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. 

Rough Draft of Scene

FRI. L.

Romeo, come forth, come forth, thou fearful man:

Affliction is enamor’d of thy parts,

And thou art wedded to calamity.

Enter Romeo.

ROM.

Father, what news? What is the Prince’s doom?

What sorrow craves acquaintance at my hand,

That I yet know not?

FRI. L.

Too familiar

Is my dear son with such sour company!

I bring thee tidings of the Prince’s doom.

ROM.

What less than dooms-day is the Prince’s doom?

FRI. L.

A gentler judgment vanish’d from his lips—

Not body’s death, but body’s banishment.

ROM.

Ha, banishment? Be merciful, say “death”;

For exile hath more terror in his look,

Much more than death. Do not say “banishment”!

FRI. L.

Here from Verona art thou banished.

Be patient, for the world is broad and wide.

ROM.

There is no world without Verona walls,

But purgatory, torture, hell itself.

Hence “banished” is banish’d from the world,

And world’s exile is death; then “banished”

Is death misterm’d. Calling death “banished,”

Thou cut’st my head off with a golden axe,

And smilest upon the stroke that murders me.

FRI. L.

O deadly sin! O rude unthankfulness!

Thy fault our law calls death, but the kind Prince,

Taking thy part, hath rush’d aside the law,

And turn’d that black word ’death’ to “banishment.”

This is dear mercy, and thou seest it not.

ROM.

’Tis torture, and not mercy. Heaven is here

Where Juliet lives, 

Every cat and dog

Live here in heaven and may look on her,

But Romeo may not; they may seize

On the white wonder of dear Juliet’s hand,

And steal immortal blessing from her lips,

Who, even in pure and vestal modesty,

Still blush, as thinking their own kisses sin;

But Romeo may not, he is banished.

They are free men, but I am banished:

FRI. L.

Thou fond mad man, hear me a little speak.

ROM.

O, thou wilt speak again of banishment.

FRI. L.

I’ll give thee armor to keep off that word:

Adversity’s sweet milk, philosophy,

To comfort thee though thou art banished.

ROM.

Unless philosophy can make a Juliet,

Displant a town, reverse a prince’s doom,

It helps not, it prevails not. Talk no more.

FRI. L.

O then I see that madmen have no ears.

.

Act 4 scene 1

JUL.

O, shut the door, and when thou hast done so,

Come weep with me, past hope, past cure, past help!

FRI. L.

O Juliet, I already know thy grief,

It strains me past the compass of my wits.

I hear thou must, and nothing may prorogue it,

On Thursday next be married to this County.

JUL.

Tell me not, friar, that thou hearest of this,

Unless thou tell me how I may prevent it.

If in thy wisdom thou canst give no help,

Do thou but call my resolution wise,

And with this knife I’ll help it presently.

God join’d my heart and Romeo’s, thou our hands,

Give me some present counsel, or, behold,

I long to die.

FRI. L.

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.

JUL.

O, bid me leap, rather than marry Paris,

chain me with roaring bears,

Or hide me nightly in a charnel-house,

And I will do it without fear or doubt,

To live an unstain’d wife to my sweet love.

FRI. L.

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,

If no inconstant toy, nor womanish fear,

Abate thy valor in the acting it.

JUL.

Love give me strength! And strength shall help afford.

Farewell, dear father!

Exeunt.

Foreshadowing Friar Lawrence

In this assignment we are going to be discussing foreshadowing, we are going to focus on how Love, Death and fate all relate to eachother but more importantly how Friar Lawrence tries to take control of all of these elements. This will help the reader examine closer Friar Lawrence's identity and what kind of character he really is in the play and how his actions affect the lives of Romeo, Juliet and their families. 

We are going to use the potion scene and/or the marriage scene to analyze our points. We believe that these scenes will zone in on Friar Lawrence's true personality and how he tries to take control of the situation and tries to reverse fate. We are going to perform this scene with Friar Lawrence mainly in the front of the stage because he is the one who is in the primary focus because he is the one being analyzed and investigated. We will have the light mainly on him and the character he is addressing because the majority of his lines offer evidence into his personality. We will give Romeo and Juliet the ability to look weak and desperate to give the feeling that Friar Lawrence will attempt to take control of the situation and show his true colors. 

