The Tragedy Of Romeo And Juliet Act 1 Cloze Activity

Romeo and Juliet, a timeless tale of love and loss, begins with a vibrant introduction to the feuding families of Verona. Act 1 sets the stage for the whirlwind romance and impending tragedy that defines Shakespeare's masterpiece, and a cloze activity offers a unique and engaging way to delve into its rich language and dramatic themes.

Understanding the Significance of Act 1

Act 1 of Romeo and Juliet is crucial for establishing the play's core conflicts and introducing its main characters. It lays the groundwork for the love story that unfolds between Romeo Montague and Juliet Capulet, while also highlighting the deep-seated animosity between their families. Key events in Act 1 include:

The Street Brawl: The play opens with a violent clash between the Montague and Capulet servants, immediately establishing the intensity of the family feud.
Romeo's Melancholy: Romeo is introduced as a lovesick young man, pining for Rosaline, who does not return his affections.
The Capulet Ball: The Capulet family hosts a lavish party, where Romeo and his friends, including Mercutio and Benvolio, decide to attend in disguise.
Romeo and Juliet's First Encounter: Romeo and Juliet meet at the ball and instantly fall in love, unaware of each other's family affiliations.
Tybalt's Recognition: Tybalt recognizes Romeo as a Montague and vows revenge, setting the stage for future conflict.

What is a Cloze Activity?

A cloze activity, derived from the Gestalt principle of closure, is a type of gap-filling exercise where words are removed from a text, and participants are tasked with filling in the blanks based on their understanding of the context. This activity is particularly useful for:

Enhancing Comprehension: By actively engaging with the text, readers must think critically about the meaning of each sentence and how it fits into the larger narrative.
Improving Vocabulary: Cloze activities expose participants to a variety of words in context, helping them to expand their vocabulary and understand nuanced meanings.
Reinforcing Grammar: Participants must consider grammatical cues, such as verb tense, subject-verb agreement, and the use of articles and prepositions, to correctly fill in the blanks.
Analyzing Textual Structure: Cloze activities require readers to pay attention to the structure of the text, including sentence structure, paragraph organization, and the flow of ideas.

Designing an Effective Cloze Activity for Romeo and Juliet Act 1

To create a valuable cloze activity for Act 1 of Romeo and Juliet, consider the following steps:

Select Key Passages: Choose passages that are essential for understanding the plot, character development, and themes of Act 1. These might include the opening street brawl, Romeo's soliloquies, the Queen Mab speech, or the first meeting of Romeo and Juliet.
Identify Target Words: Select words that are crucial for understanding the meaning of the passage. These might include nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, or key phrases. Consider the level of difficulty appropriate for your audience.
Create Blanks: Replace the target words with blanks, ensuring that there are enough context clues for participants to infer the missing words.
Provide Instructions: Clearly explain the purpose of the activity and provide any necessary instructions, such as whether a word bank is provided or whether participants should use their own words.
Offer a Word Bank (Optional): Depending on the difficulty level, you may choose to provide a word bank with a list of possible answers. This can be helpful for younger learners or those who are new to Shakespearean language.

Example Cloze Activity: The Prologue

The Prologue of Romeo and Juliet provides a concise summary of the play's plot and themes. Here is an example of a cloze activity based on the Prologue:

Two households, both alike in dignity, In fair Verona, where we lay our scene, From ancient ________ break to new mutiny, Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean. From forth the fatal loins of these two foes A pair of star-cross'd ________ take their life; Whose misadventured piteous overthrows Do with their death bury their parents' strife. The fearful passage of their death-mark'd love, And the continuance of their parents' rage, Which, but their children's end, nought could ________ Is now the two hours' traffic of our stage; The which if you with patient ears attend, What here shall miss, our toil shall strive to mend.

Word Bank: children, end, grudge

Deeper Dive into Act 1 Scenes: Sample Cloze Activities

Let's explore specific scenes from Act 1 and craft cloze activities to highlight key plot points and character traits.

Scene 1: The Street Brawl

This scene is critical for showcasing the volatile nature of the Montague-Capulet feud.

Sampson: I strike quickly, being moved.

Gregory: But thou art not quickly ________ to strike.

Sampson: A dog of the house of Montague moves me.

Gregory: To move is to stir; and to be ________ is to stand to: therefore, if thou art moved, thou runn'st away.

Sampson: A dog of that house shall move me to stand: I will take the wall of any man or maid of Montague's.

Gregory: 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 push Montague's men from the wall, and thrust his maids to the ________.

Gregory: 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 maids; I will cut off their heads.

Gregory: The heads of the maids?

Sampson: Ay, the heads of the maids, or their maidenheads; take it in what sense thou wilt.

