Written Task Script

Balcony Scene Act II Scene II

[Enter Romeo Enter Juliet above]

ROMEO

Arise, fair sun, and kill the envious moon,

Who is already sick and pale with grief

That thou, her maid, art far more fair than she

It is my lady. O, it is my love!

O, that she knew she were!

JULIET

O Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo?

Deny thy father and refuse thy name,

ROMEO

I take thee at thy word.

Henceforth I never will be Romeo.

JULIET

What man art thou that, thus bescreened in night,

So stumblest on my counsel ?

How camest thou hither?

The orchard walls are high and hard to climb,

And the place death , considering who thou art,

If any of my kinsmen find thee here.

ROMEO

stony limits cannot hold love out,

And what love can do, that dares love attempt .

Therefore thy kinsmen are no stop to me.

JULIET

If they do see thee, they will murder thee.

ROMEO

Than twenty of their swords. Look thou but sweet,

And I am proof against their enmity.

JULIET

I would not for the world they saw thee here.

ROMEO

let them find me here.

My life were better ended by their hate

Than death proroguèd , wanting of thy love.

JULIET

Thou knowest the mask of night is on my face,

Else would a maiden blush bepaint my cheek

But farewell compliment .

Dost thou love me? I know thou wilt say “Ay,”

Or, if thou thinkest I am too quickly won,

I’ll frown and be perverse and say thee nay,

ROMEO

Lady, by yonder blessèd moon I vow,

That tips with silver all these fruit-tree tops—

JULIET

It is too rash, too unadvised , too sudden

May prove a beauteous flower when next we meet.

Good night, good night.

ROMEO

O, wilt thou leave me so unsatisfied?

JULIET

What satisfaction canst thou have tonight?

ROMEO

Th’ exchange of thy love’s faithful vow for mine.

JULIET

I gave thee mine before thou didst request it,

ROMEO

Wouldst thou withdraw it? For what purpose, love?

JULIET

My bounty is as boundless as the sea,

My love as deep.

[ Nurse calls from within]

I hear some noise within. Dear love, adieu.—

ROMEO

Sleep dwell upon thine eyes, peace in thy breast.

Act IV Scene I

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

Come weep with me, past hope, past care , past help.

FRIAR LAWRENCE

O Juliet, I already know thy grief.

I hear thou must, and nothing may prorogue it,

On Thursday next be married to this County.

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

Unless thou tell me how I may prevent it.

Do thou but call my resolution wise,

And with this knife I’ll help it presently.

< She shows him her knife. >

FRIAR LAWRENCE

Hold , daughter, I do spy a kind of hope,

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,

JULIET

O, bid me leap, rather than marry Paris,

From off the battlements of any tower,

FRIAR LAWRENCE

Hold, then.

Go home; give consent To marry Paris.

Tomorrow night look that thou lie alone;

< Holding out a vial. >

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

JULIET Give me, give me! O, tell not me of fear!

FRIAR LAWRENCE ,

< giving Juliet the vial >

Hold, get you gone. Be strong and prosperous

In this resolve. I’ll send a friar with speed

To Mantua with my letters to thy lord.

JULIET Love give me strength, and strength shall help afford .

Farewell, dear father.

[FRIAR LAWRENCE exits]

JULIET

< She takes out the vial. >

What if this mixture do not work at all?

Shall I be married then tomorrow morning?

< She takes out her knife and puts it down beside her. >

No, no, this shall forbid it. Lie thou there.

What if it be a poison which the Friar

Subtly hath ministered to have medead,

Lest in this marriage he should be dishonored

Because he married me before to Romeo?

I fear it is. And yet methinks it should not ,

For he hath still been tried a holy man.

How if, when I am laid into the tomb,

I wake before the time that Romeo

Come to redeem me?

Romeo, Romeo, Romeo! Here’s drink. I drink to

thee.

< She drinks and falls upon her bed within the curtains. >

Act III Scene III

FRIAR LAWRENCE

Romeo, come forth; come forth, thou fearful man

Affliction is enamored of thy parts

And thou art wedded to calamity

< Enter Romeo. >

ROMEO

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

FRIAR LAWRENCE

A gentler judgment vanished from his lips:

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

ROMEO

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

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

FRIAR LAWRENCE

Here from Verona art thou banishèd.

Be patient , for the world is broad and wide.

ROMEO

There is no world without Verona walls

Calling death “banishèd,”

Thou cutt’st my head off with a golden ax

And smilest upon the stroke that murders me

FRIAR LAWRENCE

O deadly sin, O rude unthankfulness!

ROMEO

’Tis torture and not mercy. Heaven is here

Where Juliet lives, every unworthy thing may look on her,

But Romeo may not.

Displant a town, reverse a prince’s doom,

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

FRIAR LAWRENCE

O, then I see that have no ears.

ROMEO

How should they when that wise men have no eyes?

