Romeo and Juliet: Shakespeare's Dramatic Devices

This lesson enables students to gain a detailed understanding of the dramatic devices used by William Shakespeare in his romantic tragedy Romeo and Juliet. Students learn to demonstrate a developed understanding of features such as dramatic irony, stage directions, and puns, through analysis of precisely-selected textual evidence. The main scene analysed throughout the lesson is Act III Scene V, in which Juliet defies the orders of her parents to marry Count Paris.

The lesson utilises a range of tasks, that require students to be attentive and interactive learners. It follows this learning journey:
- Defining the key dramatic devices;
- Contextualising Juliet’s behaviour in the patriarchal society of the time;
- Reading and interpreting Act III Scene V, interpreting and inferring the key meanings;
- Understanding the key themes throughout the scene, including Juliet’s struggle between obeying orders and following love;
- Identifying and analysing the key dramatic devices used throughout 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 Shakespeare’s dramatic devices;
- Dramatic devices definition cards;
- 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.