How to write a body paragraph...?!

In the beginning of the play Juliet is calm and quiet. She is the perfect young woman in the late 1500s. She is reserved and listens to her parents. Before the feast at which Juliet and Romeo first meet, her mother tells Juliet about Paris, a potential future husband. She asks Juliet to meet him to which she responds: “I’ll look to like if looking liking move. But no more deep will I endart mine eye Than your consent gives strength to make i fly.” Juliet says she will meet Paris, but won’t go any closer to him than her mother wants her too. She listens and does what her mother tells her to. This is the way young women in 1597 are suppose to act. In Act II Scene II, I played Juliet. In this scene I showed Juliet’s traits of the proper well behaved girl when Juliet’s nurse calls from inside the house, I shrug as if I have been caught doing something wrong. I had held Romeo’s hand as as we swore our love to each other before, but when the nurse calls I immediately let go and back away from Romeo. I quickly say goodbye and exit into the Capulet’s mansion.

The Skeleton

Intro

• THESIS: While in the beginning of the play, Romeo and Juliet were the man and woman one would expect them to be in a society in the late 1500s, throughout the play their roles flip, as Romeo shows traits that would appear womanish in a Shakespearean society, while Juliet acts in ways that showed traits which were counted as manly. In our performance we showed this gender switch by changing the gender of the actor along with costuming and characterization decisions to prove our point.

Paragraph 1.

• Romeo in the beginning of the play
• what was his character?
• specific examples from text
• what did you do in your performance to show that?
• *~1-2 paragraphs
• one analysis one performance

Paragraph 2.

• Juliet in the beginning of the play
• what was her character?
• specific examples from text
• what did you do in your performance to show that?
• *~1-2 paragraphs
• one analysis one performance

Paragraph 3.

• Romeo’s transition how was he in the end of the play?
• how did he change?
• what shows that he did?
• how is he now?
• examples from text
• what did you do in your performance to show that?
• *~2 paragraphs

Paragraph 4.

• Juliet's transition how was she in the end of the play?
• how did she change?
• what shows that she did?
• how is she now?
• examples from text
• what did you do in your performance to show that?
• *~2 paragraphs

Getting Started........

Getting Started

Outline:

Intro

• THESIS: While in the beginning of the play, Romeo and Juliet were the man and woman one would expect them to be in a society in the late 1500s, throughout the play their roles flip, as Romeo appears more and more in the role of the women while Juliet seems to become more the man in the relationship.
• 
  

Paragraph 1.

• Romeo in the beginning of the play
• what was his character?
• specific examples from text
• what did you do in your performance to show that?
• *~1-2 paragraphs

Paragraph 2.

• Juliet in the beginning of the play
• what was her character?
• specific examples from text
• what did you do in your performance to show that?
• *~1-2 paragraphs

Paragraph 3.

• Romeo’s transition how was he in the end of the play?
• how did he change?
• what shows that he did?
• how is he now?
• examples from text
• what did you do in your performance to show that?
• *~2 paragraphs

Paragraph 4.

• Juliet's transition how was she in the end of the play?
• how did she change?
• what shows that she did?
• how is she now?
• examples from text
• what did you do in your performance to show that?
• *~2 paragraphs

The play Romeo and Juliet written 1597 by the English playwright William Shakespeare, tells the story of two young star crossed lovers named Romeo Montague and Juliet Capulet. The Families Montague and Capulet have been in a feud for a long time and so Romeo and Juliet's love seems to be impossible. Nevertheless the two marry in secret. When Juliet's cousin Tybalt attacks Romeo and kills his friend Mercutio, Romeo kills Tybalt and is banished from the city of Verona. Juliet is desperate and seeks the help of Friar Lawrence who gives her a strong sleeping potion that would make her seem dead so that she could leave the city with Romeo. Even though she is not sure weather the potion might kill her or not work at all, Juliet decides to take it while Friar Lawrence sends word to Mantua where Romeo is waiting. The letter however doesn’t reach Romeo, instead he hears the news of Juliet’s seemingly death. He travels back to Verona, where he poisons himself in the Capulet’s family tomb. When Juliet awakes and sees Romeo dead she stabs herself. Their tragic deaths end the feud between the two families. As the play was first published in the late 1500s there are certain ways that men and women are portrayed. However in the relationship between Romeo and Juliet the roles of men and women evolve in a way that they are flipped by the end of the play. While in the beginning of the play, Romeo and Juliet were the man and woman one would expect them to be in a society in the late 1500s, throughout the play their roles inverse, as Romeo appears more and more in the role of the women while Juliet seems to become more the man in the relationship.

In the beginning of the play Juliet is calm and quiet. She is the perfect young woman in the late 1500s. She is reserved and listens to her parents. Before the feast at which Juliet and Romeo first meet, her mother tells Juliet about Paris, a potential future husband. She asks Juliet to meet him to which she responds: “I’ll look to like if looking liking move. But no more deep will I endart mine eye Than your consent gives strength to make i fly.” Juliet says she will meet Paris, but won’t go any closer to him or other man than her mother wants her too. She listens and does what her mother tells her to. This is the way young women in 1597 are suppose to act. In my group's performance we showed Juliet’s traits of the proper well behaved girl, who is hesitant when she first meets Romeo in the beginning of the play.

