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Shakespeare Ages 14-16 UK Years 10-11 US Grades 9-10
Longman School Shakespeare
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ACT 1 SCENE 1
ACT 1 SCENE 1
In this scene ...
A street fight breaks out between the Capulets and the Montagues.
The Prince stops the riot and threatens the death penalty for anyone caught
fighting in Verona’s streets again.
Romeo’s parents ask Benvolio why Romeo has been behaving strangely.
Romeo tells Benvolio that he is in love with a girl who refuses to be won
over.
Two Capulet servants, Sampson
and Gregory, brag about
their part in the feud with the
Montagues.
Themes and issues
What are Sampson and
Gregory boasting about
(lines 1 to 27)? What does
this reveal about the way
they view their sense of
family honour?
Performance and staging
Lines 1 to 4 contain
wordplay: to ‘carry coals’
is to be humiliated,
‘colliers’ (coal-miners)
were considered dirty
and dishonest, ‘choler’
(pronounced ‘collar’)
means anger, and a ‘collar’
was also a hangman’s
noose. Why might some
directors cut these jokes in
a performance? Why might
others decide to keep them?
s.d. bucklers: small shields
1 carry coals: i.e. do work that is below
us
2 colliers: coal-miners
3 choler: anger
draw: i.e. draw our swords
4 draw … collar: i.e. avoid hanging
5 moved: made angry
8 stand: i.e. fight
11 take the wall: walk where the road is
cleanest, i.e. show my superiority
12–13 goes to the wall: is defeated by the
strong
14–15 weaker vessels: ‘the weaker sex’
19 ’Tis all one: It makes no difference
23 maidenheads: virginities
25 They must … it: The ones who sense it
are the ones who feel it (i.e. the maids)
Questions on every page help
focus students’ learning on the
GCSE assessment criteria.
A street in Verona.
Enter SAMPSON and GREGORY (servants of the house of Capulet),
armed with swords and bucklers.
SAMPSON S
Gregory, on my word, we’ll not carry coals.
GREGORY G
No, for then we should be colliers.
SAMPSON
I mean, an we be in choler, we’ll draw.
GREGORY G
Ay, while you live, draw your neck out of collar.
SAMPSON
I strike quickly, being moved.
5
GREGORY G
But thou art not quickly moved to strike.
SAMPSON
A dog of the house of Montague moves me.
GREGORY G
To move is to stir, and to be valiant is to stand: therefore,
if thou art moved thou runn’st away.
SAMPSON
A dog of that house shall move me to stand. I will 10
take the wall of any man or maid of Montague’s.
GREGORY G
That shows thee a weak slave, for the weakest goes to
the wall.
SAMPSON
’Tis true, and therefore women, being the weaker
vessels, are ever thrust to the wall: therefore I will 15
push Montague’s men from the wall, and thrust his
maids to the wall.
GREGORY G
The quarrel is between our masters, and us their men.
SAMPSON
’Tis all one. I will show myself a tyrant. When I
have fought with the men, I will be civil with the 20
maids: I will cut off their heads.
GREGORY G
The heads of the maids?
SAMPSON Ay, the heads of the maids, or their maidenheads –
take it in what sense thou wilt.
GREGORY G
They must take it in sense that feel it.
25
13
Sample page from Longman Romeo and Juliet
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