Wednesday, January 2, 2019
Due Monday, January 7th - Romeo & Juliet - Act I, scene i
Directions: Please reread Act I, scene i of Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare. Choose 1-2 major passages from the play and comment on the ideas, philosophy, and/or the motivations of the characters as well as the impact on the plot of the play. For example, what are the comedic elements in the play? How is Shakespeare using humor to prepare us for the tragedy about to ensue? How does Shakespeare use dramatic irony in the play? What is going on in the mind of Romeo? How does Shakespeare use foil characters? Tybalt and Benvolio?
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Rene Roustand
ReplyDeleteThe comedic elements of the play are inappropriate jokes and violence, and Shakesphere is using this humor to give the reader a message about what's to come. Shakesphere uses dramatic irony by tricking the reader that a certain event will happen, but it might not. Romeo has love problems going through his mind. Shakeshere uses foil characters to try and help Romeo with his love dileema.
Lucas Kaufman
ReplyDeletePrince: Rebellious subjects, enemies to peace,
Profaners of this neighbor-stained steel-
Will they not hear? What, ho! You men, you
beasts,
That quench the fire of your pernicious rage
With purple fountains issuing from your veins!
On pain of torture, from those bloody hands
Throw your mistempered weapons to the ground
And hear the sentence of your moved prince.
Three civil brawls, bred of an airy word
By thee, old Capulet, and Montague,
Have thrice disturbed the quiet of our streets
And made Verona’s ancient citizens
Cast by their grave beseeming ornaments
To wield old partisans, in hands as old,
Cankered with peace, to part your cankered hate.
If ever you disturb our streets again,
Your lives shall pay the forfeit of the peace.
For this time all the rest depart away.
You, Capulet, shall go along with me;
And, Montague, come you this afternoon,
To know our farther pleasure in this case,
To old Freetown, our common judgement place.
Once more, on pain of death, all men depart.
In my selected passage, Prince Escalus, the ruler of Verona, stops yet another fight between the families Montague and Capulet, remarking that it is the third and final time he will let them cause such chaos on his streets. He is clearly neutral in the feud and is unpleased with the actions of the Montagues and Capulets, and wishes that the fighting would stop so that the average citizens of Verona can go about their daily lives without being caught in some Montague or Capulet riot. Though not expressed as much in this particular passage, Act I, Scene I of “Romeo and Juliet” utilizes comedic elements completely unheard of in a play labeled as a tragedy, such as the sexual jokes made by Sampson and Gregory before the fight broke out. Dramatic irony, which occurs when the audience is aware of an important event or possesses a key piece of knowledge that the characters do not, is also present, as Romeo rants in the aftermath of the fight about how he will never love again after the girl of his dreams becomes a nun, though the audience knows just from the title of the play- “Romeo and Juliet”- that Romeo is soon to fall for the titular Juliet. Foil characters are prevalent in this play, as it seems like every Montague or Capulet has a counterpart in the other family, such as Sampson and Gregory (Capulet) with Balthasar and Abram (Montague), the parents of the lovers, the Nurse (Juliet) and Friar Laurence (Romeo), and, most notably so far, Benvolio (Montague) and Tybalt (Capulet). These foil characters exist mainly to highlight the strengths and weaknesses of their counterparts, as the respective actions of Benvolio and Tybalt during the fight clearly show Benvolio as the more level-headed of the two and a peace-keeper whereas Tybalt is much more rash and headstrong, always ready to charge into battle at a moment’s notice. Their servants, do the same thing a little earlier, and though we see much more of the Capulet servants in this scene we can understand that all four “main servants” think very highly of their own masters and view the other and his associates as inferior.
Julia Campbell
ReplyDeleteROMEO.
Then what an unfriendly friend thou art!
Grief of my own lies heavy in my mind,
Which thou wilt worsen, if you pile upon it
More of thine. This love that thou hast shown
Doth add more grief to too much of mine own.
Love is a smoke raised with the fume of sighs;
If satisfied, a fire sparkling in lovers' eyes;
If thwarted, oceans filled with lovers' tears.
What else is it? A madness most polite,
A bear in chains, a glistening swan in flight.
Farewell, my coz.
BENVOLIO.
Wait! Let me go along.
If you leave me so, you do me wrong.
ROMEO.
Leave you? I’ve lost myself; is this my face?
This is not Romeo, he's some other place.
