Romeo and Juliet: Unit Test Study Guide

• This is a Romeo & Juliet Unit Test Study Guide

Terms

• Foil: A character that contrasts with another character, highlighting particular qualities of the other character.
• Characterization: The act of describing the character or qualities of someone or something.
• Blank Verse: Verse without rhyme, especially that using iambic pentameter.
• Dramatic Irony: Irony that is inherent in speeches or a situation of a drama and is understood by the audience but not grasped by the characters in the play.
• Comic Relief: Comic episodes in a dramatic or literary work that offset more serious sections.
• Tragic Hero: A literary character who makes a judgment error that inevitably leads to their own destruction.
• Allusion: An expression designed to call something to mind without mentioning it explicitly; an indirect or passing reference.
• Soliloquy: An act of speaking one's thoughts aloud when by oneself or regardless of any hearers, especially by a character in a play.
• Aside: A remark or passage in a play that is intended to be heard by the audience but unheard by the other characters in the play.
• Pun: A joke exploiting the different possible meanings of a word or the fact that there are words that sound alike but have different meanings.
• Theme: The subject of a talk, a piece of writing, a person's thoughts, or an exhibition; a topic.
• Antagonist: A person who is opposed to, struggles against, or competes with another; opponent; adversary.
• Personification: The attribution of a personal nature or human characteristics to something nonhuman, or the representation of an abstract quality in human form.
• Metaphor: A figure of speech in which a word or phrase is applied to an object or action to which it is not literally applicable.
• Simile: A figure of speech involving the comparison of one thing with another thing of a different kind, used to make a description more emphatic or vivid.
• Hyperbole: Exaggerated statements or claims not meant to be taken literally.
• Symbolism: The use of symbols to represent ideas or qualities.
• Understatement: The presentation of something as being smaller, worse, or less important than it actually is (opposite of hyperbole); ex. Saying "It's only a scratch" when a limb has been severed.

Skills

• Paraphrase: Express the meaning of (the writer or speaker or something written or spoken) using different words, especially to achieve greater clarity.
• Inference: A conclusion reached on the basis of evidence and reasoning.
• Determine Meaning: Define word(s)

Review Acts/Scenes

• Act II scene ii
• Act III scene i

Directions

• Answer the following questions on a document or lined piece of paper.
• For each of the terms, list examples from the play, focusing on the review acts/scenes listed.
• Paraphrase instead of directly quoting.
• Use the acts/scenes listed in the study guide to practice paraphrasing, inferring, and determining meaning.
• Paraphrasing – practice translating into your own words
• Inferring – use context clues to infer things like characterization, purpose, etc.
• Determining meaning – define words/phrases using context clues
• List any characters/forces/group, etc. that have responsibility in Romeo and Juliet's deaths, noting the reasons why. Ex: character – Paris, force – fate, group – society.