Act TwoRomeo &

Juliet

Listen to the play here:

• http://www.speak-the-speech.org/romeoandjuliet.htm

Prologue

• Romeo is moving on!– “Now old desire doth in his deathbed lie” (line 1)– Personification

• It will be a challenge to marry Juliet– “Being held a foe, he may not have access To breathe such vows as lovers use to swear…”

Act Two, Scene One

• Mercutio the jokester – “The ape is dead, and I must conjure him” (line 16)

• Dramatic Irony: when the audience knows something that any of the characters doesn’t.– Mercutio is taunting/teasing Romeo about being sad over

Roseline; however, the audience knows that Romeo is no longer in love with her. He now loves Juliet.

Act Two, Scene Two

• They just don’t understand!– Romeo: “He jests at scars that never felt a wound” (line 1)– Mercutio can make jokes about the pain of love only

because he has never felt any such pain.

• Use of Imagery and Monologue:– Romeo: “But soft! What light through yonder window

breaks / It is the East, and Juliet is the sun…” (line 2…)

Wednesday, May 1, 2013--Journal--

Use 5 of your vocab words for this week in your journal. As an added

challenge, try to make your journal about the play so far!

Act Two Scene 2• Monologue= a long speech spoken by a character • to himself, another character, or to the audience• Vs.

Soliloquy= thoughts spoken aloud by a character when

He/she is alone or thinks He/she is alone.

Act Two, Scene Two• Use of Soliloquy:

– Juliet: “O Romeo, Romeo! Wherefore art thou Romeo” (line 33)

– “What’s in a name?...” (line 43…)– Juliet is speaking her private thoughts

aloud, but she has no idea that Romeo can hear!

(Soliloquy= thoughts spoken aloud by a character when he/she is alone or thinks that he/she is alone)

Act Two, Scene Two

• Foreshadowing!– Romeo: “My life were better ended by their hate / than

death prorogued, wanting of thy love” (79)– Better die than live without your love…

Act Two, Scene Two• Oxymoron(185)• Juliet: “Good night, good night! Parting is such sweet sorrow /

That I shall say goodnight till it be morrow.”• Saying goodbye is bittersweet because although they are parting

ways, their extended goodbyes allow Juliet to stay with Romeo as long as possible.

Act Two, Scene Two

• Foreshadowing and simile (116-122)• Juliet: “I have no joy of this contract tonight. /

It is too rash, too unadvised, too sudden; / Too like the lightening which doth cease to be…”

Act Two, Scene Three

• Friar Laurence’s (priest) SoliloquyLight and darkness Imagery– “The gray-eyed morn smiles on the frowning night Check’ring the eastern clouds with streaks of light…– Imagery of light and darkness parallels Romeo and Juliet’s situation

• Night can be said to be "frowning" because it can be full of uncertainty and danger

• Romeo and Juliet have experienced all of this at night: uncertainty and danger in the midst of sudden passion.

Act Two, Scene Three• Friar Laurence’s (priest) Soliloquy

Nature and the world• "Virtue itself turns vice, being misapplied; And vice sometime by action dignified" (21-22).

– Everything depends on how it is used; too much of a good thing is dangerous, and a bad thing can sometimes be used for good.

Nature and Man• “Within the infant rind of this weak flower poison hath residence and medicine power… In man as well as herbs—grace and good will” (24-25)

– Men, like nature, are capable of both good and evil.

Act Two, Scene Three• Friar Laurence

– Paternal, caring, perceptive • "Young son, it argues a distemper'd head So soon to bid good morrow to thy bed" (33-34).

Friar Laurence is concerned that Romeo is awake so early.

– Confidant • “God pardon sin. Wast thou with Rosaline? (24-25)

The Friar knows of Romeo’s former “love” Rosaline, so the reader can see Romeo has confided in Friar Laurence in the past.

Act Two, Scene Three• Friar Laurence’s opinion on Romeo’s situation

– Love or Lust?• “So soon forsaken? Young men’s love then lies not truly in their hearts, but in their eyes (67-68).

