Class Project - Instructions

Verona, Italy

Introduction

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This is likely to be Shakespeare's most famous and perhaps, by the general public, the most misunderstood play. It is generally considered to be primarily about romantic love, but it contains much more. The theme of love is, to say the very least, expertly represented by Shakespeare, and as the reader gets to know the play, we see how it is used to make us contemplate many other equally important things such as, dream and reality, destiny and free will, morality and compromise, etc. These ideas are the preoccupations of the characters and the reason the reader can return to this play again and again.

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Play's sources and history

Not unlike many other of Shakespeare's plays, Romeo and Juliet has a variety of sources. Certainly the oldest known source is a second century novel by the Greek author Xenophon of Epheus. It was rewritten as a poem in 1562 by Arthur Brooke, who had drawn on earlier Italian sources. William Shakespeare took the story and modified it for his generation. After three years of work it was completed and performed for the first time in the mid 1590's (Spencer, 1967).

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Classroom and language lab exercise: The Prologue and The Civil Brawl, Act I Scene 1

Follow the link below and read and watch two film versions of the Prologue to the play and complete the exercises provided. The Prologue

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Group Work

In groups of 2-3 students you will be assigned a section from the play to study. Once you recieve it follow the procedure below:

• Break the section down into parts
• Give each part a title
• Decide on a brief synopsis
• Quote where appropriate
• Note themes
• Give insights into major characters
• Put your section into the context of the play by placing it on a time line
• Watch your section on video using links to Youtube provided . Use Zeffirelli's 1968 version and compare it to Lurhmann's 1996 one.
• Summarize your findings
• Give a brief but dynamic illustrated presentation lasting no more than 10 minutes

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1. Act I scene 1 - The Civil Brawl

From:SAMPSON: Upon my word we'll not carry coals

To: LADY MONTAGUE: you shall not stir one foot to seek a foe.

2. Act I scene 1 - Who is Romeo?

From: LADY MONTAGUE: O where is Romeo? Saw you him today?

To: BENVOLIO: I'll pay that doctrine, or else die in debt.

3. Act I scene 3 - Who is Juliet?

From: LADY MONTAGUE: Nurse where's my daughter? Call her forth to me.

To: NURSE: Go girl, seek happy nights to happy days.

4. Act I Scene 4 - Queen Mab and The Interpretation of Dreams

From: ROMEO: What, shall this speech be spoke for our excuse?

To: BENVOLIO: Strike, drum

5. Act I Scene 5 - "The Party" - Romeo and Juliet meet - The sonnet

From: CAPULET: Welcome gentlemen! Ladies that have their toes...

To: NURSE: Come let's away, the strangers are all gone...

6. Act II Scene 2 - Balcony Scene

From:ROMEO: He jests at scars that never felt a wound

To: ROMEO: His help to crave, and my dear hap to tell.

7. Act II Scene 3 - Enter Friar Laurence

From: FRIAR: Now, ere the sun advance his burning eye

To: FRIAR: Wisely and slow. They stumble that run fast.

8. Act III Scene 3 - Romeo banished!

From: FRIAR:Romeo come forth. Come forth thou fearful man.

To: ROMEO: Farewell.

9. Act IV: Scene 1 - Sleeping potion

From:FRIAR: On Thursday, sir? The time is very short.

To JULIET: Farewell, dear father.

10. Act V Scene 1 - Poison

From:ROMEO: If I may trust the flattering truth of sleep,

To: ROMEO: To Juliet's grave. For there must I use thee.

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Essay topics: 500 words maximum

Were the actions of Friar Laurence inherently right or wrong?

Ethics is the disipline of deciding when an action is right or wrong. In order to determine this it is first necessary to agree on certain values. As our modern society has no longer absolute moral rules this is very difficult.

Professor Margaret Somerville working on behalf of UNESCO has recommended that we all accept two basic values which will guide us in making ethical decisions. They are as follows: "...first we must always act to ensure profound respect for life, in particular human life; second, we must protect and promote the human spirit." Somerville defines the human spirit as two things. Firstly, the sense of that we are all connected to one another and to Nature. Secondly, that which makes life worth living. She goes on to say that, "If our development or use of any given scientific technology, for example, would seriously harm the fulfilment of either of these two values, it is inherently wrong." (Somerville, 2006 p.18).

References:

Somerville, M.A.(2006) 'Searching for Ethics in a Secular Society', in ten Have, H. ed. Ethics of Science and Technology. UNESCO, Paris