The Friar's Plan
by William Shakespeare from Romeo and Juliet
Act IV, Scene 1 passage: This passage from "Romeo and Juliet" takes place in Friar Lawrence's cell, or room. Juliet has come to the friar in a panic; her parents demand she marry Count Paris, but she is already secretly married to Romeo. The students will read the passage and answer questions on the story details.
Reading Comprehension Passage
The Friar's Plan
by William Shakespeare from Romeo and Juliet
Reading Comprehension Questions
Vocabulary List
Vocabulary List
Each of the vocabulary words below are used in the reading passage. As you read the passage, pay attention to context clues that suggest the word’s meaning.
- craves
- slay
- chide
- scape
- charnel-house
- shanks
- chapless
- vial
- humour
- surcease
- supple
- bier
- drift
- abate
- afford
Context Clues
Context Clues
Using context clues from the sentences in the passage, underline the correct meaning of the word in boldface.
1. “I do spy a kind of hope, / Which craves as desperate an execution / As that is desperate which we would prevent”
a. cuts or engraves b. prohibit; forbids c. requires or demands d. encourages; urges
2. “Thou hast the strength of will to slay thyself”
a. kill; murder b. act or pretend c. excuse or forgive d. believe in; trust
3. “A thing like death to chide away this shame, / That cop'st with death himself to scape from it”
a. cleanse; clear b. condemn or subdue c. hide from; conceal d. repeat or duplicate
4. “A thing like death to chide away this shame, / That cop'st with death himself to scape from it”
a. escape; avoid b. profit or gain c. learn; understand d. scratch or shave
5. “shut me nightly in a charnel-house, / O'er-cover'd quite with dead men's rattling bones”
a. stable; barn b. kitchen; cookery c. tomb or vault for the dead d. prison; jail
6. “With reeky shanks and yellow chapless skulls”
a. legs or shins b. steaks or roasts c. bars; barricades d. farm animals
7. “With reeky shanks and yellow chapless skulls”
a. hatless; bare b. hairless; bald c. holy; honored d. without a jaw
8. “Take thou this vial, being then in bed, / And this distilled liquor drink thou off”
a. glass bottle b. long, sheer cloth c. evil thing; curse d. pills or medicine
9. “through all thy veins shall run / A cold and drowsy humour”
a. thigh bone b. mood or feeling c. song or lullaby d. poison or toxin
10. “for no pulse / Shall keep his native progress, but surcease”
a. improve; get better b. stop or quit c. quicken; increase d. restart or begin
11. “Each part, depriv'd of supple government, / Shall, stiff and stark and cold, appear like death”
a. easy; uncomplicated b. generous rules c. wealth; plenty d. flexible; limber
12. “In thy best robes, uncover'd, on the bier, / Thou shalt be borne to that same ancient vault / Where all the kindred of the Capulets lie”
a. altar b. horse-drawn wagon c. platform for a coffin d. bed or mattress
13. “Shall Romeo by my letters know our drift; / And hither shall he come”
a. intention or plan b. sorrow; grief c. crime or wrongdoing d. hideaway
14. “If no inconstant toy nor womanish fear / Abate thy valour in the acting it”
a. obey; follow b. reward; benefit c. decide or determine d. weaken or lessen
15. “Love give me strength! and strength shall help afford”
a. pay for; give money b. nerves or fear c. provide; supply d. silence or quiet