Fair Rosaline Reading Guide & Discussion Questions

Book Club Discussion Questions

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For supplemental discussion material see our Beyond the Book article, The Poor Clares of Sant'Orsola Convent and our BookBrowse Review of Fair Rosaline.

Please be aware that this discussion guide will contain spoilers!

1. What are Rosaline's objections to entering the convent? Do you think any path open to a woman of her class at her time would have given her the things that she wants?
2. How do you think the feud between the Montagues and Capulets colors Rosaline and Romeo's early interactions? How does she feel about keeping their identities secret while out together and the truth of their relationship to herself?
3. Romeo seduces vulnerable young women, like servants, as well as daughters of the upper class, like Rosaline and Juliet. What do you feel he wants from them? Does it differ by rank? How does Rosaline disappoint those expectations?

Unless otherwise stated, this discussion guide is reprinted with the permission of Sourcebooks Landmark. Any page references refer to a USA edition of the book, usually the trade paperback version, and may vary in other editions.