This passage shows great dramatic irony considering how it displays how heartbroken Romeo is over a love he just lost; But, the audience knows that he will find another and it will surely be the death of him. Currently, Romeo is in a state of grief that seems endless. Without this pain, the love that he will feel when he sees Juliet won't have much contrast. Therefore the intense rush of excitement and allurement that he will undergo in her presence will not be as divine if Romeo weren't in his current state of distraught.
Lucas Kaufman
DeleteI liked the connection you made to Romeo's eventual fall for Juliet and how it is made even more special for Romeo because of the state of heartbreak and despair he is currently in. This is a connection I did not make myself, even when I covered this particular section of Act I, Scene I, but I definitely understand and agree with the logic you used to make the connection.
Drew Wachtel
ReplyDeletePRINCE
Rebellious subjects, enemies to peace,
Profaners of this neighbour-stained steel,--
Will they not hear? What, ho! you men, you beasts,
That quench the fire of your pernicious rage
With purple fountains issuing from your veins,
On pain of torture, from those bloody hands
Throw your mistemper'd weapons to the ground,
And hear the sentence of your moved prince.
Three civil brawls, bred of an airy word,
By thee, old Capulet, and Montague,
Have thrice disturb'd the quiet of our streets,
And made Verona's ancient citizens
Cast by their grave beseeming ornaments,
To wield old partisans, in hands as old,
Canker'd with peace, to part your canker'd hate:
If ever you disturb our streets again,
Your lives shall pay the forfeit of the peace.
For this time, all the rest depart away:
You Capulet; shall go along with me:
And, Montague, come you this afternoon,
To know our further pleasure in this case,
To old Free-town, our common judgment-place.
Once more, on pain of death, all men depart.
I chose this major passage because the prince wants to make it clear that this is the last fight he is going to allow without any major punishments. IN the prince's speech he seems a little annoyed on how the two families always fight and he is confused on why these two families fight so often. At the end of the princes long speech he says that he wants to meet with the two families involved in the fight separately at his office. The prince also says that he doesn’t want to see these two fight again and to keep clear of his streets.
Abhi Sharma
ReplyDeletePrince: Rebellious subjects, enemies to peace,
Profaners of this neighbor-stained steel-
Will they not hear? What, ho! You men, you
beasts,
That quench the fire of your pernicious rage
With purple fountains issuing from your veins!
On pain of torture, from those bloody hands
Throw your mistempered weapons to the ground
And hear the sentence of your moved prince.
Three civil brawls, bred of an airy word
By thee, old Capulet, and Montague,
Have thrice disturbed the quiet of our streets
And made Verona’s ancient citizens
Cast by their grave beseeming ornaments
To wield old partisans, in hands as old,
Cankered with peace, to part your cankered hate.
If ever you disturb our streets again,
Your lives shall pay the forfeit of the peace.
For this time all the rest depart away.
You, Capulet, shall go along with me;
And, Montague, come you this afternoon,
To know our farther pleasure in this case,
To old Freetown, our common judgement place.
Once more, on pain of death, all men depart.
In this passage, the Prince of Verona stops another fight between the Montague and the Capulet and saying this the last and the final fight that will happen between your families and no more bringing the chaos to the streets. Then the prince makes a long speech and while the speech he is wondering why these families fight and get so violent for no reason. When he is done with his speech he goes talk to the two families separately. He tells the family one by one to stop fighting for no reason and keep this out of the streets or some people will get injured or worse.
Peyton Levental
ReplyDeleteIn the passage where Capulet says, "What noise is this? Give me my long sword, ho!" (15). To me this was very comical because he is supposed to be an old man. So when he talks about him "...flourishes his blade in spite of me!" (15), this gives the audience humor and enjoys the fact that an old man wants to fight in the battle. Another passage in the play was when Romeo says, "Why, such love's transgression. Griefs of mine lie heavy in my breast, which thou wilt propagate, to have it prest with more of thine," (23) You can see here that Romeo has been dumped and thinks that he will never find love again. Even though we all know this is not true because he finds Juliet, this line gives the dramatic irony and humor effect.
Shah Behesty
ReplyDeleteROMEO
Why, such is love's transgression.
Griefs of mine own lie heavy in my breast,
Which thou wilt propagate, to have it prest
With more of thine. This love thou hast shown
Doth add more grief to too much of mine own.
Love is a smoke raised with the fume of sighs;
Being purged, a fire sparkling in lovers' eye;
Being vexed, a sea nourished with lovers' tears.
