Final Draft of Written Coursework

For my scene we decided to focus on the foreshadowing and how Friar Lawrence tried to control fate, AI used the scenes where Friar Lawrence tries to talk to Romeo and Juliet about Romeo being banished. My scene shows how Romeo tries to control what happens next in the relationship, it shows more when he talks to Juliet than when he talks to Romeo because when he talks to Juliet he states a clearly thought out plan for what is going to happen next, according to him. Friar Lawrence is the main reason for the downfall of the relationship between Romeo and Juliet because he tried to control fate instead of letting fate control itself. 

In my performance I am trying to portray that Friar Lawrence isn’t as holy of a person that everyone may see him as, he is a controlling and mysterious figure who has ways of basically hypnotizing people into doing what he believes is right. This relates to my scenes because in both of the scenes Friar Lawrence always seems to be taking a judgmental, orderly standpoint. He manipulates a very weak and fragile Juliet into doing something as desperate as the sin she threatened, being death. In Act 3, Scene 3, Romeo is manipulated into maintaining a calm although he does not want that, he is almost manipulated into finding a whole new life which was not an option for him because Verona was all he knew. In Act 4, Scene 1, Friar Lawrence manipulates Juliet into taking a mysterious potion that he claims will make her stop breathing but not kill her, Juliet agress to take this because there is no other option and Friar Lawrence knows this and so does Juliet which is why she is so easily manipulated. It also relates to my scenes because as holy as he is, earlier in the play he is seen making potions with mysterious herbs, the play did not go into through detail about what these herbs were but what concerns me is what the potions were and what their purposes were. Friar Lawrence like very much to be in control of destiny and fate and is in many ways obssessed with having everything perfect. Earlier in the play, he married Romeo and Juliet, he mentioned that maybe since he was marrying them that the families would have to get used to eachother and they feud between the two families would end and Verona would be a peaceful and happy place, but as we saw in the play, this did not happen and it only made the feud hotter. Later in the play, the feud took the lives of Mercutio of the Montague Family and Tybalt of the Capulet Family at the hands of none other than Romeo himself. 

Friar Lawrence is a controlling factor in the relationship of Romeo and Juliet and in many ways causes their relationship to fall apart and what causes their deaths. He tries to build a sense of calm into a buzzing, nervous and desperate Romeo by attempting to manipulate him into finding a new home and subsequently a new bride when he says “Here from Verona art thou banished, the world is broad and wide for you Romeo”. This is the first sign of manipulation from Friar Lawrence to Romeo and really the only one worth mentioning, although small and subtle it is there. It becomes more noticeable when he is talking to Juliet about Romeo’s banishment and this is really where Friar Lawrence tries to bend the branches of fate into his favor. He says to Juliet after she threatens suicide “Hold, daughter! I do spy a kind of hope, which craves as desperate an execution as that is desperate which we would prevent. If rather than to marry County Paris, thou hast the strength of will to slay thyself, then is it likely thou wilt undertake a thing like death to chide away this shame, that cop’st with Death himself to scape from it; and if thou darest, I’ll give thee remedy.”. This is basically telling Juliet that he has an idea and that since you have the guts to kill yourself you’ll have the guts to do this and if you do I’ll help you. This is when Juliet takes the potion that will fake her death and was supposed to reunite her with Romeo, and did, not in life, but in death.

In these two scenes, Friar Lawrence's body language conveys what a dominant figure he is in the lives of both Romeo and Juliet. He is almost always looming over them or above them or standing in front of them in most parts of the performance, this is because that in order to convey the controlling personality it is important to show him as a figure of superiority which in a technicality he is but in this sense it makes it even more luminescent because he is manipulating two mentally unstable people, people who are threatening death because of love. Friar Lawrence is almost always in a calm state but it is a different calm then most people are used to seeing, it is a mysterious calm, like he had this plan in his head all along. It is important to show this because he is supposed to be the calm figure but he is almost always in front of them on stage and above them because both Romeo and Juliet are always both on their knees begging for help and counsel because they are both desperate to see eac hother and Friar Lawrence is taking advantage of this. His body language is dominant because in the performance I showed him as a character who always stood upright and his head held high, a rather confident, sure of himself type of character. Friar Lawrence is dominant because he is the go-to character for help and he knows that so he takes advantage of his power sometimes it seems because he knows he can give Romeo, Juliet and anyone else who may come to him for advice which makes him so sure of himself and confident in his abilities. 

