What do we learn about the personalities of the following characters in Act I, Scene I of Romeo and Juliet?

BenvolioTybaltThe PrinceRomeo

Rosaline

A foil is a person who contrasts with another character in order to make various traits in each character more apparent. They complement each other.

Act I, scene iii

Lady Capulet“This is the matter –

Nurse, give us leave awhile, / We must talk in secret. Nurse, come back again.

“Enough of this. I pray thee hold thy peace.”

“Speak briefly, can you like of Paris’ love?”

Nurse“I have but four

[teeth]”“I remember it well…I

never shall forget it.”“Thou was the prettiest

babe that e’er I nursed. An I might live to see thee married once, I have my wish.”

“Go, girl, seek happy nights to happy days.”

Act I, scene iii

Lady CapuletFormalRefinedDetached from Juliet

NurseEarthy (course and

unrefined)Crude-humoredWarm and loving

Character Foil

Act I, scene iv

Romeo

BenvolioMercutio

Mercutio“Nay, gentle Romeo, we

must have you dance.”“You are a lover.”“And so did I. / That

dreamers often lie.”Queen Mab speech“True, I talk of dreams; /

Which are the children of an idle brain, / begot of nothing but vain fantasy”

Romeo“You have dancing shoes /

With nimble soles; I have a soul of lead / So stakes me to the ground I cannot move.”

“I dreamt a dream to night.”

“In bed asleep, while they do dream things true.”

“for my mind misgives / Some consequence, yet hanging in the stars”

Act I, scene iv

MercutioRealistJokesterBelieves you should

enjoy life

RomeoDreamerUsually more seriousBelieves in the

ideals of passionate love

Character Foil

• Tybalt (hates peace) and Benvolio (peacemaker)

• Mrs. Capulet (uninvolved) and the nurse (motherly)

• Mercutio (realist) and Romeo (dreamer)

• Paris (“head” choice) and Romeo (“heart” choice)

HW: My Personal Foil

Create a character profile for your personal foil. Think about the personality traits that you possess and write about a fictional character who would be the opposite of you.

CapuletServantRomeoTybaltJulietNurseBenvolio

If I profane with my unworthiest handThis holy shrine, the gentle sin is this:My lips, two blushing pilgrims, ready standTo smooth that rough touch with a tender kiss.

Good pilgrim, you do wrong your hand too much,Which mannerly devotion shows in this,For saints have hands that pilgrims' hands do touch,And palm to palm is holy palmers' kiss

Have not saints lips, and holy palmers too?Ay, pilgrim, lips that they must use in prayer.O, then, dear saint, let lips do what hands do.They pray; grant thou, lest faith turn to despair.

Saints do not move, though grant for prayers' sake.Then move not, while my prayer’s effect I take.

Explain the change that happens in Romeo between the beginning and end of Act I. What does this

reveal about his character?

End of Act I!

Having left the feast, Romeo decides that he cannot go home. He must instead try to find Juliet. He climbs a wall bordering the Capulet property

and leaps down into the Capulet orchard. Benvolio and Mercutio enter, calling out for Romeo. They

are sure he is nearby, but Romeo does not answer. Exasperated and amused, Mercutio mocks Romeo’s

feelings for Rosaline in an obscene speech. Mercutio and Benvolio exit under the assumption

that Romeo does not want to be found. In the orchard, Romeo hears Mercutio’s teasing. He says

to himself, “He jests at scars that never felt a wound” (2.1.43).

ACT II, SCENE I

RomeoJulietNurse

THE FAMOUS BALCONY SCENE