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Reading schedule · Grades 8–12

Romeo and Juliet in 5 Weeks: A Reading Schedule

A five-week plan for reading Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, one act a week. Each week gives the reading, a short summary of what happens, three discussion questions and the escape room that goes with it. For grades 8–12, in class or at home.

Pacing

One act a week suits most high school classes. Read the act across the first part of the week, in class or at home and ideally with some of it read aloud, then use the questions for discussion or a short written response and finish the week with the escape room. Acts vary in length, so give a long act an extra lesson if it needs one: nothing is lost by stretching a week.

Each week ends with an escape room on that week's reading: seven self-checking locks that run in any browser, with no logins, and progress is saved, so a room can be finished another day. Every room has free taster locks to try, and members can open them all.

Print this schedule Escape rooms on Romeo and Juliet

Week 1: Act 1

Read: Act 1

A street brawl between Montagues and Capulets brings a warning from the Prince, while Romeo pines for Rosaline and Paris asks to marry Juliet. Romeo and his friends slip into the Capulet feast, where he and Juliet meet and fall in love before learning that their families are enemies.

Discussion questions

1. What does the Prologue tell us before the play begins, and how does knowing the ending change the way we watch?
2. How does Romeo's love for Rosaline compare with what he feels when he meets Juliet?
3. What warnings of trouble appear even at the feast?

Escape room: The Capulet Feast (lockedlessons.com/rooms/romeo-and-juliet-act-1/)

Week 2: Act 2

Read: Act 2

Romeo climbs into the Capulet orchard and hears Juliet speak of her love at her window, and they vow to marry. Friar Lawrence agrees to marry them in the hope of ending the feud, the Nurse carries messages, Tybalt sends Romeo a challenge, and the lovers are married in secret.

Discussion questions

1. Who is more practical in the orchard scene, Romeo or Juliet?
2. Why does Friar Lawrence agree to help, and is he wise to?
3. What part does the Nurse play in the lovers' plans?

Escape room: Wherefore Art Thou (lockedlessons.com/rooms/romeo-and-juliet-act-2/)

Week 3: Act 3

Read: Act 3

Tybalt challenges Romeo, who refuses to fight his new kinsman; Mercutio fights instead and is killed, and Romeo kills Tybalt in revenge. Banished by the Prince, Romeo spends one night with Juliet before leaving for Mantua, while Capulet arranges for Juliet to marry Paris.

Discussion questions

1. Why is Mercutio's death the turning point of the play?
2. Is banishment really worse than death, as Romeo claims?
3. How does Capulet's treatment of Juliet change in this act, and why?

Escape room: Both Your Houses (lockedlessons.com/rooms/romeo-and-juliet-act-3/)

Week 4: Act 4

Read: Act 4

Juliet meets Paris at Friar Lawrence's cell and then begs the Friar for help; he gives her a potion that will make her seem dead for two and forty hours. The wedding is brought forward, Juliet overcomes her fears and drinks, and the household's preparations turn to mourning when she is found.

Discussion questions

1. What risks does the Friar's plan carry, and why does Juliet accept it?
2. What fears does Juliet face before she drinks, and what do they show about her?
3. How does bringing the wedding forward add to the danger?

Escape room: Two and Forty Hours (lockedlessons.com/rooms/romeo-and-juliet-act-4/)

Week 5: Act 5

Read: Act 5

In Mantua Romeo hears that Juliet is dead, buys poison from an Apothecary and rides to Verona, never having received the Friar's letter explaining the plan. In the Capulet tomb he kills Paris and takes the poison; Juliet wakes, finds him dead and stabs herself, and Friar Lawrence's account brings the two families to make peace.

Discussion questions

1. How much of the ending is caused by bad luck, and how much by the characters' choices?
2. Why does Paris come to the tomb, and how should we judge his part in the story?
3. Is the peace between the families worth what it cost?

Escape room: A Glooming Peace (lockedlessons.com/rooms/romeo-and-juliet-act-5/)