Romeo and Juliet - Chapter 2

Study guide for 10th – 12th Grade

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Copywork

About This Passage

Juliet interrupts Romeo's oath, then turns the suddenness of their agreement into contrasting images.

Well, do not swear. Although I joy in thee, I have no joy of this contract tonight; It is too rash, too unadvis’d, too sudden, Too like the lightning, which doth cease to be Ere one can say “It lighte...

Full copywork activity with handwriting lines available in the complete study guide.

Discussion Questions

Narration Prompt

Trace how the chapter moves from private declarations to a plan for marriage, noting the interruptions and warnings that change the audience's view.

Discussion Questions

  1. What does Juliet's refusal to swear by the moon ask the audience to question about Romeo's balcony vows?
  2. How does the Nurse's comic delay alter the play's treatment of Juliet's careful plan to marry Romeo?

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Vocabulary Builder

Item 1

Changing often or unreliable. Juliet calls the moon inconstant because its shifting pattern makes it a poor guarantee of lasting love.

Item 2

Deliberately contrary or difficult. Juliet says she might be perverse and refuse Romeo so that his promise is tested rather than rushed.

Item 3

Done too quickly, before good judgment has time to work. Juliet calls their contract rash because it has formed in one intense night.

+ 3 more vocabulary words in the complete study guide

Critical Thinking

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