Gregory: They must take it in sense that feel it.

Sampson: Me they shall feel while I am able to stand: and 'tis known I am a pretty piece of flesh.

Gregory: 'Tis well thou art not fish; if thou hadst, thou hadst been poor John. Draw thy tool; here comes two of the house of the Montagues.

Word Bank: moved, wall, stirr'd

This cloze activity highlights the playful yet aggressive banter between Sampson and Gregory, demonstrating their eagerness to engage in the feud.

Scene 2: Romeo's Melancholy

This scene introduces Romeo's unrequited love for Rosaline.

Benvolio: Tut, man, one fire burns out another's burning,

One pain is lessen'd by another's anguish;

Turn giddy, and be holp by backward turning;

One desperate grief cures with another's ________:

Take thou some new infection to thy eye,

And the rank poison of the old will die.

Romeo: Your plantain-leaf is excellent for that.

Benvolio: For what, I pray thee?

Romeo: For your broken ________.

Benvolio: Why, Romeo, art thou mad?

Romeo: Not mad, but bound more than a madman is;

Shut up in prison, kept without my food,

Whipp'd and tormented and—God-den, good fellow.

Benvolio: Good morrow, cousin.

Romeo: Is it e'en so? then I see that madmen have no ________.

Benvolio: Romeo, I'll teach thee to forget to think.

Romeo: That will I pay thee, teaching me to forget.

Benvolio: By giving liberty unto thine eyes;

Examine other beauties.

Romeo: 'Tis the way

To call hers exquisite, in question more:

These happy masks that kiss fair ladies' brows

Being black puts us in mind they hide the fair;

He that is strucken blind cannot forget

The precious treasure of his eyesight lost:

Show me a mistress that is passing fair,

What doth her beauty serve, but as a note

Where I may read who pass'd that passing fair?

Farewell: thou canst not teach me to forget.

Word Bank: grief, freedom, shin

This activity emphasizes Romeo's dramatic and exaggerated expressions of love and his resistance to Benvolio's attempts to distract him.

Scene 3: Juliet and Her Mother

This scene reveals Juliet's obedience and the societal expectations placed upon her.

Lady Capulet: Well, think of marriage now; younger than you,

Here in Verona, ladies of esteem,

Are made already mothers: by my count,

I was your mother much upon these years

That you are now a maid. Thus then in brief:

The valiant Paris seeks you for his love.

Juliet: 'Tis an honour that I _____________ not of.

Lady Capulet: Speak briefly, can you like of Paris' love?

Juliet: I'll look to like, if looking liking move:

But no more deep will I endart mine eye

Than your consent gives strength to make it ________.

Servant: Madam, the guests are come, supper served up, you called, my young lady asked for, the nurse cursed in the pantry, and every thing in extremity. I must hence to wait.

Lady Capulet: We follow thee. Juliet, the county stays.

Juliet: Go, girl, seek happy nights to happy _______.

Word Bank: dream, nights, fly

This cloze activity highlights Juliet's deference to her mother and her willingness to consider marriage to Paris, albeit without much enthusiasm.

Scene 4: Mercutio's Queen Mab Speech

Mercutio's Queen Mab speech is a fantastical and imaginative digression that reveals his wit and cynicism.

Mercutio: O, then, I see Queen Mab hath been with you.

She is the fairies' midwife, and she comes

In shape no bigger than an agate-stone

On the forefinger of an alderman,

Drawn with a team of little atomies

Athwart men's noses as they lie asleep;

Her wagon spokes made of long spinners' legs,

The cover of the wings of grasshoppers,

The traces of the smallest spider's web,

The collars of the moonshine's watery beams,

Her whip of cricket's bone; the lash of film;

Her wagoner a small grey-coated ________,

Not half so big as a round little worm

Prick'd from the lazy finger of a maid;

Her chariot is an empty hazel-nut

Made by the joiner squirrel or old grub,

Time out o' mind the fairies' coachmakers.

And in this state she gallops night by night

Through lovers' brains, and then they dream of love;

O'er courtiers' knees, that dream on court'sies straight,

O'er lawyers' fingers, who straight dream on fees,

O'er ladies ' lips, who straight on kisses dream,

Which oft the angry Mab with blisters plagues,

Because their breaths with sweetmeats tainted are:

Sometime she gallops o'er a courtier's nose,

And then dreams he of smelling out a suit;

And sometime comes she with a tithe-pig's tail

Tickling a parson's nose as a' lies asleep,

Then dreams, he of another ________;

Sometime she driveth o'er a soldier's neck,

And then dreams he of cutting foreign throats,

Of breaches, ambuscadoes, Spanish blades,

Of healths five-fathom deep; and then anon

Drums in his ear, at which he starts and wakes,

And being thus frighted swears a prayer or two,

And sleeps again. This is that very Mab

That plats the manes of horses in the night,

And bakes the elflocks in foul sluttish hairs,

Which once untangled, much misfortune bodes:

This is the ________…

Word Bank: dream, gray, fairy

This activity encourages students to appreciate the imaginative language and satirical tone of Mercutio's speech.

