Prologue Chorus: Two households, both alike in dignity, In fair Verona where we lay our scene,
From ancient grudge break to new mutiny, Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean. From forth the fatal loins of these two foes
A pair of star-crossed lovers take their life, Whose misadventured, piteous overthrows Do with their death bury their parents' strife.
The fearful passage of their death marked love, And the continuance of their parents' rage,
Which but their children's end, naught could remove, 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.

Questions
1. Who speaks the Prologue?

2. What is the purpose of the Prologue?

3. What is the place setting of the play?

4. What is the relationship between the two households?

5. What does Shakespeare mean by “star-crossed lovers”?

6. What happens to the lovers?

7. What is the subject matter for this play?

8. Why does Shakespeare tell us how the story is going to end?

9. What does the chorus ask of the audience in the last two lines? Why?

10. What themes are established in Prologue?