Romeo, Uncontrollable Force

What if a tragedy’s ending changes to a happy ending, what will happen? People always think about this question while they are reading. Some people think if the ending changes, the stories will be happy, however as far as I am concerned, Romeo and Juliet is a special case. Even though Romeo and Juliet do not die, they will still have a miserable life, because the only uncontrollable force is Romeo, not fate. 

If Romeo and Juliet do not die, they are happy at the beginning, but they will soon find how miserable their life is. If Friar Lawrence’s plan works, Juliet will run away with Romeo. They may have a little house in somewhere extremely remote; at the beginning, they want to spend every minute with each other. However, after they run out of their money, they will suffer from poverty. Moreover, another problem is how they can live without servants who do everything for them. I assume both of them cannot cook or do any housework. To make a living, Romeo has to find a job, and Juliet must learn how to be a good housewife. In that remote place, nobody knows Montagues or Capulets, so this couple will suffer a lot. Finally, they survive in the big change of their life. They have a baby; at first, they are both glad to have a child. However, indeed, Romeo is not the guy who can change diapers for the baby, so Juliet has to do everything. As time passes, Juliet just stays at home, and eventually she is not as beautiful as she used to be. However, Romeo is still immature; he argues with his colleagues, because they do not do what he expects them to do. Sometimes Romeo fights with people, or even duel, because of some little things. Romeo thinks he is still a great Montague; then, the couple start to quarrel. Romeo is finally bored of Juliet, and he falls in love with someone else, like exactly what he does to Rosaline. He then abandons Juliet. In summary, even if they do not die, the story is still another tragedy. 

The only reason of why their life so miserable is Romeo, and Juliet is just a tragic character. Romeo is extremely immature and selfish. He is so irrational that he kills Tybalt, and he is banished. Juliet can not do nothing, but feel hurt. Romeo thinks that he is so innocent, and he is not grateful at all. He tries to kill himself, because he thinks he cannot see Juliet again. He does not care about his friends or parents; he only cares about himself and his love. He kills two people in the book. When he kills them, he always says he loves them and he does not want to kill them, however he just kills them. The most horrible personality of Romeo is that he can hurt anyone who stops him chasing his love, but he thinks he is right. He does not realize that what he does can only hurt the people who love him. One day Romeo finds someone else whom he loves more than Juliet, he will definitely abandon Juliet. Juliet can not do anything; for Juliet, it is unfortunate to meet Romeo, a person who can only hurt her. Consequently, Romeo’s selfishness and immaturity actually cause their miserable life. 

In conclusion, because of Romeo, the most uncontrollable force, the story becomes a tragedy. Even if Romeo and Juliet do not die in the tomb, they still cannot live together happily. 

 

Questions

Why did not the messenger deliver the letter? 

How did Juliet kill herself? 

What was Juliet and Friar Lawrence's plan? 

How many people did Romeo killed in this book? Name them. 

Evaluate Paris' personality. 

Why does the apothecary sell poison to Romeo? 

Why did Romeo say the poison "cordial"? 

Explain the sentence:"A glooming peace this morning with it brings." 

Do you think Romeo and Juliet were selfish? Why? 

Use your own experience to explain the sentence: "There is thy gold, worse poison to men’s souls, Doing more murder in this loathsome world"

If the ending was happy, what would Romeo and Juliet's future life be?  

If this is not a tragedy, will Romeo and Juliet still be this famous? 

Act 3 Scene 2

Link: https://youtu.be/yCPyn40XPR8
Group: Olivia, Lucie

Be A Real Director

People always say that you can never predict the future. I was so worried about the performance part for this class, but now it seems like I worried too much. Performances is actually an interesting thing. I learned much about performances these days, especially staging. For a good scene, you should not only focus on having excellent actors who perform on the stage, but also have to design the stage and edit the scripts appropriately off the stage. I think it is easier to set the stage, however, I can hardly edit the scripts well. 

First of all, in my opinion, plays is all about pleasing the audience, so when directors stage the scene, they should consider the people who sit in the auditorium. This is the first thing and the most important thing I learned; luckily, I think it is kind of easy to do. When we set the stage, we have to make sure everybody can see. Thus, the stage has to face to the audience, and actors also have to face to people while they are performing. This is actually not so hard for me to achieve, but I have to pay much attention on it. I have to think about which angle is the best angle for the audience to see or which equipments are good for people to understand the scene. For example, when we staged the act 3 scene 2 of Romeo and Juliet, we set the couch diagonally, so it would be better for the audience to see Lucie( Juliet) was propping up in bed. Also, we used a black stick to substitute the real cord, but unfortunately, I did not find it while I was performing. Consequently, when we stage the scene, it is important to consider the people who sit there, so we have to make sure people can fully see and get the scene. 

