Romeo and Juliet quiz study questions

Fact Questions:
In Act 1 Scene 2, what does Benvolio mean by saying that"Tut man, one fire burns out another's burning"?, what is he implying for?

2.   In Act 2 Scene 5, why is Juliet talking bad about the nurse by saying that,"But old folks, many feign as they were dead, unwieldy, slow, heavy and pale as lead"?

3.   In Act 3 Scene 1, what emotions are Mercutio expressing when he says "Here's my fiddlestick, here's that shall make you dance. Zounds, consort!"

4.   In Act 4 Scene 5, why does the nurse say "Oh whelladay, that ever I was born?", how does it related to Juliet's death.

5.   In Act 5 Scene 3. In fact, Romeo barely knows Paris, but why does he say," By heaven, I love thee more than myself."

 Thinking Questions:
Did Romeo die with happiness?
What made up the worries of Juliet's, before she drank the potion.
Was the love between Romeo and Juliet considered "true love?"
What is the role of the nurse in the whole play?
What was the importance of Tybalt's death?

Essay Questions:

Analyze the death of Mercutio and Tybalt. What led to the result like that?(Event, Relationships)
Explain the role of Friar Lawrence in the whole play. What does he mean to Romeo and Juliet?

Use specific examples and details to demonstrate the ideas.

Studying, Acting, Improving

  Staging a scene is not an easy work and it takes a lot of time and thoughts to accomplish it.
  My group and I had worked on two scenes. The first scene we staged was originated from Act 2 Scene 2 of Romeo and Juliet. Honestly, it didn't go well at the beginning. Shakespeare's plays are quite hard to demonstrate, the complications of language and the time difference were the difficulties that needed to be solved. We decided to keep the original sentences and made an big change on the setting; put Romeo and Juliet on different sides of a pillar, instead of meeting at the balcony. We really liked this idea because the distance between the lovers was shortened, since Juliet doesn't need to stay up at the balcony. Also, it became much easier to set the scene.(No ladders or additional tools required).
  We had plenty of funny moments while performing the scene. Cherry was the plot designer and she made another significant change to the original play: Eric and I had to play for Romeo and Juliet. Suddenly the performance became a little awkward. The lovers' role didn't fit us well, but we still tried our best to make the play seemed real.
  However, the problems just kept showing up. One of the biggest ones was caused by shyness, Eric and I didn't have loud enough voice at the beginning, so the audience couldn't hear us well. But we improved right away. The lack of performing experience really caused a bunch of mistakes. A good example would be that Eric and I were always facing each other while performing, and the audience couldn't see our faces. The performers should always face toward the audience in order to show the facial expression. Thanks to the teacher, we corrected the problem and were able to move on.
  The second scene started at this week, and I joined a new group to work on it. Since it's no longer
our first performance, there were a few improvements on the practice. As I mentioned above, I didn't have loud enough voice at the first performance, yet at the practice this week I was able to speak clearly. The second scene is mainly about the conflict between Tybalt(Joseph) and Mercutio(Leo), and Romeo(me)'s intervention. This scene is less difficult than the one on Act 2 Scene 2. All the actors are boys and we have the passion to perform the fighting scene. Passion is the most important factor to makes the scene better. The only problem we are facing right now is my poor control on laughing. I'm just not a good actor because I always laugh and ruin the whole scene, it confuses me so much. Maybe in the future practices , I will find a way to prevent laughing.
  It's quite challenging to shorten the whole scene into a five to ten minutes performance. Leo and I need to cut a lot of lines of ours because Tybalt(Joseph) has less lines. And it actually turned out well, the briefer plot shows the main storyline.
  In conclusion. After all the problems, our performance keeps getting better. I had learned not only from correcting mistakes but also from watching other's performance. Julie and Ryan's  performances are always my favorite, they act naturally and speak fluently. Those are my short term goals

Father, this time is for real.

(Adapt from Act 2 Scene 3)

The garden is full of flowers, sunlight shining, birds singing.
Friar Lawrence comes in with a basket in his hands.