We are going to have three actors who will be playing Romeo, Juliet and Friar Lawrence. I am going to be the Friar because I have mainly played Romeo in all of the productions so far and I want to try a new role and play a character that I'm not as comfortable playing as I was with Romeo. I also feel like I can impose the impulsive, controlling personality that Friar Lawrence has and that is what the scene needs to describe him. Jack will play Romeo and Chris will play Juliet, these two I believe will be able to depict the desperate, weak, needy characterisitcs as need to be shown by Romeo and Juliet. We will make sure to add and take away lines as needed, we will make sure that the stage is equally proportioned so that all actors can be seen by the audience and we will ensure that no character speaks longer than another which may entail adding or taking away lines. 

Ideas for Scenes

For scenes, we can do the Balcony Scene because this scene can be re-enacted a lot of different ways and it gives the actors a lot of leg-room to be creative. Another possible scene is the death scene, the death scene can also be played around with in terms the last words, the music and the staging and the atmosphere in which they die. Lastly the marriage scene, you can also play with the staging and the mood of the scene which I feel is a vital part in doing well in this project. 

Essay Question

The most significant part of the play Romeo and Juliet was when the pair of star cossed lovers both committed suicide because they couldn't live without eachother because they loved eachother so much. This moment in the play is significant because this showed that Romeo and Juliet really and truly did love eachother and that they weren't going to let anything seperate them which is what makes this scene stand out from all of the others.

This scene is the final scene of the play so nothing can really change per say, but in this play, the emotion in this scene goes from being dramatic to just outright hearbreaking in the span of about a minute, not even. The fact that two kids would go the distance for love is truly a heartwrenching thought and that is what makes the scene so hearbreaking. There were evidence that this scene was coming, both Romeo and Juliet threatened to or suggested it as an idea, most notably Romeo, when he said "Thou cutt'st off my head with a golden axe and smils't upon the stroke that murders me", he was referring to the Prince when he said Romeo was exiled, he basically said that if he is exiled he is as good as dead which is what he will make himself to which the Friar replied "O unheavenly sin, O rude unthankfulness". This moment as a whole is so significant in this play because it encapsulates all of the things that have led up to this moment. It makes you think about what caused it while will make you realize the situations with their families were stressful, they couldn't be with eachother which must have been stressful as well. Also this scene makes you think back to the scenes where they threatened suicide, why wasn't this threat taken more seriously? Why didn't the Friar further investigate the situation? Well the answer to this question is because that killing yourself in this period was against religion and those who commited suicide were not entitled to a Christian burial because they took away "God's greatest gift" which is life. 

A lot of this scene was significant because it changed the whole feeling of the play. The play was dramatic and over the top and sometimes a little bit sad because of the struggle that they were in to be together but when the deaths happened it changed the perspective of the play at last minute from a weird, sarcastic, dramatic performance to a heartbreaking tragedy in a matter of minutes which I think was true genious by the playwrite. This scene made a personal connection with me because, not that I would actually kill myself for someone, I have had the feeling that I would, that I loved someone so much that I would actually die for them and take a bullet for them which I believe was the initial feeling of Romeo and Juliet but seemed to change in this scene.

In conclusion, this scene summed up the play perfectly because in many ways this scene was preditcable. This scene definitely proved that love and death do connect and this scene did show that Romeo and Juliet loved eachother. The moment is signigicant because this showed that they were not going to let anything seperate them, not even death.

Questions

Where did Romeo go after he left Juliet to be banished? How long did he stay there?

Does the Friar care more about religion or nature? Use text-based analysis to backup your answer

When Balthasar tells Romeo of Juliet’s death, what is his reaction? What will he do?

Does Romeo seem like more of a lover or a luster? Use text-based analysis to back up your answer

How does Romeo commit suicide? Who witnesses the suicide?

Does it seem like Juliet is too young and naive to be in love? Use textual evidence to prove your answer?

How does Romeo react in his conversation with the Friar about his banishment? What is the Friar’s advice to Romeo

How does the nurse view Romeo? Does she like him or dislike him? Use textual evidence to back your answer

What does Juliet’s father threaten to do if she doesn’t marry Paris?

Is getting married in this time period about love or wealth? Use textual evidence to back your answer

What ultimately caused the deaths of Romeo and Juliet? Their love for eachother? Or their famliy’s feud? Use textual evidence to back your answer

What was Shakespeare’s ultimate message towards the audience? Why do you think this?