1. Act III scene i: Suffice it so say that things go downhill in the first scene of Act III. In your estimation, who or what is to blame for the sudden devolution of both the public peace and the potentially happy future envisioned at the end of Act II? Support your response by citing particular events in scene i.
2. Act III scene ii: Like the previous one, scene ii is a passionate roller coaster, carrying its characters between emotional extremes at a very rapid pace. How did Shakespeare pull off such oscillation convincingly? What particular moments or aspects of this scene make the characters emotional fluctuations and responsive dialogue believable?
3. Act III scene iii: The majority of scene iii is comprised of Friar Lawrence's response to Romeo's heartbroken hysteria. In any staged drama, the delivery of dialogue, considered distinctly from actual spoken words, us a mechanism by which actors can sway an audience's emotions and thoughts; in this scene, particularly, it is very clear just how Lawrence should deliver the lines that he is given to speak. As such, consider both his words and his implicit or assumed delivery: Does Friar Lawrence speak for you as the reader in this scene, echoing your own thoughts and expressions, or does he speak in contrast to them? Cite particular dialogic examples to support your answer.
I think tybalt was the one who started it all. He challenges Romeo to a fight and then kills mercutio so Romeo has to kill him and then he gets banished. It sets up the scene for Juliet to fake her death. "Boy, this shall not excuse the injuries that thou hast done to me therefore turn and draw."
ReplyDeleteI think what made the emotions in this scene change so much was the nurse talking with Juliet. The nurse is very distracted and tends to be all over the place and Juliet is the kind of person who listens to other people instead of herself so her emotions changed with the nurse.
I think he for me as a reader because he's kind of confused about Romeo and also trying to calm him down at the same time. He also thinks he's a little crazy which I agree with. "O, then I see that madmen have no Ears."
-Haley
I agree with your stance on Friar Lawrence's response to Romeo's complaints. But I don't think it was as much as crazy as panicked maybe?
DeleteHonestly I think Romeo is responsible for the chaos of Act III. He knew the risks of loving a Capulet and he didn't really take responsibility or deal with the consequences. When Tybalt confronted him he left Mercutio to fight instead though he did try to break up the fight. Like Tybalt said, "Romeo, the love I bear thee can afford
ReplyDeleteNo better term than this: thou art a villain." (Shakespeare R&J Act 3 Scene 1) Though the fights were pushed by Mercutio and Tybalt, Romeo was the main cause of the deaths.
2. I think Shakespeare pulled it off by making Juliet so clueless into whats going on. So when the Nurse had to take a while to explain that Romeo killed Tybalt, it showed that the Nurse couldn't believe what had happened. Then for Juliet to find out her true love has been banished, she takes a while to come to term with it too. Both the Nurse and Juliet have an expected reaction when it came to them finding out, and that is what made it so believable. "O serpent heart hid with a flowering face! Did ever dragon keep so fair a cave Beautiful tyrant! Fiend angelical!
Dove-feathered raven, wolvish-ravening lamb!
Despisèd substance of divinest show,
Just opposite to what thou justly seem’st." (Shakespeare R&J Act 3 Scene 2) Juliet's diction showed that she had started a war between these two families, and she had lost 2 people that she cared about.
3. When I was reading Act 3 Scene 3, I heard Lawrence trying to tell Romeo that his situation wasn't really that bad, and that he is being unappreciative for the pardon he was given. The word choice shows that Lawrence is upset at Romeo for not being manly, but he tells Romeo that he is lucky for just getting away with murder. "Oh, deadly sin! Oh, rude and unthankful boy! You committed a crime that is punishable by death, but our kind Prince took sympathy on you and ignored the law when he substituted banishment for death. This is kind mercy, and you don’t realize it." (Act 3 Scene 3)
-aissa
@aissa #3 - I totally agree that Frair was trying to get Romeo to realize was he did was not acceptable and he should be thankful hes not going to get killed to as punishment.
Delete-ashlyn
I don't agree with your point that Romeo started the fighting in scene 1. He actually does the opposite because he wants to keep peace between the families.
Delete1. This is the part where Tybalt tries to pick a fight with Romeo. It turns out that the way the events worked that in act 2 Romeo and Juliet had just met Lawerence to talk about getting married. At the very end of act 2 this good turn of events is ironic for such the bad turn of events in the next act. After Tybalt kills Mercutio, Romeo says "This day’s black fate on more days doth depend.
