.