Characters in
Romeo and Juliet
GCSE English Literature
Les van English
In deze les zitten 24 slides, met interactieve quizzen en tekstslides.
Characters in
Romeo and Juliet
GCSE English Literature
Lesson 3 of 5. The characters covered here are the ones most often asked about across GCSE specifications - adapt the group activity to the characters your class needs most. Image credit: LessonUp Romeo and Juliet series backdrop Image credit: Ford Madox Brown, Romeo and Juliet, 1870, Delaware Art Museum / Wikimedia Commons, public domain
Starter
minute
second
Adjective Articulate!
In groups, one of you sits with your back to the screen.
Your teacher will spin the wheel and show an adjective. Do not read it aloud!
The rest of the group must define the adjective without saying the word or spelling it out.
Then it's another group member's turn. You have a minute to guess!
Every adjective on the wheel fits at least one character in the play. At the end, ask students to match each word to a character. Image credit: LessonUp Romeo and Juliet series backdrop
Lesson Aims
By the end of this lesson, you will be able to:
Describe the main characters and how they change
Link characters to key quotations
Write a PEEL paragraph about how Shakespeare presents a character
Modify these aims as you see fit! Image credit: LessonUp Romeo and Juliet series backdrop
What words would you use to describe Romeo?
Collect adjectives before the character summaries - then compare the class's first impressions with the evidence. Image credit: LessonUp Romeo and Juliet series backdrop
Romeo
The only son of Lord and Lady Montague.
At the start he is lovesick for Rosaline - but the moment he sees Juliet, he forgets her.
Passionate and impulsive: he falls in love, marries and takes revenge, all within a few days.
"Did my heart love till now? Forswear it, sight! / For I ne'er saw true beauty till this night." (1.5)
Ask - is Romeo's quick switch from Rosaline to Juliet romantic, or a warning sign? Image credit: LessonUp Romeo and Juliet series backdrop Image credit: Frank Bernard Dicksee, Romeo and Juliet, 1884, Southampton City Art Gallery / Wikimedia Commons, public domain
Juliet
The only daughter of Lord and Lady Capulet, not yet fourteen.
At first she is obedient: "I'll look to like, if looking liking move." (1.3)
She grows quickly into a decisive, practical and brave young woman who defies her father and takes enormous risks for love.
"My only love sprung from my only hate!" (1.5)
Juliet is often the more practical of the two lovers - it is she who asks about marriage in the balcony scene. Image credit: LessonUp Romeo and Juliet series backdrop Image credit: Francesco Hayez, The Last Kiss of Romeo and Juliet, 1823, Villa Carlotta / Wikimedia Commons, public domain
Mercutio and Tybalt
Mercutio
Tybalt
Romeo's witty, playful friend and a relative of the Prince - neither a Montague nor a Capulet.
He mocks romantic love and loves wordplay (the Queen Mab speech).
His death in 3.1 turns the play towards tragedy: "A plague o' both your houses!"
Juliet's cousin, nicknamed the "Prince of Cats".
Hot-tempered and obsessed with family honour, he is always ready to fight.
"What, drawn, and talk of peace? I hate the word, / As I hate hell, all Montagues, and thee." (1.1)
The two characters are foils - one jokes his way through life, the other lives for the feud. Both die in the same scene. Image credit: LessonUp Romeo and Juliet series backdrop
The Nurse and Friar Laurence
The Nurse
Friar Laurence
She has cared for Juliet since birth and is closer to her than Lady Capulet.
Comic, rambling and bawdy, she acts as the lovers' messenger.
In 3.5 she advises Juliet to forget Romeo and marry Paris - and Juliet never trusts her again.
Romeo's confidant, a Franciscan friar and expert in herbs.
He marries the lovers in the hope of ending the feud: "For this alliance may so happy prove / To turn your households' rancour to pure love." (2.3)
His risky plans - the secret wedding, the potion - go terribly wrong.
Both adults are "helpers" who end up failing the lovers. Is either of them to blame? Image credit: LessonUp Romeo and Juliet series backdrop
Lord and Lady Capulet
At first Lord Capulet seems a caring father: "My child is yet a stranger in the world." (1.2)
When Juliet refuses to marry Paris, he becomes a furious tyrant, threatening to throw her out.
Lady Capulet is cold and distant. When Juliet refuses, she says: "I would the fool were married to her grave!" (3.5)
Lady Capulet's line is dramatic irony - Juliet will indeed be "married to her grave". Image credit: LessonUp Romeo and Juliet series backdrop Image credit: Frederic Leighton, The Reconciliation of the Montagues and Capulets, c.1853-55, Agnes Scott College / Wikimedia Commons, public domain
The balcony scene - Act 2 Scene 2
Watch Juliet closely. What does this scene show us about her?