What is it else? A madness most discreet,
A choking gall, and a preserving sweet.
Farewell, my coz
(210) Tut! I have lost myself; I am not here:
This is not Romeo, he's some other where.
In this Particular Passage, We can comprehensibly see how exactly Romeo's insights on 'love' has been shaped in quite a substantial and complex format, He puts out the depth understanding of his heartbroken yet pleasuring concept of love, It brought audience to a conclusion that he is discovering his inner feelings and trying to dramatically emphasis in words which has quite poetic structure. At the present time, He is in a state of commemorating his perceived notion to "Love" which only ends with grief but contrasting this convictions leads him to explore real love which prepares us for the massive tragedy about to ensue in Romeo and Juliet's future.
Evan Brenner
ReplyDeleteIn Act I, scene 1 of Romeo and Juliet Shakespeare uses comedy to express the fight between the two families. Shakespeare put some comedy in as the two families were fighting with each other. While insulting each other they were making funny phrases. An example of dramatic irony is that the audience knows Romeo and Juliet will fall in love later, but nobody else is aware of that. Shakespeare uses foil characters to help with the feud and love happening.
Jayden Cho
ReplyDelete1/6/19
Romeo: Well, in that hit you miss. She’ll not be hit
With Cupid’s arrow. She hath Dian’s wit,
And, in strong proof of chastity well armed,
From Love’s weak childish bow she lives unharmed.
She will not stay the siege of loving terms,
Nor bide the encounter of assailing eyes,
Nor ope her lap to saint-seducing gold.
O, she is rich in beauty; only poor
That, when she dies, with beauty dies her store.
Benvolio: Then she hath sworn that she will still live chaste
Romeo: She hath, and in the sparing makes huge waste;
For beauty, starved with her severity,
Cuts beauty off from all her posterity.
She is too fair, too wise, wisely too fair,
To merit bliss by making me despair.
She hath forsworn to love, and in that vow
Do I live dead that live to tell it now.
Benvolio: Be ruled by me: forget to think of her.
Romeo: O, teach me how I should forget to think!
In this scene, the reader/audience finally realizes what it is that Romeo is so troubled with. This also acts as a comedic element in two ways. First off, we realize that Romeo’s first love is a nun, and strongly believes in chastity. Romeo seems to think that this can not be, and is heartbroken and confused that such a beauty would have to die alongside her beauty. What Is also comedic about this was at the end, where Romeo seems to have a strong belief that he would never find someone else, and will always be heartbroken. However, from the name of the play as well as logical reasoning we can assume that he will soon find a new love. We also could have known this from the prologue, where the narrator clearly says that two couples will eventually die together, with the war of the families continuing on. What I liked about this passage was the use of a sort of poetic format in Romeo’s lines, which would be used to emphasize even more his emotions throughout this section.
Ben Worthley
ReplyDeleteThe overall theme in the first scene is love. Romeo is in love with this person that is trying to become a nun.so he can’t love her for her only love is god. His father is unpleased because he does not know why his son is acting like this. The servants at the beginning of the play that fight. They strongly like or love their job that they would more or less die for there masters. Shakesphere dose a great job hiding this in-joke and other banter. The first two people that you see in the play talk about how they would beat up the servants form the Montague house. They love there job, but they are also just joking and when the other servants come they get scared and some try to run.
ReplyDeleteThe overall theme in the first scene is love. Romeo was in love with this person that chose to become a nun instead of marrying/dating him. His father was upset because he didnt know why his son was acting like this. They strongly like or love their job that they would more or less die for there masters.
James Kiladis
Sophia Lakos
ReplyDeleteSurprisingly there are a lot of jokes in this play between the characters, which isn’t expected with plays like this. “No, sir, I do not bite my thumb at you, sir; but I bite my thumb, sir.” (13) This was the interaction with Gregory and Sampson, where Sampson does not like Gregory and was being purposely rude to him. It keeps the story interesting because it is a good way to break up a serious moment. The author uses comedy well in that way. Also, they start to show some tension between Romeo and his father for being in love with someone who was becoming a nun.
Davis Blanch
ReplyDeleteThe play tries to hide some dark humor within its jokes. Shakespeare is using comedy to prepare us for tragedy by giving us dark jokes that allude to death. He uses dramatic irony in the play by giving us suspence between the two rival families.