ReplyDeleteThis but begins the woe others must end." Meaning... this day is foreshadow for another bad turn of events. Or it could be saying, his happiness could have foreshadowed this death because nothing is perfect, especially love.
2. The part with the nurse and Juliet. The nurse comes into Juliet's room in so much pain because her best friend Tybalt died. At first the nurse wasn't saying anything but "he's dead" and Juliet was like ROMEO? Which changed her joyful emotions to pain and darkness really quickly. However when the nurse told her it was actually Tyblat that died, you could almost feel Juliet's relief that her husband didn't die. But also at the same time you felt the pain for the loss of her cousin. And then the last straw was when the nurse told Juliet that Romeo killed Tybalt. She didn't know how to feel because it's almost like she didn't want to believe that Romeo would do something like that. She said "Blistered be thy tongue. For such a wish! He was not born to shame.Upon his brow shame is ashamed to sit, For ’tis a throne where honor may be crowned.Sole monarch of the universal earth, Oh, what a beast was I to chide at him!" She was basically telling her nurse you can't blame him, he must have had a good reason for killing Tybalt.
3. Frair seems to be coming off as a little upset. He's not mad at Romeo but he knows Romeo's crime could have been punishable by death. Romeo doesn't really seem to care so Frair is trying to teach him that what he did was not ok. That he should take responsibility for what he did and take it seriously.
-ashlyn
I like how you said that he was upset but not mad. He truely does care for Romeo so he was only trying to protect him even though he came off as mean.
Delete-Hannah Blankenship
1. I think that the start of the fighting wasn't actually Tybalt, but Mercutio. Tybalt challenged Romeo to a fight, but Romeo said no, and wanted to keep the peace. "I do protest I never injure thee."(Shakespeare 119). Mercutio got fed up with Romeo because he didn't fight Tybalt, so he decided to fight him. "Tybalt you rat catcher, will you walk?"(Shakespeare 119)
ReplyDelete2. Shakespeare uses Romeo and Juliets extreme love for each other to really add a emotional roller coaster. Juliet loves Romeo so much that she would be willing to kill herself if she couldn't be with him. Juliet has a desperation in her tone, which adds that "I will do anything for love" feeling.
3. Friar Lawrence takes a mean approach to Romeo, saying that he's not handling this like a "man", and he needs to get over his love with Juliet. " This is dear mercy, and thou seest it not." (Shakespeare 141) Knowing how much Romeo loves Juliet, I would have taken a more compassionate route, instead of scolding him.
I agree with number three. He said it the way I imagined he would, but he should have said it differently.
DeleteI believe it was Tybalt and Mercutios fault because Benvolio tried to calm him down but he refused to listen so he should've known better than to participate in a fight. Tybalt also was the one who challenged Romeo in the first place despite Lord capulets warnings; Romeo also didn't even want to fight tybalt in the first place. So it was both of their faults.
ReplyDeleteWell I think that he took realistic reactions and altered them. So if my brother or friend died I'd be sad but also like Juliet, I would be pretty mad if I had learned that they killed themselves because it would make me question if they actually cared about me or why they would chose to die.
I totally agree with friar Lawrence in the way that he was basically yelling at Romeo about how he was being stupid saying that death was better than exile. He really should be thankful he's not dead. He's only 14, I think he'll be able to find a new love.
-Hannah Blankenship
1. I think both Tybalt and Mercutio were to blame. Tybalt wanted to fight but with no clear reason, other than he despises Montagues, especially the one he saw with his cousin. He had the intention of killing Romeo, proving this when he stabbed Mercutio. Tybalt's rage was unmatched to his final breath. It was also partially Mercutio that brought about his own death. He jumped right into the fight after Romeo refused, but not picking up on the fact that Romeo means cut out all the fighting, not just Romeo's involvement in the fight. Romeo was truly not thinking when he killed Tybalt. All he knew was that one of his best friends was killed and it's Tybalt's fault.
ReplyDelete2. Scene 2 is a roller coaster of Juliet's emotions. She is desperate, in grief (at first because she thought that Romeo was the dead one Nurse was rambling on about, and then because she didn't want to lose him.) and upset (at Romeo for killing Tybalt). Shakespeare was able to do this by utilizing the role of the Nurse. She interrupts Juliet's complaints to provide new information. ("Why'd they have to kill him?" "Kill Rome- "Oh, not Tybalt!" "Oh no, Tybalt di-" "I can't believe Romeo killed him!" "Wait, Romeo killed him! That-" "Now he's going to die!" "Romeo's going to die? Oh no!") It shows how one little detail can completely change one's attitude.