Thou canst not speak of that thou dost not feel.

Wert thou as young as I, Juliet thy love,

Then mightst thou speak, then mightst thou tear thy hair

And fall upon the ground as I do now,

< Romeo throws himself down. >

Taking the measure of an unmade grave.

[Knock < within. > ]

FRIAR LAWRENCE

Arise. One knocks. Good Romeo, hide thyself.

Who knocks so hard? Whence come you? What’s your will?

NURSE ,

< within >

Let me come in, and you shall know my errand.

I come from Lady Juliet.

FRIAR LAWRENCE

, < admitting the Nurse >

Welcome, then.

< Enter Nurse. >

NURSE

O holy friar, O, tell me, holy friar,

Where’s my lady’s lord? Where’s Romeo?

FRIAR LAWRENCE

There on the ground, with his own tears made drunk.

NURSE

O, he is even in my mistress’ case ,

Just in her case.

Blubb’ring and weeping, weeping and blubb’ring.

Stand up, stand up. Stand an you be a man.

For Juliet’s sake, for her sake, rise and stand.

ROMEO ,

< rising up >

Spakest thou of Juliet? How is it with her?

Doth my name lodge? Tell me, that I may sack

The hateful mansion.

< He draws his dagger. >

FRIAR LAWRENCE
Hold thy desperate hand!

Art thou a man? Thy form cries out thou art.

Thy tears are womanish; thy wild acts < denote >

The unreasonable fury of a beast.

Unseemly woman in a seeming man,

And ill-beseeming beast in seeming both !

What, rouse thee, man! Thy Juliet is alive,

For whose dear sake thou wast but lately dead :

Ascend her chamber. Hence and comfort her.

But look thou stay not till the watch be set,

For then thou canst not pass to Mantua ,

Where thou shalt live till we can find a time

To blaze your marriage, reconcile your friends ,

Beg pardon of the Prince, and call thee back

ROMEO

Do so, and bid my sweet prepare to chide.

NURSE

Hie you, make haste, for it grows very late.

< She exits. >

ROMEO

How well my comfort is revived by this!

FRIAR LAWRENCE

Go hence, good night Sojourn in Mantua. I’ll find out your man ,

Give me thy hand. ’Tis late. Farewell.

ROMEO

But that a joy past joy calls out on me,

It were a grief so brief to part with thee. Farewell.

[They exit. ]

Gender Switch

Gender Switch

I want to examine the way the both Romeo’s and Juliet’s character change during the ply from their original gender towards the opposite gender. This happens as both of them act in ways that are unusual for their gender in the time the play takes plays and was written. In the beginning of the book Romeo is the guy in the relationship while Juliet is the girl. However towards the end of the play this changes. Juliet takes over more of the man's part by acting in way, that in the time the play was written, was extremely unusual for a girl, for example the decision to take the sleeping potion to take hers and Romeo’s faith in her hand while Romeo on the other hand is merely sitting in Mantua waiting for what will happen. A thing that was more common for a women to do. This project will help me think more about the changes that Shakespeare let’s the characters experience in his play, along with his portrait of women compare to the one of man. 

In order to explore our analysis we decided to stage the Balcony scene, which shows Romeo’s role as a man and Juliet as a woman. Act 3 Scene 3 in which Romeo is more a girl as he is devastated about his banishment. In the conversation he has with Friar Laurence, Friar Lawrence tells him to act like a man. The final scene we will do is Act 4 Scene 1, and maybe some of Act 4 Scene 2, where Friar Lawrence encourages Juliet to take the sleeping potion. Juliet makes this important decision all on her own while Romeo is waiting in Mantua. Later (in Scene 2) Juliet even wonders if Friar Lawrence is trying to poison her however she drinks the potion anyway, which demonstrates her bravery.

To stage that and to make the what we are analyzing more clear we will first have Juliet be played by a girl and Romeo by a guy and then these two people switch roles, the girls played Romeo, the guy Juliet. Friar Lawrence will be played by the same person. We will need to see how creative we can get with the stage and the costuming as it is based a lot on what resources we will have at our hands. Me personally, I believe to demonstrate the switch in character by the actors they should switch costumes this will not only make it more clear to the audience but also amusing as the guy will be wearing a dress. If the costumes do not fit the actor completely it won’t be a problem as it can be taken further in though Romeo and Juliet switched gender they do not completely fit in it, like they don’t fit in the costume.

We require three people for our project. A girl Romeo and Juliet, a guy Romeo and Juliet and a Friar Lawrence. I will be playing the girl Romeo and Juliet, we haven’t decided yet which of the guys is to play the guy Romeo and Juliet and which is to play Friar Lawrence. We will do that tomorrow.

Each of the group members will have equal parts as we will have three scenes in total and each actor will be in two and only two of them. This is also very helpful as we will always have one person watching to give feedback.

