ROMEO and JULIET
Act 2, Scene 5

Setting: Juliet is anxiously waiting in her bedroom for news from Romeo to be delivered by the Nurse. She frets why the Nurse is taking so long and muses that old people are slow and haven’t the romantic rush and energy that young people have.

Vocabulary:
Perchance: perhaps
Hie: go to in a hurry
Heralds: messengers

Go through Juliet’s speech to find examples of the following: metaphors, similes, personification and allusion. Write the phrase employing the figurative language; identify which figurative language is being used; and explain the meaning.

Pinioned: joints on a wing
Nimble pinioned: fleet of wings
Bandy her: to volley her back and forth like a tennis ball.
Jaunce: exhausting trip
Stay the circumstances; wait for the details

Personification:
Love’s herald should be thoughts
Metaphor:
Which ten times faster glide than the sun’s beams / Driving back shadows over low’ring hills.
Personification and Allusion:
Therefore do nimble-pinioned doves draw Love, / And therefore hath the wind-swift Cupid wings.
Simile:
She would be as swift in motion as a ball;
Metaphor:
My words would bandy her like a ball.
Simile:
Unwieldy, slow, heavy, and pale as lead.
Juliet is comparing the Nurse to lead.
Do you think the Nurse is deliberately teasing Juliet and driving her crazy by withholding the information she so wants to hear? What is the Nurse doing to make you think she is teasing Juliet? What does this scene reveal about the relationship between the Nurse and Juliet?

Eventually, the Nurse tells Juliet to give as an alibi that she is going to the church to be shrived (confession) and there, she will be married to Romeo.

ACT 2, SCENE 6
The Wedding of Romeo and Juliet
The setting: the cathedral; Romeo and the Friar are waiting for Juliet.

For homework tonight, go over Act 2, Scene 6 and find examples of metaphors, similes, personification, allusion and foreshadowing.
Write down the quotations, identify them and explain their meaning. What does the Friar really think about Romeo and Juliet’s love.