Scene 5: Romeo and Juliet's First Meeting

This scene captures the instant connection between Romeo and Juliet, despite their families' feud.

Romeo: If I profane with my unworthiest hand

This holy shrine, the gentle fine is this:

My lips, two blushing pilgrims, ready stand

To smooth that rough touch with a tender kiss.

Juliet: 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 ________' kiss.

Romeo: Have not saints lips, and holy palmers too?

Juliet: Ay, pilgrim, lips that they must use in prayer.

Romeo: O, then, dear saint, let lips do what hands do;

They pray, grant thou, lest faith turn to despair.

Juliet: Saints do not move, though grant for prayers' sake.

Romeo: Then move not, while my prayer's effect I take.

Thus from my lips, by thine, my sin is ________.

Juliet: Then have my lips the sin that they have took.

Romeo: Sin from my lips? O trespass sweetly urged!

Give me my sin again.

Juliet: You kiss by the book.

Nurse: Madam, your mother craves a word with you.

Romeo: What is her mother?

Nurse: Marry, bachelor,

Her mother is the lady of the house,

And a good lady, and a wise and virtuous:

I nursed her daughter, that you talk'd withal;

I tell you, he that can lay hold of her

Shall have the chinks.

Romeo: Is she a Capulet?

O dear account! my life is my foe's ________.

Word Bank: bliss, cleansed, debt

This cloze activity highlights the religious imagery and the immediate and intense connection between Romeo and Juliet, culminating in the shocking discovery of their families' rivalry.

Benefits of Using Cloze Activities in the Classroom

Integrating cloze activities into the study of Romeo and Juliet Act 1 offers numerous educational benefits:

Active Learning: Cloze activities promote active learning by requiring students to engage directly with the text and make informed decisions about missing words.
Differentiated Instruction: Cloze activities can be easily adapted to meet the needs of diverse learners. Word banks can be provided for students who need additional support, while more challenging passages can be selected for advanced learners.
Assessment Tool: Cloze activities provide a valuable assessment tool for teachers to gauge students' understanding of the text, vocabulary, and grammar.
Engagement and Motivation: The challenge of completing a cloze activity can be highly engaging for students, motivating them to read more closely and think critically about the text.
Contextual Understanding: They facilitate a deeper understanding of the context, nuances, and subtext within Shakespearean language.

Tips for Implementing Cloze Activities

To maximize the effectiveness of cloze activities, consider these tips:

Provide Clear Instructions: Ensure that students understand the purpose of the activity and how to complete it.
Offer Support: Provide assistance to students who are struggling, such as clarifying vocabulary or providing additional context clues.
Encourage Collaboration: Allow students to work in pairs or small groups to discuss their answers and learn from each other.
Review Answers: After completing the activity, review the answers with the class, discussing the reasoning behind each choice and addressing any misconceptions.
Connect to Broader Themes: Use the cloze activity as a springboard for discussing the broader themes of the play, such as love, hate, fate, and family conflict.

Beyond the Basics: Creative Variations

To enhance engagement and cater to diverse learning styles, consider these creative variations on the cloze activity:

Themed Word Banks: Organize word banks around specific themes, such as emotions, settings, or character traits.
Visual Cloze: Incorporate images or illustrations related to the text, and ask students to fill in blanks based on both the text and the visual cues.
Dramatic Performance: After completing the cloze activity, have students perform the scene, emphasizing the words they filled in.
Digital Cloze: Utilize online platforms or interactive software to create digital cloze activities with drag-and-drop functionality and immediate feedback.
Student-Generated Cloze: Challenge students to create their own cloze activities for other scenes in the play, fostering deeper understanding and critical thinking skills.

Conclusion

The tragedy of Romeo and Juliet unfolds with compelling drama and poetic language, making it a cornerstone of literary education. Utilizing cloze activities for Act 1 provides an accessible and engaging method for students to dissect the complexities of Shakespeare's writing. By carefully selecting passages, identifying target words, and providing clear instructions, educators can create valuable learning experiences that enhance comprehension, vocabulary, and critical thinking skills. These activities not only reinforce understanding of the plot but also encourage a deeper appreciation of Shakespeare's timeless masterpiece. By actively participating in filling the gaps, students actively construct their understanding of the play's rich tapestry of love, conflict, and fate, paving the way for a more profound engagement with the complete work.