Friar Lawrence's aggressive tone allows us to understand that he is a domineering character and that he gets what he wants. He is often seen and heard talking down to Romeo and Juliet because he is like a father figure to both of them because they know they can always rely on him to give them help, or "counsel" as they refer to is in the play. Friar Lawrence was known to have married the couple which made him the go-to figure for counseling in the relationship which in some ways is good but in some ways bad, it proved to be bad for this relationship because it comepletely led to the downfall of the alrady downward spiraling relationship. He talks down to Romeo as he tells him what is basically the cold, hard truth, that he has been banished and that there isn't a whole lot he can do about it. He talks down to Juliet when he basically mocks her when he threatens to kill herself, he says that since you can threaten such a sin than you can save your relationship with Romeo by carrying out something just as desperate as taking her own life. Friar Lawrence's aggressive tone of voice adds onto his dominant personality and I feel like those two points are the main reason why Romeo and Juliet gave into what he suggested, not because they really wanted too but because he was so good at persuading them that it was the right thing to do and that it would get them what they wantd out of the relationship and would end the sorrows and the struggles and they would do anything to end the struggle of having to live in their relationship in secret. They also listened because as said before, they were desperate, they had nowhere else to go and no one else to turn too. Friar Lawrence was the only person in Verona who they could trust enough to not tell their families of their love which is why he took advantage of them and why he got so aggressive. 

In my analysis, I talked about how Friar Lawrence was controlling, how his body language was domineering and how his tone of voice was very aggressive. These points all go hand in hand because they all have something to do with eachother. Being controlling normally means that you have domineering body language to intimidate the person you are talking to so you can get what you want and the same aggressive tone of voice so you could get the same thing done. I feel like my scenes did a good job of showing how Friar Lawrence was a very dominant character not only in the all around performance but in the lives of Romeo and Juliet as the play progresses, you see him more and more which shows his importance to the relationship. In conclusion, Friar Lawrence is the main reason for the downfall of the relationship between Romeo and Juliet because he tried to control fate instead of letting fate control itself.

Writing Center Blog

I have not been to the writing center yet, I am saving that for what I know will be my final draft, I believe that my conclusion needs work, I think it needs more detail and to be more thorough. Also I think that I need to work on my body paragraphs, I think I might have gone off topic a bit but I'm not quite sure. I will use the writing center whenever I am unsure of any writing assignment or when I need ideas for where to go next with my papers. 

Peter Pan Review

The CA version of Peter Pan was an absolutely marvelous spin on a timeless classic. Based off of the original script by J.M Barrie, this play in many ways, was different from the Disney animated version, it is darker and less joyous then the animated adaptation. I feel like the cast was brilliantly selected, Erin was a brilliant Peter Pan, bringing the sarcastic, extravagant and valiant young boy to life. Charlotte was incredible in her change of roles, switching between Mrs. Darling and the sinister, Captain Hook. Wiebke put on a beautiful and thrilling performance as the sweet, loving, Wendy Darling and really interpreted the character perfectly. John Jiang was absolutely marvelous as Mr. Darling and made that role come to life and then turned around and played Curly, one of the lost boys, a transitiion from serious to sarcasm. The scene was beautifully set up, the windows were perfectly placed and the trees and beds and all the props were just perfectly placed. The lighting effects were just brilliant by Jacob which really brough the set to life, I don't think I would have viewed it the same way as I did with the lights. Though Tink wasn't a character I thought it was really cheeky and cool that they put in the green light and the bell, it added humor to the performance, as you could only understand the response to what Tink was "saying" not what was being said. Maggie put on an incredible performance on the flute (I think it was the flute), in my opinion and ffrom what I have seen, the flute is a huge part of Peter's character and it is a perfect sound effect because it in some ways conveys his sense of loneliness and longing although he does not always show it.  Overall, the CA version of Peter Pan is one of my favorite adaptations of the play, because of the characters, the set and the way it was put on. CA has done it again with another top class performance, well done to all.  

Final Draft of Written Coursework

For my scene we decided to focus on the foreshadowing and how Friar Lawrence tried to control fate, AI used the scenes where Friar Lawrence tries to talk to Romeo and Juliet about Romeo being banished. My scene shows how Romeo tries to control what happens next in the relationship, it shows more when he talks to Juliet than when he talks to Romeo because when he talks to Juliet he states a clearly thought out plan for what is going to happen next, according to him. Friar Lawrence is the main reason for the downfall of the relationship between Romeo and Juliet because he tried to control fate instead of letting fate control itself. 