Secondly, if you want to direct a good scene, indeed well-cut scripts are necessary, but this is the most difficult part for me. I think scripts is one of the most important parts of staging; the stage actually depends on scripts. A good scene should not be too lengthy, so the directors need to edit or delete some lines. Last week, Lucie and I chose Act 3 scene 2 to perform. I thought a conversation scene would be easier for me to stage and perform, but actually it was so hard to edit the scripts. In the book, this scene has one hundred and fifty-seven lines, and we should cut them to a five-minute-scene. This really stumped us, because we thought every line was so important and emotional. In Lucie’s words:“These lines are so cute!” As a result, after we deleted the lines twice, the scene was still too long. In summary, it is so important to have an appropriate script for a good scene, however I lacked of this part. 

In conclusion, I learned many things in this class, and I know I have a lot more to study. It is hard to stage a good scene, because directors have to consider everything. From editing scripts off the stage to performing on the stage, audience is always the most important thing, and it is not easy to do well. After the critique, I think I can do better next time. 

Magic play!

In this whole play, the most impressive scene is that Romeo comes to find Friar Lawrence and asks him to help him marry Juliet. I can clearly imagine how this scene works in Cheshire Academy. 

First of all, if I am the director, I will let Mr. Cirmo be Friar Lawrence, let a outgoing (crazy) person be Romeo. I would like to set this scene in chemistry classroom. When Romeo comes in, Mr. Cirmo is doing a experiment. He is wearing a pair of big goggles, and he is saying something about science or nature. He may say: "Everything in this world has two sides, and it depends on how people do it. Chlorine is a good thing that it can be combined with many other chemicals to produce some useful products, like salt. However, if you smell the chlorine gas directly, it will hurt your lungs and lead you to death. " Then Romeo interrupts, and Romeo will say something about his love. When Romeo says that he already forgets Rosaline, Mr. Cirmo should smile and say something nice, such as "that's my boy". Then, when Romeo tells Mr. Cirmo about his new love and he can even die for Juliet, Mr. Cirmo will drop the beaker which contains sulfuric acid. The acid spills on the floor. Because sulfuric acid is corrosive, the color of floor fades. ( if this cannot happen, I will just play some "zizi" sounds) Both Romeo and Mr. Cirmo are shocked. Then Mr. Cirmo warns Romeo that:"like this dangerous concentrated acid, extreme love will not give you happiness". However, love blinds Romeo's eyes, he cannot take the advice. Because this marriage may build a peaceful relationship between Capulets and Montagues, he finally agrees to help Romeo. 

In this scene, emotions are extremely important. When Romeo first comes in, he should be happy but nervous. Then when Friar Lawrence drops the beaker, he should act shocked. Also, when Friar Lawrence agrees to help him, he should act extremely happy. He can jump and hug Friar Lawrence to express his happiness. I want Romeo to have many body languages; he can make his walking style quite different, like dancing. In addition, I also want Mr. Cirmo to act rational, because in the book, Friar Lawrence is a special priest. He believes in science, and he encourages people to control their lives by themselves. In this version, Friar Lawrence is still a priest, but he has a part-time job in Cheshire Academy, which is to be a chemistry teacher, so Mr. Cirmo always encourages his students to choose what they like to do by themselves, not listen to their parents much. In summary, even though time periods and the identities of characters change, the emotions and characteristics will not change, so it is important to express the right emotions. 

This is my play! 

Death

First of all, there is one thing that needs to be clarified; Juliet and Romeo is married. In ancient time, women could hardly get divorced, especially in rich families, like Capulets and Montagues. Also, women could hardly find a job, so their husbands meant everything for them. It is so cruel that Juliet could not see her "everything" again. Moreover, Juliet is in love with Romeo; she cannot even stand not seeing him for a day. Juliet says:"That 'banished', that one word 'banished', hath slain ten thousand Tybalts. " Indeed, Juliet loves Romeo. Now Romeo is banished, she may not have a chance to see him again. This makes Juliet feel extremely sorrowful. In addition, for Capulets, the name, Romeo only means a cruel killer who kills their lovely relative, Tybalt. Therefore, even though Romeo is not banished, Capulets still can not accept him. These things actually makes Juliet feel hopeless. Even if Romeo does not die, they cannot see each other again, and her family will never accept him. For Juliet, there is no difference between being banished and death. Death is even easier for her, because she will not be tortured like this. Secondly, the word, "death" also foreshadows the sad ending, which is Juliet and Romeo both die. In the end, Juliet and Romeo die together.  

Poem

Darkness and moon come together at night, 

Midnight and death are peaceful as usual.