Starter quiz
- Which of these are true of 'Romeo and Juliet'?
- It was designed to be read like a book.
- It was designed to be performed live. ✓
- It was written by William Shakespeare. ✓
- It was written in Early Modern English. ✓
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- Which of these are true about the plot in 'Romeo and Juliet'?
- The two main characters are killed in a duel.
- The two main characters kill themselves. ✓
- It is a tragedy. ✓
- It is a comedy.
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- True or false? The Montagues and Capulets are still fighting at the end of 'Romeo and Juliet'.
- True
- False ✓
- Which characters help Romeo and Juliet to be together?
- Lord Capulet
- Nurse ✓
- Tybalt
- Friar Laurence ✓
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- Put these events from 'Romeo and Juliet' in order.
- 1⇔Romeo and Juliet marry in secret.
- 2⇔Romeo is banished for killing Tybalt.
- 3⇔Juliet is told she must marry Paris.
- 4⇔To escape marrying Paris, Juliet takes a potion that makes her seem dead.
- 5⇔Believing she is really dead, Romeo poisons himself.
- 6⇔Juliet wakes up and, finding Romeo dead, stabs herself.
- Why do you think Juliet didn't just tell her parents she couldn't marry Paris because she was married to Romeo?
- In those days, families had a lot of control over who children married. ✓
- She was embarrassed to tell them that she was in love.
- Because of the feud, her family would never have allowed this to happen. ✓
- She knew they'd make her divorce him and marry Paris instead.
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Exit quiz
- What is a theme?
- a plot point in a text
- something a character says in a text
- an idea the author wants us to engage with in a text ✓
- a secret message in a text
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- What kind of question is the following? 'Who is Romeo's cousin in the play?'
- a factual question ✓
- a discussion question
- a philosophical question
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- Which of these are discussion questions?
- Was Romeo right to go to the ball? ✓
- What was Friar Laurence's plan?
- Whose ball did Romeo attend?
- Should Juliet have followed Friar Laurence's plan? ✓
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- Why is the following question not a philosophical question? 'Was it right for Lord Capulet to try and force Juliet to marry Paris?'
- because it is not interesting to discuss
- because you need to understand the play to answer it ✓
- because it isn't about a 'big idea' ✓
- because it doesn't start with 'Why'
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- True or false? You should be able to answer a philosophical question even if you haven't read the text that raised the question.
- True ✓
- False
- Which of these are philosophical questions?
- Should the prince have done more to control the feud?
- What is the best way to deal with grief? ✓
- Should the government do more to stop crime? ✓
- Should Romeo have tried to deal with Juliet’s ‘death’ differently?
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Worksheet
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Lesson Details
Key learning points
- 'Romeo and Juliet' is a tragedy that raises themes around family, social obligations, love and conflict.
- We can use a piece of art like a play as a stimulus for a discussion.
- We can consider factual questions, discussion questions and philosophical questions raised by the play.
- Philosophical questions are questions that are not context-linked - they could be discussed without knowing the play.
- When debating, we build on others' answers and we disagree respectfully.
Common misconception
Pupils may find the distinction between discussion and philosophical questions challenging.
Encourage them to imagine asking the question to their parent or headteacher - if the person could answer without having read 'Romeo and Juliet', then it's a philosophical question. Model this process.
Keywords
Debate - a formal discussion about a question or subject held in public
Theme - a central idea of a text that the writer intends the audience to engage deeply with
Discussion question - a question about a text that can be discussed
Philosophical question - a question that is raised by a text that can be discussed without referring to it
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