Act 5 — Romeo and Juliet — Edexcel GCSE English Literature 1ET0
Edexcel GCSE English Literature · 1ET0
Act 5
The plot, part by part
What you need to know
The news in Mantua, the apothecary, the undelivered letter, the deaths in the tomb, the Friar's account and the families' reconciliation.
Key quotations: 'Then I defy you, stars!', 'I do remember an apothecary', 'There is thy gold, worse poison to men's souls', 'Death, that hath suck'd the honey of thy breath', 'Eyes, look your last!', 'Thus with a kiss I die', 'O happy dagger!', 'See, what a scourge is laid upon your hate', 'A glooming peace this morning with it brings', 'For never was a story of more woe'.
The undelivered letter and the timing of the tomb scene, and the ending as reconciliation bought with the children's deaths.
Edexcel's Shakespeare question has two parts: part (a) on the printed extract marks only language, form and structure (AO2), so context earns nothing there; part (b) on the play elsewhere, from memory, marks the argument and its references (AO1, 15 marks) and context (AO3, 5 marks), not language analysis. Say which part each worked paragraph and exam tip is for.
