As For the Rest of Them...

  In the end of the tragic story of the two lovers, Romeo and Juliet, they both die and fall victims to love's deceiving ways. But what happened to other main characters, such as Friar Laurence, Nurse, and Lord Capulet?
    For Nurse, her fate was difficult to decide. She had known of the secret marriage all along, but had said nothing. On the other hand, she didn't know about Juliet's fake death, until her real death. What would happen to her lied in the hands of Lady Capulet and Prince Escalus. With all do respect, Nurse kindly asked Lady Capulet if she could leave her job and find a way to be closer to Juliet. It had been hard for her to deal with Juliet's fake death, let alone her real one. When she found her in her chamber in the morning, she was panicking saying, "O woe! O woeful, woeful, woeful day! Most lamentable day, most woeful day, that ever, ever, I did behold! O day! O day! O day! O hateful day! Never was seen so black a day as this. O woeful day, o woeful day!"(Shakespeare 256). She became a keeper of the Capulet's achient vault, where she planted flowers, and kept the area beautiful looking while she waited out her days to join Juliet.
       Friar Lawrence had been guilty of everything; knowing of Juliet's fake death, and the secret marriage, which he conducted. At the end of the story, he explained the whole story to Prince Escalus, and the prince responded, "We still have known thee for a holy man," meaning that he believes him (300). Friar Lawrence's truth is also confirmed when the Prince reads the letter that was unable to be sent to Romeo. Prince Escalus decides that technically, Friar Laurence did nothing wrong, so he leaves him to his job as a holy man, where he lives for the remainder of his life.
     Then there is Lord Capulet. You could say he is the greatest victim of the death of Juliet, his own daughter, slain by her own hands. After he called a truce with Lord Montague, they made and agreement with each other. Montague: "For I will ray her statue in pure gold; That whiles Verona by that name is known, there shall be no figure at such rate be set as that of true and faithful Juliet" (302). Lord Capulet does the same for Romeo and builds a solid gold statue of Romeo. The two former enemies become friends, and honor their children who fell victim to their feud every year. Lord Capulet had proposed a day to honor Romeo and Juliet, with a ceremony in the center of Verona, around their statues.

                                          

Above is a photo of Juliet waking up in the Vault,                       

              only to find her dear Romeo is dead.

Above is a a photo representing all of act 5, showing Juliet's death, and the truce between the opposing families of the Capulets and the Montagues


Vocabulary:

Apprehend: To grasp the meaning of, understand.

Canopy: An overhanging protection or covering

Contempt: The feeling which a person disregards anything mean, or vile

Disperse: To drive, or carry off in any direction

Inexorable: No to be persuaded, moved, effected by prayers or entreaties

Interred: To place a dead body in a grave or tomb; bury

Penury: extreme poverty

Remnants: a fragment or scrap

Righteous: Characterized by uprightness or morality   

                                      

A Dangerous Risk- Act 4 Blog

             IN Romeo and Juliet, act 4, scene 1, a plan is put into action to save Juliet of her marriage to Paris. While Lady Capulet thinks that Juliet is going to Friar Laurence to confess for disobeying her father, Juliet is really going to receive advice from Friar Laurene. Since Friar Laurence had seen an incident like this coming, he had already had a plan to help Juliet. He gave her a potion. The plan is to have Juliet sleep alone the night before her wedding, and drink the potion.

         
           "When presently through all thy veins shall run a cold and drowsy humor; for no pulse shall 
          keep his native progress, but surcease; no warmth, no breath shall testily thou livest; The roses in                thy lips and cheeks shall fade. To to paly ashes, thy eyes' window fall, Like death when he shut        

          up the day of life; Each part, depriv'd of supple government, Shall stiff and stark, and cold  
          appear like death: And in this borrowed likeness of shrunk death thou shalt continue two                                and  forty hours , and then awake as from a pleasant sleep," is how Friar Laurence describes it              (Shakespeare 234).   

                      
          It sounds like a good plan, but soon Juliet questions weather or not she should drink the potion. So, the question is, why would Friar Laurence ask Juliet to carry out such a dangerous plan instead of just going to her parents and explaining that she was already married to Romeo?  The question is not why wouldn't you, but why would you?  This feud between the Capulets and the Montagues is clearly not going away, after the fight in Verona and epically after Tybalt's death. Juliet's father was angry enough knowing that she didn't want to marry Paris, but if he knew why, he would be furious.  What if Juliet were to say, " Well father, the reason why I didn't want to marry Paris is because I secretly married to Romeo, an enemy of our family, because he is a Capulet." I don't think that that would go over very well with Mr.Capulet.  So, in my opinion, Juliet's decision not tell her father, and to drink the risky potion was a good one. On Friar Laurence's part, the potion was a good idea too.