Friar Lawrence

What a bright morning! Shines away all the darkness from the sad night.
Look at all those amazing images reflexing on the sky,
The sunshine just burns all the chaos and doom into ashes.
Now, I need to fill my basket with all the poisonous herbs and amazing flowers.
Mother Earth, you granted us the nature, our lives!
We lived and died at your embraces, keep alive with your gifts.
No creature is the same as the other, and yet all beautiful.
The herbs, plants and stones are the essence of the true nature,
Only the good should exists, with no evilness.
Yet the evilness can be corrected by the right action.

Romeo walks slowly toward Friar Lawrence, with a frown on his face.

However, inside the little rind of this flower, is full of both poison and cures.
A smell of it, is able to make the day better.
A taste of it, goes straight into your heart.
The opposing powers are always fight against each other,
Both human and herbs,
Both graceful and cruel.
Good morning, my dear Friar Lawrence.

Friar Lawrence smiles back.

God is with you.
Oh, here comes my son, the sweetest voice in the morning greets me.
Isn't it a bit early to be awake and leave your bed?
Is something wrong?
Every old man has worries, right through our eyes.
With the old man's cares, rest may never dies for them.
There must be something in your mind, twisting in all the empty areas.
Our young blood Romeo had not been into bed last night.

Romeo stops and looks up, says sadly:

You did make the right guess, I had a rest rather than sleep.

Friar Lawrence responds disappointedly.

May God forgives you!
Did you spend the night with Rosaline?

Romeo getting emotional, shouts out:

Rosaline? She had passed away in my world forever.
All the sadness? Gone!
All the love? Gone!

Friar Lawrence goes back to calmness.

That sounds right, but where did you go then...

Romeo responds secretly,

Stop asking, I'll confess.
I went the the Capulets' gigantic party.
And my heart just stopped, turned into fire when I looked at her, only you can cure us.
I have no hostility toward the Capulets, because my decision will benefit them.

Friar Lawrence puts his hand on Romeo's shoulder, trying to appease his emotions.

Don't worry, just tell me about it.
A good confession can help you clear up your mind.

Romeo suddenly starts crying, whimpering:

I had a crush on the wealthy daughter of Capulets'.
I'm so in love with her, while she just loves me back.
You have to hold our wedding, please!
I have to exchange vows with her, saying we love each other.
Yes, we have to marry today!
Please, father, please!

Friar Lawrence gets shocked, starting to stuttering.

Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait!
This is a bit too much for me,
Are you telling me that you forget about the Roseline,
Whom you are talking about every single day?
Young people like you are just so superficial on your loves.
For the god's sake, I can't even count how many times you cry for Roseline.
Please!
You can't just change your mind like that, my son,
Love is harsh yet being young is sharper!
Now you just turn back and walk away so quickly?
No wonder why girls are unreliable when boys are worse!

Romeo depressed

You're just blaming me for forgetting about Roseline.

Friar Lawrence angrier

But I didn't tell you to love someone else!

Romeo still depressed

Stop judging, father.
She is the only girl that actually likes me back.

Friar Lawrence sighs, nods his head and agreed

Fine, young man, I will forgive you.
Also, I will hold the marriage for you and the girl,
Of course, secretly...
I just hope your family to stop fighting, with the love of you young bloods.
No more hates.

Romeo finally smiles.

See you father, I'm in a hurry.

Friar Lawrence smiles back

Be careful, my son.

