Wednesday, May 8

1. Wednesday, May 8 • Subtext, stress, and inflection • Watch Act 3 • REMINDERS: • Act 3 Quiz tomorrow • Act 3 pages 23-28 due tomorrow • You must recite your balcony speeches by FRIDAY!

2. Subtext • Thoughts that we imagine characters to have as they speak • Affects the actors interpretation of a role and enhances your ability to read the character lines • To determine subtext, consider: • The context of the lines • What the character wants in this particular scene • What the character’s ultimate objective is • What obstacles prevent the character from attaining his goals

3. Subtext Tools • Stress: emphasis placed on a word when pronounced • Stressing certain words in a line will create subtext. • EXAMPLE: “I’m glad you’re here this evening” • Stress I’m, the subtext becomes “even though nobody else is” • Stressing glad indicates that you haven’t always felt this way • Stressing you’re makes the subtext “Frankly, the others bore me” • Stressing here implies “It’s so reassuring to see you right here” • Stress evening, the subtext becomes “This is so much better than any other time of day”

4. Subtext Tools • Inflection: The way our voices go up or down when a word or phrase is pronounced • Inflection influences the way we interpret oral readings • Pause: break in reading for emphasis • Nonverbal communication: gestures, posture, the presence or absence of eye contact

5. Subtext Activity: • Character 1: You’re late. • Character 2: I know. I couldn’t help it. • Character 1: I understand. • Character 2: I thought you would. • Character 1: I have something to give you. • Character 2: Really? • Character 1: Yes, this.

6. HOMEWORK • Read Act 4 Scenes 1-2 • Choose one character for each scene and write a paragraph describing what you think your character’s subtext is during the scene. • You will have two paragraphs, one for each scene. Title the paragraphs by the character you chose • THESE PARAGRAPHS WILL BE ON PAGE 28 OF YOUR BOOKLET, under the definition of subtext and the subtext tools.

7. TURN TO PAGE 32 • Page 29: Act 3 Quiz • Page 30: Act 4 Scene 1 • Page 31: Act 4 Scene 2 • PAGE 32: Act 4 Scene 3 • Journal: How does fear affect people both mentally and physically? (2-3 sentences)

8. Thursday, May 9 • Act 3 Quiz • Read Act 4 • Reminder: • Balcony recitations must be completed by TOMORROW

9. Act 3 Quiz • Why won’t Romeo fight Tybalt at first? • What is Romeo's punishment for killing Tybalt? • After speaking with Paris, what does Capulet tell his wife to say to Juliet? • Lady Capulet is so upset about Tybalt's death that she wants someone to _________ Romeo. (Be specific… kill is not correct) • What is Capulet's reaction to Juliet's threats after he tells her of her upcoming marriage? • If Juliet's mother does not arrange to delay the marriage, Juliet will ______. • What advice does the nurse give to Juliet after Juliet refuses to marry Paris? • At the end of the Act, Juliet tells her nurse that she is going to visit whom? • Who does Juliet cry for during most of this Act?  • Who dies in this Act? (You must have all deaths to get this correct) Place your booklet on my desk. You will not be getting it back until tomorrow.

10. Act 4 Scene 1 (p. 30) • On Tuesday morning, Paris tells Friar Laurence of his proposed marriage to Juliet — a wedding scheduled to take place in two days. The Friar expresses concern that the wedding has been arranged too quickly, and he offers various reasons to delay the ceremony. Paris believes that Capulet hastened the nuptials out of concern for Juliet's grief over Tybalt's death. • Juliet arrives at the Friar's cell and manages to cleverly sidestep Paris' compliments and references to their upcoming marriage. Paris then leaves, and Juliet begs the Friar for a solution to her tragic dilemma because she fears that death is her only option. The Friar offers Juliet a remedy — a sleeping potion that she is to take on Wednesday night, the evening before the wedding. The potion will render Juliet unconscious, and she will appear to be dead for 42 hours, during which time her body will rest in the family tomb. In the meantime, the Friar will let Romeo know of this plan. Juliet immediately agrees and leaves with the potion.

11. Act 4 Scene 2 (p. 31) • Juliet returns to the Capulet house to find wedding preparations well underway. She tells her father that she will abide by his wishes and agree to marry Paris. Lord Capulet is so overjoyed at the news that he decides to move the wedding from Thursday to Wednesday. Lady Capulet protests, saying that such quick notice doesn't allow enough time to prepare, but the euphoric Lord Capulet ignores her. Juliet is now to be married the following morning.

12. Act 4 Scene 3 (p. 32) • Journal: Fear • Juliet and her nurse make the final preparations for the wedding that is to take place the following morning. Lady Capulet offers her assistance, but Juliet asks to be left to her prayers and sends the Nurse and her mother away. Juliet then reflects on the Friar's plan. She wonders if the Friar has given her actual poison to cover his role in marrying a Capulet and a Montague. She decides she must trust the Friar. However if the potion fails to work, she resolves to die rather than marry Paris. To that end, she places a dagger by her bedside. Juliet's imagination runs wild as she imagines the horrors she will face if the plan does not work and she awakens alone in the tomb. Only when she imagines Tybalt's ghost moving toward Romeo to avenge itself does she muster the courage to take the potion and intercept Tybalt: • Why is this scene important to the play?

13. Act 4 Scene 4 (p. 33) • The time is 3 a.m., and Lord Capulet has not been to bed. The Capulet household has been alive throughout the night with frenetic wedding preparation activities. The day begins to break, and Capulet hears music signaling that Paris is approaching the house. He orders the Nurse to awaken Juliet.