In my performance I am trying to portray that Friar Lawrence isn’t as holy of a person that everyone may see him as, he is a controlling and mysterious figure who has ways of basically hypnotizing people into doing what he believes is right. This relates to my scenes because in both of the scenes Friar Lawrence always seems to be taking a judgmental, orderly standpoint. He manipulates a very weak and fragile Juliet into doing something as desperate as the sin she threatened, being death. In Act 3, Scene 3, Romeo is manipulated into maintaining a calm although he does not want that, he is almost manipulated into finding a whole new life which was not an option for him because Verona was all he knew. In Act 4, Scene 1, Friar Lawrence manipulates Juliet into taking a mysterious potion that he claims will make her stop breathing but not kill her, Juliet agress to take this because there is no other option and Friar Lawrence knows this and so does Juliet which is why she is so easily manipulated. It also relates to my scenes because as holy as he is, earlier in the play he is seen making potions with mysterious herbs, the play did not go into through detail about what these herbs were but what concerns me is what the potions were and what their purposes were. Friar Lawrence like very much to be in control of destiny and fate and is in many ways obssessed with having everything perfect. Earlier in the play, he married Romeo and Juliet, he mentioned that maybe since he was marrying them that the families would have to get used to eachother and they feud between the two families would end and Verona would be a peaceful and happy place, but as we saw in the play, this did not happen and it only made the feud hotter. Later in the play, the feud took the lives of Mercutio of the Montague Family and Tybalt of the Capulet Family at the hands of none other than Romeo himself. 

Friar Lawrence is a controlling factor in the relationship of Romeo and Juliet and in many ways causes their relationship to fall apart and what causes their deaths. He tries to build a sense of calm into a buzzing, nervous and desperate Romeo by attempting to manipulate him into finding a new home and subsequently a new bride when he says “Here from Verona art thou banished, the world is broad and wide for you Romeo”. This is the first sign of manipulation from Friar Lawrence to Romeo and really the only one worth mentioning, although small and subtle it is there. It becomes more noticeable when he is talking to Juliet about Romeo’s banishment and this is really where Friar Lawrence tries to bend the branches of fate into his favor. He says to Juliet after she threatens suicide “Hold, daughter! I do spy a kind of hope, which craves as desperate an execution as that is desperate which we would prevent. If rather than to marry County Paris, thou hast the strength of will to slay thyself, then is it likely thou wilt undertake a thing like death to chide away this shame, that cop’st with Death himself to scape from it; and if thou darest, I’ll give thee remedy.”. This is basically telling Juliet that he has an idea and that since you have the guts to kill yourself you’ll have the guts to do this and if you do I’ll help you. This is when Juliet takes the potion that will fake her death and was supposed to reunite her with Romeo, and did, not in life, but in death.

In these two scenes, Friar Lawrence's body language conveys what a dominant figure he is in the lives of both Romeo and Juliet. He is almost always looming over them or above them or standing in front of them in most parts of the performance, this is because that in order to convey the controlling personality it is important to show him as a figure of superiority which in a technicality he is but in this sense it makes it even more luminescent because he is manipulating two mentally unstable people, people who are threatening death because of love. Friar Lawrence is almost always in a calm state but it is a different calm then most people are used to seeing, it is a mysterious calm, like he had this plan in his head all along. It is important to show this because he is supposed to be the calm figure but he is almost always in front of them on stage and above them because both Romeo and Juliet are always both on their knees begging for help and counsel because they are both desperate to see eac hother and Friar Lawrence is taking advantage of this. His body language is dominant because in the performance I showed him as a character who always stood upright and his head held high, a rather confident, sure of himself type of character. Friar Lawrence is dominant because he is the go-to character for help and he knows that so he takes advantage of his power sometimes it seems because he knows he can give Romeo, Juliet and anyone else who may come to him for advice which makes him so sure of himself and confident in his abilities. 

Friar Lawrence's aggressive tone allows us to understand that he is a domineering character and that he gets what he wants. He is often seen and heard talking down to Romeo and Juliet because he is like a father figure to both of them because they know they can always rely on him to give them help, or "counsel" as they refer to is in the play. Friar Lawrence was known to have married the couple which made him the go-to figure for counseling in the relationship which in some ways is good but in some ways bad, it proved to be bad for this relationship because it comepletely led to the downfall of the alrady downward spiraling relationship. He talks down to Romeo as he tells him what is basically the cold, hard truth, that he has been banished and that there isn't a whole lot he can do about it. He talks down to Juliet when he basically mocks her when he threatens to kill herself, he says that since you can threaten such a sin than you can save your relationship with Romeo by carrying out something just as desperate as taking her own life. Friar Lawrence's aggressive tone of voice adds onto his dominant personality and I feel like those two points are the main reason why Romeo and Juliet gave into what he suggested, not because they really wanted too but because he was so good at persuading them that it was the right thing to do and that it would get them what they wantd out of the relationship and would end the sorrows and the struggles and they would do anything to end the struggle of having to live in their relationship in secret. They also listened because as said before, they were desperate, they had nowhere else to go and no one else to turn too. Friar Lawrence was the only person in Verona who they could trust enough to not tell their families of their love which is why he took advantage of them and why he got so aggressive. 