Friar Laurence is concerned that Romeo is in lust, not love

– Friar Laurence hopes the marriage will end the families’ rivalry

• “In one respect I’ll thy assistant be; For this alliance may so happy prove To turn your households’ rancor to pure love.” (90-92)

– “Wisley and slow. They stumble that run fast (94)

Act Two, Scene Four• More complications…

• “Tybalt, the kinsman to old Capulet, Hath sent a letter to his father’s house.” (6-7)

– For the past two scenes we have been swept along with Romeo and Juliet’s love story. Now we are reminded of another plot complication—Tybalt’s angry grudge against Romeo.

Act Two, Scene Four• Mercutio enters for some comedic relief…• Jokes about…

1. Tybalt’s dualing style: “Ah, the immortal passado! The / punto reverso! The hay! (25-26)• When Tybalt fights, he always has to show off his cool moves

2. Romeo’s state of being lovesick: “"Without his roe, like a dried herring: O flesh, flesh, how art thou fishified!" (2.4.37-38).• Romeo without his "roe“-- a person who is wasting away looks as thin as a fish without roe

(gutless). The point is that Romeo's forelorn love for Rosalind is killing him, body and soul.• Mercutio adds that Romeo is about to burst out in poetry about how his beloved is more

beautiful than any of the heroines of love stories, from Cleopatra to Helen of Troy.

Act Two, Scene Four• Mercutio’s Comedic relief continued:

– “Why, is not this better now than groaning for / love? Now art thou sociable, now art thou Romeo…” (83-87)

• Mercutio thinks he has gotten Romeo’s mind off his foolish love for Rosaline and restored him to his usual sociable, clever self.

Act Two, Scene Four• Mercutio’s Comedic relief continues:

3. The Nurse: “My fan, Peter.” Mercutio: “Good Peter, to hide her face; for her fan’s the fairer face (100-102) Romeo tries to calm the Nurse down

by assuring her that Mercutio is not to be taken seriously: “A gentleman, nurse, that loves to hear himself talk / and will speak more in a minute than he will stand to in / a month” (139-141)

Act Two, Scene Four• Nurse warns Romeo:

Nurse: “If ye should lead her into a fool’s paradise... If you should deal double with her, truly it were an ill thing…” (155-160)

Fool’s paradise= a person living in a fool’s paradise thinks everything is perfect but has been sadly misled. Double dealing= an intentional act of deception– pretending to feel or promise something when you have no intention of following through

Dum dum da dum….Romeo:

“Bid her devise /Some means to come to shrift this afternoon; / And there she shall at Friar Laurence’s cell / Be shrived (forgiven sins) and married.” (169-172)

******

“And bring thee cords made like a tackled stair (rope ladder) / Which to the high topgallant of my joy / must be my convoy in the secret night” (176-180)

Let’s recap…• Day 1 morning- Families fight• Day 1 night- Capulet party where Romeo and Juliet meet• Day 2 morning- Romeo talks to Friar Laurence about Juliet - Nurse comes to see Romeo and sets plans for the wedding• Day 2 afternoon- Wedding

**The nurse and the friar have now become the two lovers’ accomplices.

Act Two, Scene Five

• Theme of youth vs. age– Juliet (soliloquy): “Of this day’s journey, and from nine till

twelve / In three long hours; yet she is not come. / Had she affections and warm youthful blood, / She would be as swift in motion as a ball…” (10-13)

Act Two, Scene FiveNurse adds some comic relief•Juliet is anxious and becomes irritated with the Nurse’s teasing, rattling on, and dodging Juliet’s questions

– Nurse: “Can you not stay a while? / Do you not see that I am out

of breath? – Juliet: “How art thou out of breath when thou hast breath / to say to me that thou art out of breath? (29-32)

Act Two, Scene SixFriar’s warning: “These violent delights have violent endsAnd in their triumph die, like fire and powder,Which, as they kiss, consume…Therefore love moderately: long love doth so;Too swift arrives as tardy as too slow.” (9-15)

Simile: Romeo and Juliet’s love is being compared to gunpowder, and a violent, consuming end is predicted for it.

Friar Laurence warns that passionate love is so intense that it may wear itself out quickly. He fears that love without moderation is all-consuming and volatile.

--Journal--At this point, do you think Romeo and Juliet are

in love? Or do you agree with the Friar and think it’s just infatuation/lust.

Another way of putting it is, do you believe in “love at first sight?”

--Journal--Before the lovers get married, you have an opportunity

to give some advice. Write a short letter to one of the characters giving your opinions and telling them what you think they should do at this point and why:

» Romeo» Juliet» Nurse» Friar Laurence