14. Turn in textbooks by FRIDAY! If you borrowed a book from my library, return it by FRIDAY Act 4 Scene 5 (p. 34) • The scene opens early on Wednesday morning. The Nurse enters Juliet's room and discovers her seemingly lifeless body on the bed. The Nurse tries to wake her, but believing her to be dead, cries out to the family in desperation. The Capulets, Friar Laurence, and Paris enter the room in response to the Nurse's cries. They dramatically mourn Juliet's loss while the Friar maintains his deception by offering words of support about Divine Will, comforting the family by expressing the belief that Juliet is in heaven. He then arranges for Juliet's body to be taken to the family vault. Capulet orders that the wedding preparations be changed to funeral preparations. • The scene concludes with a comic interlude between the wedding musicians and Peter, a Capulet servant, as they engage in bawdy wordplay. • Who is responsible for Juliet’s death? Choose one character and justify your answer with quotes and actions from the play.

15. Juliet’s Death (p. 35) Killed Tybalt and was banished Directions: Draw this chart onto your booklet. Then, fill out the rest of the character justifications: Why are they responsible for Juliet’s “death”? The blank brown circle is for you to choose another character that should be found responsible. Don’t forget to justify your answer. Leave the other blue blank circle as is.

16. Act 5 Scene 1 (p. 36) • In Mantua, Romeo mistakenly believes that his dreams portend good news because he dreamed that Juliet found him dead but revived him with her kisses. Romeo's servant, Balthasar, then reports to Romeo that Juliet has died. Romeo, controlling his grief, makes plans to return to Verona. He offers a poor apothecary a large amount of money to sell him poison illegally. The poison will enable Romeo to be reunited with Juliet in death.

17. Act 5 Scene 2 (p. 37) • Friar Lawrence discovers that Friar John, the messenger he sent to Mantua with a letter to Romeo explaining that Juliet is alive, has been quarantined because of an outbreak of the plague and prevented from leaving Verona. Friar Lawrence then hurries to the Capulet tomb because it is nearly time for Juliet to wake.

18. Act 5 Scene 3 (p. 38) • Journal: How would you define fate? What are the advantages of believing that your life is ruled by fate? Disadvantages? • Paris arrives at the Capulet tomb to lay flowers in Juliet's memory. His page warns him that someone is approaching, and they hide in the bushes outside the tomb. Romeo appears with Balthasar and breaks into the tomb on the pretext of seeing Juliet one last time. Balthasar, apprehensive about what Romeo is going to do and fearful of Romeo's wild looks, also hides himself outside the tomb. Paris, believing that Romeo has come to desecrate the bodies in the tomb, confronts Romeo. Romeo tries to warn Paris off, but Paris challenges Romeo and they fight. Paris is wounded and dies. Just before he dies, he begs Romeo to place him in the tomb next to Juliet. Romeo is filled with compassion and grants his wish. Paris' page, who has watched the fight, goes to call the night watchman. • Romeo is dazzled by Juliet's beauty even in death. Without hesitation, he kisses her, drinks the poison, and dies at her side. A moment later, the Friar arrives and discovers the dead bodies of Romeo and Paris. Juliet then wakens from her death-like sleep and looks for Romeo, saying, "Where is my Romeo?" Upon seeing the bodies of Romeo and Paris, she resolves to remain in the tomb.

19. Act 5 Scene 3 continued • The Friar tries in desperation to convince Juliet to leave as the night watchman approaches, but Juliet refuses. The Friar flees, and Juliet is alone with Romeo and Paris dead at her side. She tries to drink poison from Romeo's vial. Finding it empty, she tries to kiss some poison from his lips. Hearing the night watchman approach, Juliet fatally stabs herself with Romeo's dagger. • The night watchman and the Prince arrive shortly, accompanied by the Capulets and Lord Montague. Lady Montague has died of grief at Romeo's banishment. The Friar faithfully recounts the events of the past week and offers his life in atonement. The Prince acknowledges the Friar's benevolent intent and instead lays the blame for the deaths squarely on Montague and Capulet for their longstanding quarrel. The Prince also blames himself for his leniency and fines Montague and Capulet severely. The two families are finally reconciled as the Prince ends the play by saying, "For never was a story of more woe / Than this of Juliet and her Romeo."

20. The Fate Debate (p. 39-40) • “The best of men cannot defend their fate. The good die early and the bad die late” –Daniel Defoe, 18th century • “Our hour is marked and no one can claim a moment of life beyond what fate has predestined.” –Napoleon, 19th century • “What fates impose, that men must needs abide;/ It boots not to resist both wind and tide.” –Shakespeare, Henry VI, Part 3 • How is fate a part of Romeo and Juliet? • Does fate cause the tragedy of Romeo and Juliet?

21. Juliet’s “Death”

22. The Fate Debate (p. 39) • Answer the following questions: • How was fate a part of Romeo and Juliet’s relationship in Acts 1-4? • What is Romeo’s mood at the beginning of 5.1? • What is Romeo’s mood after he hears of Juliet’s “death” from Balthasar? • How does fate affect Romeo when he believes Juliet is dead? • To what degree is fate responsible for the tragic turn of events? • Use the text to support your answers.

23. The Fate Debate (p. 40) • In a well-supported short essay (3-4 paragraphs), answer the following question: • How does the presence of fate affect (or not affect) the power of the ending of Romeo and Juliet? (In other words, does fate cause the tragedy of Romeo and Juliet?) • You must justify your answers with the text. Use your answers on pages 35 and 39 to guide your response.

24. Acts 4-5 Quiz (p. 41)