• one paragraph in here that describes Romeo’s character separately, and how we used these character traits in our performance

In the beginning of the play Romeo was a rather typical young man from the late 1500s. He is a convinced to be madly in love with Juliet's cousin Rosaline until he meets Juliet. In the beginning of the play he takes on the men part in the relationship between him and Juliet. He takes the first step between them by sneaking into the Capulet's garden to see her. When he startles her, Juliet asks how he managed to sneak into the garden as it is well guarded and her family would kill him if the would catch him. He answers: “With love’s light wings did I o’erperch these walls, for stony limits cannot hold love out And what love can do, that dares love attempt. Therefore thy kinsmen are no stop to me.” His love gave him wings that allowed him to fly over the garden walls, and it gave him the strength and determination to even risk his life to see her. This shows that Romeo is much straight forward and bold than Juliet. In contrast to that Juliet is reserved. When Romeo steps out of hiding she is startled; “What man art thou that, thus bescreened in night, So stumblest on my counsel?...If they [her family] do see thee, they will murder thee.” She asks him who he is, who late in night sneaks into her garden. Juliet is shocked, almost indignant when she sees Romeo. The last line shows her reservation and caution. These traits prove Juliet to be a more female figure in this particular scene, whereas Romeo’s boldness and indiscret entrance is something that proves him as a male.

Juliet is more hesitant as she is slightly suspicious about Romeo’s intentions. When Romeo wants to swear his love to her she interrupts him; “It is too rash, too unadvised , too sudden...May prove a beauteous flower when next we meet. Good night, good night.” He holds her back: “O, wilt thou leave me so unsatisfied?” To which she responds: “What satisfaction canst thou have tonight?” Juliet believes that their relationship is happening to rash, she barely even knows Romeo and wants more time. With his comment all Romeo is hoping for is that Juliet admits her love like he has his, but Juliet's takes it the wrong way. She fears that his intentions are to merely spent a nice night and then never think of her again. Again this shows her suspicion and hesitance towards Romeo.

• how our performance showed this will be a separate paragraph because otherwise it is to long.

The Final Switch Up

The Final Switch Up

In my written task I want to analyse how the roles of Romeo and Juliet in their relationship, evolve throughout the play. Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare, was first published in 1597. Thus men and women were pictured in a specific way. In the beginning of the play, Juliet is a typical girl one would find in the late 1500s. She is calm, quiet, and does what her parents tell her to do. Romeo is a typical man, or teenager for that time, he is a bit melodramatic. Before falling in love with Juliet he has a crush on Rosaline, who he believes to be his true, one and only love until he meets Juliet. Throughout the play, the role of Juliet and Romeo in their relationship evolves to a point where it is flipped. Juliet takes on the part of the man, she makes important decisions that will influence both of their lives, while Romeo is waiting in Mantua for whatever will happen.

My group choose several scenes that showed Romeo and Juliet before and after that transition. The characters included were Romeo, Juliet, Friar Lawrence and the Nurse. To symbolize the transitions we had one actor play the girls side of Romeo and Juliet (this was me, the only girls in the group) and another actor play the guy side in both Romeo and Juliet (John).

The scenes that we choose (Act II Scene II, Act IV Scene I+II, and Act III Scene III) worked well with our argument. We also had the right people to perform those three scenes. One thing that would have been helpful is if I had been completely off script. Thouh I was familiar enough with our lines to only take brief glances at my paper from time to time, acting is false easier to me if I don’t depend on my script. For our scenes we didn’t use music, and didn’t require a big amount of props, but costumes had a big impact. As having two people playing both Romeo and Juliet could cause confusion for the audience we decided that the two actors when playing Juliet would wear one costume, and when playing Romeo would wear the other costume. This also added a funny aspect as it was hard to find costumes fitting both of us, and we both were wearing a costume for the opposite gender at one part.

Through this project I tried, and believe to have succeeded in a way, to really go out of myself when acting, for instance the scene in which I was Romeo I had to add a funny, melodramatic effect to it as I had to show the girl (from thee late 1500s) in Romeo. Also as another group lost their actor for Juliet I spontaneously jumped in. This meant I had to learn the part in two less than two days which was definitely an interesting experience. I think my performance skills also improved because I took on a big aspect of directing our scenes. This gave me a good view of the choices an actor could and should make in specific situations when on stage.

The Switch Up

http://youtu.be/6oLDOQcmWIw

Take One...

Take One...

I think the first draft was okay. Since we didn’t have as much time as I had hoped to work on it I didn’t get as comfortable with my lines yet. This doesn’t only result in my having my head stuck behind my script but also it makes the acting harder as it prevents me from freely moving. I also need to get a bit more comfortable with some difficult words or phrase in Shakespearean English. In addition to that I need to make it more funny especially when I am playing Romeo. The same thing is for John when he is Juliet.
We also need to look if, and how we are going to use props. For instance we need a vial for the sleeping potion that Friar Lawrence gives Juliet. Also we need to think of costuming. It would be very funny if John and I could wear the same thing as when we are both playing Juliet and when we are playing Romeo. That will also add to the argument we are trying to make. 

In Class Writing November 2, 2015

For my IB project I will be playing two characters, Romeo in one scene, and Juliet in the other scene. Because of that I need to make sure there are distinctions between the two characters. On the other hand I need to show how they are similar, as I am playing the 'girl' side of both of them. I need to clearly convey to the audience that they are different characters. I am not really playing a character on it's own but more the idea of whoever is on of the female side of the relationship between Romeo and Juliet. In the beginning that is Juliet in the end Romeo. I also need to work together with John as he is playing the 'boy' in Romeo and Juliet. In order to show the differences between them and make the audience comprehend that two actors switch roles we need to perform Romeo and Juliet in a slightly similar way. I can also add an element of humor to the scene on which Romeo is the boy to make it funny and stand out more.