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Romeo and Juliet, Prologue

The Chorus tells us the whole story in fourteen lines. Two families, two lovers, both dead by the end.

Romeo and Juliet has 24 scenes in 5 acts, and this sonnet comes before all of them. The 3 key lines here come from the Chorus.

The Reconciliation of the Montagues and Capulets over the Dead Bodies of Romeo and Juliet
The Reconciliation of the Montagues and Capulets over the Dead Bodies of Romeo and Juliet. Frederic Leighton, 1855. Public domain, Wikimedia Commons.

This scene in five words

Chorusrevealstheending

Hide these. Ask the class for their five. Then show them. Then play today's sentence.

The quotes

3 big quotes in this scene.

Two households, both alike in dignity

Chorus · Prologue · family · hate

Two families, both important, both as good as each other. And they hate each other.

A pair of star-cross'd lovers take their life

Chorus · Prologue · fate · death · love

The stars are against them. The play tells you the ending before it starts.

Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean.

Chorus · Prologue · hate · family

Neighbours killing neighbours. Their hands are dirty with their own city's blood.

Next →Act 1, Scene 1: Street fight; Prince threatens death
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The words of the book come from Project Gutenberg (public domain). Every quote was checked against it. Paintings and drawings are public domain, from Wikimedia Commons, credited under each one. Notes by Akash Wadhwani. Copy it. Print it. Share it. No sign-up.
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