Romeo and Juliet: Act 3 Scene 1 - The Fight Scene!

This interesting and engaging lesson enables students to gain a detailed understanding of the fight scene in William Shakespeare’s romantic tragedy Romeo and Juliet. Students learn to demonstrate a developed understanding of the plot and meanings throughout the scene, with the support of precisely-selected textual evidence. In particular, students consider Romeo’s struggle between love and honour throughout the duration of the scene, and how social demands lead him towards his demise.

The lesson utilises a range of tasks, that require students to be attentive and interactive learners. It follows this learning journey:
- Establishing the events leading up to the fight, including a discussion regarding the characters and events that make a physical confrontation inevitable;
- Reading and interpreting Act III Scene I, interpreting and inferring the key meanings;
- Understanding the key themes throughout the scene, including Romeo’s struggle between love and honour;
- More closely analysing the key meanings and developments within the scene;
- Peer/self evaluating the learning in the lesson.

Included in this resource pack are:
- A well-presented, thorough, and informative, whole-lesson PowerPoint presentation;
- Resources for the reading and interpreting activity - full scene transcript with space for notes;
- A closer analysis worksheet based upon Romeo’s struggle;
- A template to help scaffold the main task, complete with P.E.E instructions;
- A challenging and thought-provoking worksheet, and an answer sheet for the teacher.

All images in this resource are licensed for commercial use, and are cited on the final slide of the lesson presentation.