3. Friar Lawrence speaks like I imagined he would. Not as I would word it, but in the way I thought he would. He's kind of like, "Get yourself together! You're better than this!" "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." (3.3.118-121)
I wanted to add that in Scene 3 Romeo is a dramatic little idiot. That's why Friar Lawrence was so done. He knew that their love was really unnecessary considering their age.
DeleteI think that both Mercutio and Tybalt were at fault, as Reagan said. Tybalt obviously wanted to fight but had no reason to except for hatred the only reason Mercutio wanted to fight was because he felt that he had to protect Romeo. I do feel that Mercutio's death is partially the fault of Romeo because he tried to break the fight up Tybalt had a clean shot at Mercutio, but Mercutio couldn't defend himself because romeo was in the way.I also think that the conversation about the person who would kill a man for waking up the sleeping dog was very interesting, because shakespeare used a lot of different ways to be descriptive of his characters.
ReplyDelete2: I feel like shakespeare did a good job of setting the backstory for the characters with the feuding families so that when he got further in to writing the play he could change the outcome easily, either he could make it so that everything worked out well and the families came together or he could make it a tragedy and have the characters die. I feel that just with the feuding families gave him infinate possibilities to turn things around whenever he wanted.
I feel like he speaks the way i expected mostly because i feel like thats generally what I might say. 'thy wild acts denote the unreasonable fury of a beast' is kind of like saying " suck it up this is your fault, you know better than that, get over yourself" I feel like part of what he said was mothering after he got the demeaning ' your and idiot" harsh, fatherly part out of his system.
I completely agree with you on number one.
Delete-Grace
ReplyDelete1.As Act II ends to a close we imagine that the families will learn to get along which cause peace to be brought to the town. However the audience is rudely awaken by the sudden change in the play’s intentions when a fight breaks out which results in Mercutio’s death. This change was caused by Tybalt and Mercutio. “Boy, this shall not excuse the injuries that thou hast done me. Therefore turn and draw”( III, i 65-67) This was said by Tybalt and he his clearing challenging Romeo to a fight. But on the other hand Mercutio could have just walked away but instead he was the first one to draw his sword and that is why he also play an instrumental part in disturbing the peace.
2.Scene ii of Act 3 was very emotional for the characters in the play because Juliet had just learned what happened at the fight between the Caplets and the Montagues. In the beginning she thinks that Romeo is dead then thinks that he is a monster because he killed her cousin, and finally she decides that Romeo is not a monster and that she still loves him with all of her heart. This is all possible because of how well Shakespeare chose the words dialogue between the Nurse and Juliet.
3.I think Fair Lawrence speaks for the reader because he is so confused that Romeo believes that the punishment that was given to him was way harsher than death. “[Thou] fond mad man, hear me little speak.” He said when Romeo was talking about how cruel his punishment is.
-Grace
Mercutio wouldn't have fought Tybalt if Tybalt had never challenged Romeo in the first place. Mercutio shouldn't have fought, but it never would have started if Tybalt hadn't issues the first challenge.
Delete1. Tybalt was at fault for the fight. If he didn't loathe Romeo and challenge him to a fight than Mercutio would've never stepped up to fight. Every Capulet we've seen is relatively level headed accept for Tybalt. Although Mercutio should have let it go seeing as Tybalt seemed to be ready to leave it at that. He's honestly surprise Mercutio want to fight. "What wouldst thou have with me?" (Page 119)
ReplyDelete2. Juliet is a hormonal teenager who is in love and dealing with the loss of a loved one. I'd be more surprised if she was calm and rational about it. The nurse being vague gives a moment for realization to dawn on Juliet so we don't see a ton of emotions at one but a fast paced, engaging shifting between very strong emotions.
3. Friar Lawrence is me when I'm giving advice to emotional people. "Quit being a overdramatic, selfish brat," is how most of my advice goes. That's basically what Friar says to Romeo, " Thou hast amazed. By my holy order, I thought thy disposition better tempered. Hast thou slain Tybalt? Wilt thou slay thyself, and slay thy lady that in thy life lives, by doing damned hate upon thyself?"
Friar is the voice of reason that the emotional Romeo needs.