In my analysis, I talked about how Friar Lawrence was controlling, how his body language was domineering and how his tone of voice was very aggressive. These points all go hand in hand because they all have something to do with eachother. Being controlling normally means that you have domineering body language to intimidate the person you are talking to so you can get what you want and the same aggressive tone of voice so you could get the same thing done. I feel like my scenes did a good job of showing how Friar Lawrence was a very dominant character not only in the all around performance but in the lives of Romeo and Juliet as the play progresses, you see him more and more which shows his importance to the relationship. In conclusion, Friar Lawrence is the main reason for the downfall of the relationship between Romeo and Juliet because he tried to control fate instead of letting fate control itself.

Paragraph Revision of Written Task 1

Friar Lawrence is a controlling factor in the relationship of Romeo and Juliet and in many ways causes their relationship to fall apart and what causes their deaths. He tries to build a sense of calm into a buzzing, nervous and desperate Romeo by attempting to manipulate him into finding a new home and subsequently a new bride when he says “Here from Verona art thou banished, the world is broad and wide for you Romeo”. This is the first sign of manipulation from Friar Lawrence to Romeo and really the only one worth mentioning, although small and subtle it is there. It becomes more noticeable when he is talking to Juliet about Romeo’s banishment and this is really where Friar Lawrence tries to bend the branches of fate into his favor. He says to Juliet after she threatens suicide “Hold, daughter! I do spy a kind of hope, which craves as desperate an execution as that is desperate which we would prevent. If rather than to marry County Paris, thou hast the strength of will to slay thyself, then is it likely thou wilt undertake a thing like death to chide away this shame, that cop’st with Death himself to scape from it; and if thou darest, I’ll give thee remedy.”. This is basically telling Juliet that he has an idea and that since you have the guts to kill yourself you’ll have the guts to do this and if you do I’ll help you. This is when Juliet takes the potion that will fake her death and was supposed to reunite her with Romeo, and did, not in life, but in death. 

Outline of Final Draft of Written Coursework

Thesis - Friar Lawrence is the main reason for the downfall of the relationship between Romeo and Juliet because he tried to control fate instead of letting fate control itself. In my performance, I show this through the controlling, demanding treatment of other characters, the domineering body language and blocking and the aggressive tone of voice.

Intro- Introduce the play, your analysis and the scenes you performed and briefly explain how they connect to your analysis

BP1 - Explain analysis and how it relates to both scenes.

BP2 - Explain, in depth, how he is controlling with quotes from the play

BP3 - Explain, in depth, body language and how it is dominant with quotes from the play

BP4 - Explain how his aggressive tone of voice is prominent with quotes from the play. 

Conclusion - wrap up all of your points and how they relate to eachother

Written Coursework: First Draft

For my scene we decided to focus on the foreshadowing and how Friar Lawrence tried to control fate, we used the scenes where Friar Lawrence tries to talk to Romeo and Juliet about Romeo being banished. Our scene shows how Romeo tries to control what happens next in the relationship, it shows more when he talks to Juliet than when he talks to Romeo because when he talks to Juliet he states a clearly thought out plan for what is going to happen next, according to him. Friar Lawrence is the main reason for the downfall of the relationship between Romeo and Juliet because he tried to control fate instead of letting fate control itself. 

