Romeo and Juliet, Act II

Act II: Getting over a broken heart is hard to do? NOT!

• What does it suggest about Romeo’s “love” for Rosaline that he quickly forgets about Rosaline and falls in love (at first sight) with Juliet?

• Scene 1: Romeo is hiding in the Capulet Orchard• Mercutio and Benvolio are wondering what happened to

Romeo (He hears them and knows they’re there, the audience knows M and B are there, but they don’t know that Romeo is there.

• What type of irony does this scene illustrate?

Act II.i questions

Act II, scene ii: The Balcony scene

• Juliet stands on her balcony and expresses her private thoughts and declares her love for Romeo (without knowing he’s there listening).

• Romeo lets Juliet know he is there. They discuss their love for one another. Juliet tells Romeo that if he’s serious to come back the next night to propose to her.

• They decide to meet at 9 the next day (Monday).

Why is the moon “sick and pale with grief”? (I.ii.5)

• Because Juliet is more fair than the moon itself

Family names? Who cares?

• How do Romeo and Juliet feel about their respective family names?

• Both are very willing to deny their family names in exchange for one another’s love.

• In Juliet’s soliloquy she says “Deny thy father and refuse thy name” (II.ii.34).

“’Tis but thy name that is my enemy./Thou art thyself, though not a Montague” (II.ii.38-39).

Juliet expresses her denial of the family prejudice against anyone who is a Montague. She judges Romeo as an individual, not as part of a family.

Act II, scene iii: Romeo visits Friar Lawrence

• Friar Laurence asks Romeo why he’s up so early, and says to correct him if he’s wrong, that he never went to bed

• Romeo asks Friar Laurence if he will marry him and Juliet today

• Friar Laurence comments on how quickly R’s love for Rosaline has disappeared and how quickly he’s fallen in love again

• Friar Lawrence agrees to marry the young lovers because he thinks it will mend the feud between the families

Act II, scene iii, questions

Predictions?

• Write a journal entry in which you predict what happens next. Do Romeo and Juliet get married? Does something stop them from getting married? Answer any questions that are in your mind at this point in the play.

Relationship between Juliet and her Nurse (II.iv-v)

• In Act I, scene iii, the Nurse thinks fondly back on Juliet as a baby and her time spent with Juliet, caring for her and raising her.

• The Nurse is someone that Juliet trusts, in fact, in Act II, scene iv, Juliet has sent the nurse to inquire about Romeo

• The Nurse returns and keeps Juliet in suspense about what Romeo has said – she teases her before she tells Juliet about the plan to meet and marry Romeo that afternoon, and that he will climb a ladder to her room later that evening

• As we continue to read, pay attention to the relationship between the Nurse and Juliet and Juliet and her mother, and see if anything changes

Summaries of Act II, Scene iv and v

• Juliet’s nurse seeks out Romeo to verify that he does have good intentions toward Juliet. He sends a message for the Nurse to relay to Juliet that he and Juliet will be married.

• Juliet awaits Nurse’s return impatiently, and when she returns, the Nurse tells Juliet that Romeo has asked for Juliet to go to Friar Lawrence’s to marry Romeo, and that Romeo will sneak into her room later that night

Character foils

• Definition: A character foil is when two dissimilar characters contrast each other so much that it makes the qualities of the other person more obvious

• Mercutio and the nurse play important roles in this act. How is each a foil for a main character?

• In small groups, discuss how Mercutio and Romeo and the Nurse and Juliet are character foils

Character Foils

• Mercutio, like Romeo, is young and witty. He is fond of Romeo and glad that he is back in good spirits. Being a realist however, he feels that one must stand up for one’s ideals.

• The nurse is also a realist; she has an earthy aspect compared to the ethereal (angelic/possessing heavenly qualities like) Juliet. View of love is not romanticized vs. romantic view

Romeo and Juliet II.vi: A Secret Wedding!

• Friar Lawrence marries Romeo and Juliet• There is a sense of foreboding: “love devouring death to

what he dare – it is enough I may but call her mine…” (7-8).

• Friar: “Too swift [love] arrives as tardy as too slow” (15)“O, so light a foot / Will ne’er wear out the everlasting

flint” (17). Meaning: her foot will never wear out the flint (or hard

stone) of life’s care. • Merely suggesting that everything will be perfect also

suggests that things will go wrong…

Keeping secrets

• Why do you think that neither the Nurse nor Friar Lawrence tell Lady Capulet and Lord Capulet about what the young lovers plan to do?

Go over Act II. vi questions

Important Quotes

• “O, swear not by the moon, th’inconstant moon, /That monthly changes in her circled orb, /Lest that thy love prove likewise variable” (II.ii.109-111).

Speaker: Juliet

Why doesn’t Juliet want Romeo to swear by the moon?

• “Holy Saint Francis, what a change is here! Is Rosaline, that thou didst love so dear, So soon forsaken? Young men’s love then lies /Not truly in their hearts, but in their eyes” (II.iii.65-68).

Speaker: Friar Lawrence

What is the Friar’s main concern about Romeo’s news?

Important Quotes

• “Bid her devise / Some means to come to shrift this afternoon /And there she shall at Friar Lawrence’ cell/ Be shrived and married” (II.iv.186-189).

Speaker: Romeo

What message does Romeo ask the Nurse to relay to Juliet?

 

“Therefore love moderately: long love doth so;/Too swift arrives as tardy as too slow” (II.vi.14-15).

Speaker: Friar Lawrence

What kind of love really lasts? What happens when a person rushes in without thinking?

Shakespeare performance!!Scenes to choose from…

• Act II Scene ii – The Balcony Scene 1-65 or 66-136 (in pairs)

• Act III Scene ii – Juliet receives news from Nurse (21-84) (in pairs)

• Act IV Scene i – Juliet’s fate is sealed: she is told she must be married to Paris soon; Friar Lawrence devises plan to prevent Juliet’s marriage to Paris (46-109) (in pairs)

• Act IV Scene v – Nurse attempts to wake Juliet (1-95) (in groups of four)

• Act V Scene iii– Romeo and Paris in tomb (1-73) (in pairs)

Assessment of performance

• Out of 15 marks5 marks for voice (volume, clarity, etc.)

5 marks for convincing delivery of lines

5 marks for effort (thought evident on how to perform the scene, etc.)

Date: Friday, July 31st