Shakespeare's Globe - "O, for a falconer's voice", Romeo and Juliet (2009), Act 2 Scene 2. Checked September 2026. For a close analysis of the lovers' first meeting, see Mr Bruff - Act 1 Scene 5. Image credit: LessonUp Romeo and Juliet series backdrop
What does the balcony scene show us about Juliet's character?
Look for - she is honest about her feelings, practical (she worries about Romeo being caught), cautious ("It is too rash, too unadvised, too sudden") and decisive (she proposes marriage). Image credit: LessonUp Romeo and Juliet series backdrop
Drag each quotation to the character who says it
Romeo
Juliet
Mercutio
Tybalt
"A plague o' both your houses!"
"O, she doth teach the torches to burn bright!"
"Boy, this shall not excuse the injuries that thou hast done me"
"O Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo?"
"My only love sprung from my only hate!"
"What, drawn, and talk of peace? I hate the word"
"Then I defy you, stars!"
"O, then I see Queen Mab hath been with you."
Romeo - "O, she doth teach the torches..." (1.5), "Then I defy you, stars!" (5.1). Juliet - "wherefore art thou Romeo?" (2.2), "My only love..." (1.5). Mercutio - "A plague o' both your houses!" (3.1), "Queen Mab" (1.4). Tybalt - "Boy, this shall not excuse..." (3.1), "What, drawn, and talk of peace?" (1.1). Image credit: LessonUp Romeo and Juliet series backdrop
Group Activity
Each group takes one character and one scene. Read the scene and find three adjectives and two quotations that show what your character is like.
Group 1 - Romeo, Act 1 Scene 1: lovesick for Rosaline
Group 2 - Juliet, Act 1 Scene 3: the obedient daughter
Group 3 - Mercutio, Act 1 Scene 4: the Queen Mab speech
Group 4 - The Nurse, Act 2 Scene 5: the teasing messenger
Group 5 - Lord Capulet, Act 3 Scene 5: a father's fury
minute
second
Ten minutes. Change the scenes to match the extracts your class has studied. Image credit: LessonUp Romeo and Juliet series backdrop
Romeo
Juliet
Mercutio
The Nurse
Lord Capulet
Enter the adjectives your group found for your character
Groups add their adjectives. Compare the finished board with the word web from the start of the lesson. Image credit: LessonUp Romeo and Juliet series backdrop
Writing a PEEL paragraph
Point - Shakespeare presents Juliet as increasingly independent.
Evidence - When the Nurse advises her to marry Paris, Juliet calls her "Ancient damnation! O most wicked fiend!" (3.5)
Explain - The harsh insult shows she has rejected the adult she trusted most; she now relies only on herself.
Link - This shows how far Juliet has changed from the girl who promised to "look to like" whoever her parents chose.
A model paragraph. Ask students to spot how the Link returns to an earlier moment in the play - tracking change is a strong move in any GCSE answer. Image credit: LessonUp Romeo and Juliet series backdrop
Write a PEEL paragraph explaining how Shakespeare presents your group's character.
minute
second
Five minutes. Students should use one of the quotations their group found. Image credit: LessonUp Romeo and Juliet series backdrop
To what extent does Juliet conform to, or defy, expectations of young women in Shakespeare's time?
Refer back to the context lesson - daughters were expected to obey their fathers and accept an arranged marriage. Juliet obeys at first (1.3) but secretly marries, then defies her father openly (3.5). Image credit: LessonUp Romeo and Juliet series backdrop
Mercutio
Tybalt
The Nurse
Friar Laurence
Lord Capulet
Apart from the lovers, who is the most important character in the play?
Image credit: LessonUp Romeo and Juliet series backdrop
Which character did you vote for, and why?
Image credit: LessonUp Romeo and Juliet series backdrop
"It is the east, and Juliet is the sun." Who says this?
Romeo
Mercutio
Paris
The Nurse
Romeo, in the balcony scene (2.2). Light imagery runs through everything he says about Juliet. Image credit: LessonUp Romeo and Juliet series backdrop
Who advises Juliet to forget Romeo and marry Paris?
Lady Capulet
Friar Laurence
The Nurse
Benvolio
The Nurse (3.5) - the moment Juliet is left completely alone. Image credit: LessonUp Romeo and Juliet series backdrop
Write down something new you learned about a character in this lesson.
Image credit: LessonUp Romeo and Juliet series backdrop
Write down 2 things you want to know more about.
Students name two things they want to know more about - this builds involvement and ownership. Image credit: LessonUp Romeo and Juliet series backdrop
Not confident yet
A little confident
Quite confident
Very confident
How confident do you feel writing about the characters?
Image credit: LessonUp Romeo and Juliet series backdrop