In the first scene we performed, Friar Lawrence and Romeo were talking about how to deal with the fact that he was banished, Friar Lawrence bascially told him to just suck it up and swallow the beans when he said "From Verona art thou banished, the world is far and wide for you Romeo" this basically is telling Romeo that he can find another place better than Verona and another woman better than Juliet. Romeo responds, heartbroken and desperate, he says that "there is no world without Verona walls, nothing but torture, purgatory, hell itself". This is obviously stating that Verona is the only place that he knows, the only place where he feels at home and if he were to go anywhere he wouldn't feel right because he has only been in Verona's walls and he doesn't know anything else so the outside world scares him. Romeo threatens to kill himself when he says "thou cutt'st off my head with a golden axe and smilst upon the stroke that murders me" which basically means to my knowledge, that when Friar Lawrence speaks of banishment, he's basically telling him to kill himself so he could smile at him while he did it, because Romeo feels like life is not worth living without Juliet or Verona and the Frair is telling him to be a man and do what is expected of him, but as we'll soon find out that is not the case. Romeo then goes on a rant about philosophy saying "unless philosphy can displant a town, reverse a prince's doom or make a Juliet it helps not, it prevails not" to where the Friar replies "I see madmen have no ears". Romeo then storms out and that is the end of the first scene. This is the beginning where you begin to see Friar Lawrence's attempted dominance over the situation as he tries to take over Romeo's conscience. 

In the sceond scene we performed, Friar Lawrence showed how controlling he is when he completely manipulates Juliet into performing an act that is supposed to reunite her with Romeo forever where they will live happily ever after which just doesn't happen. It starts where Juliet comes in absolutely freaking out as she says "Oh shut the door and after you do come weep with me" meaning close the door behind us and then come cry with me over Romeo's banishment where Friar Lawrence replies "Oh Juliet I already know the content of your grief" meaning I already know whats wrong, I know what you're going to tell me. Juliet then announces her death wish when she says "and with this knife I hold it presently, I long to die" which means now that Romeo, she has nothing to live for so she wants to die. Friar Lawrence now shows his controlling ways when he says "Hold, daughter! I do spy a kind of hope, which craves as desperate an execution as that is desperate which we would prevent. If rather than to marry County Paris, thou hast the strength of will to slay thyself, then is it likely thou wilt undertake a thing like death to chide away this shame, that cop’st with Death himself to scape from it; and if thou darest, I’ll give thee remedy. Here he basically says if she dares to accept a task so dangerous as death, which she threatened and if fear didn't hold her back he would give her something to fix the situation. Juliet accepts, saying she'd do anything to be with Romeo forever. Friar Lawrence then announces his plan which begins the downfall of the romance of Romeo and Juliet when he says "Hold then. Go home, be merry, give consent to marry Paris. We’n’sday is tomorrow; tomorrow night look that thou lie alone, take thou this vial, being then in bed, and this distilling liquor drink thou off, when presently through all thy veins shall run a cold and drowsy humor; for no pulse. To wanny ashes, thy eyes’ windows fall, stiff and stark and cold, appear like death, thou shalt continue two and forty hours, and then awake as from a pleasant sleep. In the mean time, against thou shalt awake, shall Romeo by my letters know our drift, and hither shall he come, an’ he and I will watch thy waking, and that very night shall Romeo bear thee hence to Mantua. And this shall free thee from this present shame. Juliet agrees and goes home. 

For the rest of the essay I will sum up how my analysis is accurate to the scenes I chose and I will explain how my thesis is true by giving more evidence and using the evidence already stated to back up my argument.

Blog Post #9

My scene has actually been really successful, so far we have gotten our first draft done and that's only because I was absent with an eye appointment but it was only a minor setback and gave me more time to study my character. We are attempting to foreshadow love, death and fate and how they all intertwine and how Friar Lawrence tries to control all of those elements and try to reverse fate into his favor and led to the downfall of himself and Romeo and Juliet. I believe so far we have succeeded in putting our analysis across and acting it out in a way that the audience could understand, we could have worked on stage movements a little bit more and maybe our tone of voice when we talk on some of our lines. We have progressed because we have shortened our play a lot and we have definitely improved in the all-around acting out of it. Our characters definitely look a bit more the part when we add costumes, we don't really need any props or music to convey our point which kind of makes our scene interesting. As a performer this taught me how to fit into a new role, in my first scene I played the more vulnerable, broken down Romeo and now I'm playing Friar Lawrence who is a built up, on top of everything type of character which is a pretty big change and I feel like I have converted very well and that gives me confidence that in the future I will be able to fit into various other parts. 

Character Analysis

In my scene, I play Friar Lawrence, I am trying to convey how he is trying to take control of the situation and how he attempts to reverse fate. To convey this perception, I  am going to obviously be the loudest spoken person on the stage, I will always be center stage to show that I am above everyone else. When I am speaking to the other characters I always want to be louder than them and maybe sometimes cut into what they are saying not to be rude but maybe as a reassurance saying "let me handle it, I got this". My character is very controlling and sure of himself so I always want to be standing tall and straight up as the other characters look desperate and needy.