Goosebumps+ Wet Eyes = Newsies

The musical Newsies is inspired and based on the New York Cities newsboys strike in 1899, tells the story of the boys in New York that make their money by selling papers on the streets. When the publisher of the World Joseph Pulitzer increases the prize for 100 papers by 10 cents the boys go on strike. Under the lead of Jack Kelly, one of the Newsies, and the help of Davey who joins the Newsies in the beginning of the play along with his younger brother Les, a Union is formed. The Newsies are supported by a young reporter named Katherine, who later turns out to be Pulitzer’s daughter. Inspired by the boy’s story and Jack’s leadership Katherine writes articles about the strike to spread the boy’s story and gain people’s and other Newsies support. Neither side is willing to give up and eventually the Newsies make Pulitzer agree to not only lower the price of the papers back to 50 cents but to also buy back the papers that the boys are not able to cell.

Newsies includes many great songs and breathtaking dancing parts. It is one of my favorite musicals. Funny, exciting, intriguing, and catchy. I can’t watch it without having goosebumps and wet eyes. The dancing is an astonishing mixture of ballet and Jazz that is amazingly choreographed and the Music is equally amazing. I really enjoyed watching Newsies even though I have seen it before, and I would watch it again any time.

First Thoughts

I thought about talking about the characters of Romeo and Juliet and how their roles switch in the play. Juliet who originally is the girls, is the boy in the end who makes the important decision while Romeo is waiting in Mantua. I wanted to show this by staging two or more scenes that prove these transition so in the first scene Juliet is played by a girl and Romo by a guy, and in the second scene Romeo is played by a girl and Juliet by a guy.

The scenes that are useful for this could be Act 3 scene 5 were Juliet’s parents decide to marry her to Paris. Another scene is Act 3 scene 3 where Romeo is troubled with the thought of banishment and Friar Lawrence tells him to be a mand. A third scene is when Friar Lawrence encourages Juliet to take the sleeping potion and tells her to be brave in Act 4 scene 1.

An Avoidable Tragedy

QUESTION 2

An Avoidable Tragedy

Romeo and Juliet’s tragedy was a result of circumstances and strong personalities. The feud is what originally caused the conflict between the Montague's and the Capulet’s. The tragedy of Romeo and Juliet could have been avoided if the people had been less querulent and had looked more into the present and future rather than in the past. instead people’s stubbornness, blind hatred or blind love for each other and their hubris is what caused the death of Romeo and Juliet.

    In Romeo and Juliet strong emotions play a very important role. The cause for this is the feud between the Capulet’s and the Montague's. It is what provokes both the intense love between Romeo and Juliet and the strong hatred that individuals from both houses feel for each other. These strong emotions often make the people in the play blind and cause misunderstandings that often lead to death. An example of that is the hatred that Tybalt feels for Romeo. In Act 2 Scene 1 Tybalt says: “Romeo, the love I bear thee can afford no better term than this: thou art a villain.” Romeo answers: “I do protest I never injured thee But love thee better than thou canst devise” Tybalt wants to kill Romeo, Romeo tries to assure Tybalt that he feels no hatred for him and that he is not Tybalt’s enemy however Tybalt's hatred for Romeo has left him blinded, a fight evokes in which Tybalt kills Romeo’s friend Mercutio and out of revenge Romeo kills Tybalt. Though Romeo does not see himself as Tybalt’s enemy the feud has left Tybalt blinded with hatred and this leads to his death. If Tybalt had listened to Romeo and been willing to talk the situation would not have escalated the way it did and Romeo would not have killed Tybalt, and would not have been banished which was the turning point that ultimately lead to Romeo and Juliet’s deaths.

    When Juliet’s Parents decide to marry her to Paris she is devastated. She seeks Friar Lawrence for help who gives her a sleeping potion that will make her seem dead. Juliet decides to take the potion hoping that way she can escape the marriage with Paris and live with Romeo. Though Friar Lawrence is a man of the church, he also believes in Science and that man can take their fate into their own hands. This hubris ends up being the fatal flaw that leads to Romeo and Juliet’s deaths as the message of the plan does not reach Romeo. When he hears from Juliet’s death he travels to her grave where she lays still sleeping, however Romeo, thinking she is dead decides to take his live in despair. When Juliet awakes and finds Romeo dead she kills herself as well. If it hadn’t been for Friar Lawrence’s hubris the Death of Romeo and Juliet could have been avoided.

    They play Romeo and Juliet ends with the deaths of Romeo and Juliet. A feud between Romeo’s family, the Montague's and Juliet’s family, the Capulet’s had caused long years of hatred between the two houses. The feud however also provokes the strong love between Romeo and Juliet. The strong personalities of many of the characters is what caused the tragedy, as people were blinded by love or hatred due to the feud or to sure of their abilities to take fate into their own hands. The tragedy could have been avoided if characters had been less querulent and stubborn and more open to compromise.