5.27.14+and+5.28.14

Finish summarizing Act. 2: Sn. 3-5:
 * Romeo goes to Friar Lawrence to get him to agree to marry the young lovers. Friar Lawrence is hesitant at the start, citing Romeo's recent infatuation with Rosaline, but sees the possibility of their marriage ending the feud between the Montague and Capulet families, and finally agrees to marry them.
 * Mercutio and Benvolio wait for Romeo and discuss his "giving them the slip" the night before, and how Tybalt is planning to challenge Romeo because he crashed the party. They discuss how Tybalt is a good fighter and has a temper. They also make fun of him and make quite a few inappropriate jokes.
 * Romeo arrives and Mercutio and Benvolio start to give him a hard time for his behavior the night before. As they are bantering, Nurse arrives to set up wedding details with Romeo. M and B are confused by her arrival and Romeo's secrecy and mock her as they talk. Nurse quizzes Romeo to make sure his intentions with Juliet are pure. He assures her they are, and tells her to tell Juliet to come to confession with Friar Lawrence that afternoon so he can marry them.
 * Nurse returns to the Capulet mansion to Juliet who is eager for news of her love/marriage. Nurse beats around the bush and teases Juliet, but finally tells her the plan.
 * Juliet goes to confession where Friar Lawrence and Romeo are waiting. Friar Lawrence warns the young lovers to "love moderately" as "violent delights have violent ends" but ultimately weds them.

Close read/discuss Friar's advice: “These violent delights have violent ends And in their triumph die, like fire and powder, Which, as they kiss, consume. The sweetest honey Is loathsome in his own deliciousness And in the taste confounds the appetite. Therefore love moderately. Long love doth so. Too sweet arrives as tardy as too slow.”

What do you make of these ideas? What warnings does the Friar give, and to whom is he directing them? What can the Friar see that Romeo and Juliet cannot? What does he foreshadow in these lines?

Act 3:

Read: Act 3, Scene 1 ending with Tybalt's death, summarize the results (banishment)

Watch: new movie version of M’s death

Read/Summarize: Act 3, Scene2 Key lines: 1) Juliet reacting to Tybalt’s death and the fact that Romeo slew him—lines 79-91 (pg. 135) and lines 106-138 (pg. 137) Read/Summarize: Act. 3, Scene 3  Key lines:  1) Romeo reacting to the news that he’s banished—lines 31-54 (pg. 143) 2) Friar Lawrence scolding Romeo for his suicidal thoughts—lines 218-268 (pg.149)

Summarize Scene 4 and 5 Scene 4: Lord Capulet, his wife, and Paris discuss Paris’ impending marriage to Juliet. In light of recent tragedies, Juliet does not come down to talk to him. Lord Capulet assures him that he “knows her heart” and that Juliet will want to marry him, but ultimately, she’ll do as told. He says, let’s have the marriage on Wednesday, then, remembering that it’s already Monday, says, too soon, how about Thursday.

Scene 5: Romeo and Juliet have had their first night together and it’s dawn. Initially, Juliet tries to get Romeo to stay, saying “it’s not yet near day,” and they playfully argue about the bird that they hear singing (nightingale=night still vs. lark=morning). After a minute, Romeo says, I’ll stay, and more or less, let them kill me. This snaps Juliet into action, and she says, actually it was the lark and rushed him out so that he can escape Verona without getting hurt. After a few last kisses, Romeo climbs out the window. As he descends, Juliet, prophetically, has a vision of his death, saying “Oh God, I have an ill-divining soul! Methinks I see thee, now thou art so low, as one dead in the bottom of a tomb. Either my eyesight fails or thou lookest pale”. Shakespeare leaves us with this light foreshadowing before the scene shifts to Lady Capulet coming in to tell Juliet of her marriage to Paris in a few days. Predictably (to the audience who knows of R and J’s love) Juliet says, emphatically, “no” which confuses her mother. They fight, and ultimately Juliet says she’d rather marry Romeo over Paris (ha!). Lord Capulet enters and at first, speaks to his daughter sweetly about her grief for Tybalt, but when he hears that Juliet will not agree to the marriage, he turns on her. After a lot of name calling and probably some physical abuse, he relates that she can either marry Paris on Thursday, or “never after look [him] in the face” aka, he’ll disown her, and ends the conversation by wishing he’d never had a child. After he leaves, Juliet pleads with her mother for help, but gets none from her. In a final attempt, she appeals to Nurse for help. Nurse, while sympathetic to her pain, ultimately suggests that as no one knows of her marriage, it might be better to marry Paris and forget Romeo. Juliet asks her if she speaks from the heart, and Nurse says yes. At this moment, Juliet knows she’s on her own, and plans to visit Friar Lawrence to “pray” (or in reality, get his help in finding Romeo, or dying, since she has no hope and no one else).

HW: Read summaries of scene 4/5