Analyze of death

  In Act 3 Scene 3, based on the incident of the banishment to Romeo by the prince. We can tell that Friar Lawrence and Romeo have different perspectives to the term"death". For Friar Lawrence, he said "A gentler judgment vanished from his lips, Not body’s death, but body’s banishment."(3.3 11-12) He considers not being dead as a gentle punishment, which shows that he cherish people's life. However, Romeo thinks death would be a better choice than been exiled and not able to see his Juliet. "Ha, banishment? Be merciful, say “death”(3.3 13). Death is mercy to him, because he is just overwhelmed by love. It's not about right or wrong, but the significance of love and life. Both of them have deeper explanations next: "Thy fault our law calls death , but the kind prince, Taking thy part , hath rushed aside the law And turned that black word “death” to “banishment."(3.3 26-28) Friar Lawrence just doesn't want Romeo die, life weighs much more than death for love. It might related to his identity of a priest, has love and faith in people's lives. Romeo just doesn't care,:"Hadst thou no poison mixed, no sharp-ground knife, No sudden mean of death, though ne’er so mean, But “banished” to kill me? “banished”?(3.3 46-48) I think this sentence not only shows his extreme emotions on love but also foreshadows his death later in the play. Of course death is cruel, but to some people, live without love can be crueler.

In class writing sentence

Midnight comes while werewolves sneak in the town
Darkness covers all death fear and nightmare

Anger

  Anger is such a powerful experience because when people are angry, they hurt one another.
  When people are angry, it's easy to lose logical thinking and behavior. Anger can show up at work, family or friendship, and sometimes causing horrible result like violence.
  I've been in some situations when I got so angry and couldn't control myself. I was in the train station and the crowd just pushed me to the ground, and I started a fight with someone because I thought he pushed me on purpose. It didn't end up well.
  Anger gets out of control in a chain reaction, because one's anger can be the the other person's incentive to get angry, anger is an easy-spread emotion. However, it can be prevented by a third person's mediation, or the calmness from one side of the conflict. 

Blog #5

  The Romeo and Juliet film I watched was the 1976 TV series version. It was directed by Joan Kemp-Welch, who' s a British director and actress.(http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0125480/) The film is 3 hours and 6 minutes long, Joan Kemp-Welch decided to keep all of the original lines from the play, everything were designed to show the real scenes of the original storyline.
  The scenarios takes place mostly in the Medieval style manors, different kinds of buildings and streets. We can tell that Joan Kemp-Welch really attempts to imitate the Medieval British atmosphere: at the beginning of the play, two men of the Capulet family showed up in a market-like place. Women were selling fruits while a silversmith was sharpening a knife. Of course, those scenes are still existing nowadays, but the way they dressed were pretty different from us. The women were in red or white mantillas, and carrying baskets around. The Capulet men were wearing the same costume and acting rudely, one of them pointed the sword at the other and they both threatened a random person on the street. I noticed a slight difference from the original play, they weren't carrying any small shields while the original play says, "Enter Sampson and Gregory, with swords and bucklers". Maybe it's inconvenient to carry them. Next, the men of Montague entered. They were in total different costumes, and carrying weapons. I love the scene when the Capulet men bit their thumbs and had a conversation with the Montague, they express their contempt emotions through the rising tone. It made me laugh when they keep repeating the word "sir" to deride the other. With the enter of Tybelt and Benvolio, the street fight began. Although there weren't many special effect for the film, comparing to all the Hollywood films nowadays, the actors did a great job on the fighting. There were plenty of details showing how the fight between two families damages everything around them: the street became messy; fruits felling on the ground; and Tybelt even slashed an innocent woman on the street. The violence were really out of control, I think that's a fantastic adaptation to the original play. Another detail to mention, the prince was played by an old British actor, that actually shocked me a lot. My first impression to the term "prince" is a handsome, decent young man. But later, I understand the importance of the prince being an old man. As I said above, the street was messy and the fight went unstoppable, until the old prince showed up. He had the pride and gained respect from the people immediately. In my opinion, the mediation wouldn't work that well if the prince is just a young man like those fighters.
  Like most of the other versions of Romeo and Juliet. The two young lovers meets in a garden at night, Juliet standing upstairs. But the special part of this version is that Romeo climbed and hung on the vine for so long. In most of the other versions, Romeo entered the balcony immediately after climbing up the wall. I think the director wants to set a small distance between the lovers when they are together, and of course, they didn't kiss. This way, the plot is closer to the original play.
  In conclusion, the film did a great job on reflexing the original version of the play and add a good amount of details to demonstrate it, I like this version a lot.
 
Cited resource:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0125480/