Year 11 - English
'Romeo and Juliet': using tentative language to write about writer's intentions
Romeo and Juliet: Juliet and female agency
Study Hub
Study Guides
This pupil-friendly study guide includes a unit summary, clear notes, common mistakes, and quick questions with answers.
Unit Summary
In this unit, pupils explore the presentation of Juliet's agency in 'Romeo and Juliet'. After recapping Juliet's character and conceptualising agency, they look at five scenes through the prism of Juliet's agency. At the end, they learn how to use tentative language to write about female agency.
Lesson Summary
You will learn to use tentative language to write about Shakespeare's intentions in 'Romeo and Juliet'.
Key Notes
- Arguably, Shakespeare shows Juliet as both exerting agency and assuming a passive role in 'Romeo and Juliet'.
- A writer's intentions can reveal their overall message - what are they saying about society or humanity.
- Using tentative language is important because we can never truly be sure of a writer's intentions.
Vocabulary To Learn
- intentions: something that you want and plan to do; an aim
- agency: the capacity of an individual to act independently from others and to make their own free choices
- conform: to behave according to the usual standards of behaviour that are expected by a group or society
- contemporary discourse: the current discussions and conversations happening in a specific field or context
- tentative: not definite or certain
Common Mistakes To Avoid
- We can get a definitive idea of the writer's intentions from the text.
3 Quick Questions (With Answers)
1. Explain this English learning goal in two key points.
Arguably, Shakespeare shows Juliet as both exerting agency and assuming a passive role in 'Romeo and Juliet'. A writer's intentions can reveal their overall message - what are they saying about society or humanity.
2. Define this language term and use it in a sentence. 'intentions'
something that you want and plan to do; an aim.
3. Correct this common English misunderstanding.
Mistake: We can get a definitive idea of the writer's intentions from the text. Correction: We can never truly know what the writer's intentions were but we can tentatively explore ideas.
More Lessons In This Unit
- 'Romeo and Juliet': exploring ideas of sex and forgiveness in Act 3, Scene 2 Study Guide
- 'Romeo and Juliet': exploring Juliet's agency in Act 4, Scene 1 Study Guide
- 'Romeo and Juliet': exploring Juliet's agency in Act 4, Scene 3 Study Guide
- 'Romeo and Juliet': exploring Juliet's agency in Act 5, Scene 3 Study Guide
- 'Romeo and Juliet': exploring Juliet's character and conceptualising agency Study Guide
- 'Romeo and Juliet': Juliet's agency in Act 1, Scene 5 and Act 2, Scene 2 Study Guide
Browse all guides in the Year 11 English guide library.