‘Romeo and Juliet’ – The Prologue

In your study of ‘Romeo and Juliet’, be sure that you can answer the following questions on The Prologue:

  1. Who speaks The Prologue?
  2. What is the purpose of The Prologue?
  3. What poetic form does it take?
  4. Explain the importance of lines 5 and 6.
  5. Why does Shakespeare tell us how the story is going to end and what effect does this have on the audience?
  6. What themes are established in The Prologue?

What quotations should you know from the Prologue? You should really know the whole Prologue off-by-heart. It is a sonnet and 14 lines should not present too much of a challenge.  Perhaps the most crucial phrases from are as follows:

‘star-crossed lovers’

and

‘death-marked love’