Vocabulary: 



Arbitrating: to act as arbitrator or arbiter; decide between opposing or contending parties or sides

Distraught: mentally deranged; crazed

Immoderately: not moderate; exceeding just or reasonable limits; excessive; extreme

inundation: to overwhelm

Resolution: the act of resolving or determining upon an action or course of action, method, procedure, etc

Spited: a particular instance of such an attitude or action; grudge.

Supple: characterized by ease, responsiveness, and adaptability in mental action.

 Dear journal,

     It started as a feud between the Capulets and the Montagues, then a quarrel in the streets of Verona, and now murders. I could see the trouble coming as soon as I recognized that  the first quarrel was difficult to stop. Now Tybalt is dead, as is Mercutio. Lady Capulet wants me to side with her, and punish Romeo to death for killing Tybalt, like an eye for an eye. What do I do regarding Tybalt killing Mercutio, Romeo's dear friend? Isn't that what caused Romeo's anger and killing of Tybalt? Since the Capulets had the power in this one, I decided to be merciful to Romeo and banish him from the city, instead of death. Sources tell me that he had tried to stop the fight, before it had gotten out of hand. His reward will be to live. I have sent the word around that if he ever sets foot in Verona, he will be killed within that hour. He probably escaped to Manuta the next day or at least that would be the smart thing to do if he wants to live. The families will be feuding more than ever now, and a criminal in Verona is the last thing I need right now. There is always a problem of some concern in Vernona, or some problem between  the Capulets and Montagues, but never this catastrophic. My guards will help, but some feuding is secret, even from me.

                                                              Signed,
                                                                                           Prince Escalus

Blog Post #3

Prompt #2

       In Romeo and Juliet, Act II, Romeo and his friends encounter Nurse, as she asks Romeo about the wedding that is suppose to take place that day. IN the text and story, Romeo's friends treat Nurse with much disrespect and little courtesy, despite that she is a woman. Each of the men in this scene give of actions and words of disrespect to Nurse. When Nurse approaches, Mercutio says, "Good Peter, to hide her face; for her fan's the fairer face." This relates to the disrespect of Nurse because not only  is it in a way mocking Peter, but it is also very insulting to Nurse. Mercutio also says to Nurse, "Farewell, ancient lady; farewell," and is mocking Nurse of her age as he walks away, singing, "lady, lady, lady."
    Buenvolio also shows disrespect to Nurse when he encounters her. Buenvolio says, "She'll indite him to supper," indite being a malapropism for "invite". This is disrespectful because Benvolio is mocking Nurse.
Romeo shows some courtesy to Nurse, which is expected for Romeo, because of his personality. Nurse is obviously irritated by the remarks, when she is outraged and says, "An 'a speak anything against me, I'll take him down," meaning if he says anything bad about me, I'll beat him up.
     Romeo and his friends would of course not treat every woman of Verona in their rude, disrespectful manor, because it is required to show respect to upper class woman. Nurse was treated that way only because she was a servant, and was lower class in the Capulet house hold. If Romeo's friends were to say all of what they said to nurse to an upper class woman , they would surely be punished.

IN this photo, a man is showing courtesy and respect to the woman by holding the door for her, like how Romeo's friends should have shown respect to nurse, and the picture is from old-times to represent old fashions.

Vocabulary:

 chided:  to express disapproval of

 confounds: To throw into confusion or disorder

 driveling:  To talk childishly or idiotically

 exposition: The act of presenting to view; display

idolatry: Excessive or blind adoration, reverence, devotion, ect.

 lamentable: regrettable, unfortunate
  perjuries: The willing giving of false testimony under oath or affirmation, upon a point material to a legal        inquiry

Blog post #2

1) All good plays, stories, and tales with conflict often tent to be good ones. In Romeo and Juliet, conflict begins right from the get-go. In Act I, scene V many conflicts are set in motion by the events. One major conflict would be of course Romeo seeing, and falling head over heels for Juliet, the moment they set eyes on each other. They are forbidden to be together, Romeo being the enemy Montague, and Juliet being a Capulet. Their forbidden love is undeniable, and also is what makes the whole story of their forbidden love. 


2) A foil is a character who has qualities that are in sharp contrast to another character, thus emphasizing the traits of each. An example of this in Romeo and Juliet would be Mercutio and Romeo. With only just reading one page of dialog between Mercutio and Romeo, their personalities and characteristics can instantly be seen as opposites. 
       While Romeo speaks of love with passion, and thought, Mercutio  speaks of love and women like trash.  He speaks a full monologue of woman in disrespect. Romeo also dreams, and is hopeful all the time, but in contrast, Mercutio says, "True, I talk of substance dreams, which are the children of an idle brain, begot of nothing but vain fantasy, which is as thin of substance as the air." He says that dreams are nothing, and his view is that you make your own dreams. You can see a hudge contrast between Romeo and Mercutio, making Mercutio a foil to Romeo. 

Vocabulary: 


Adversary- a person, group, or force that opposes or attacks; opponent; enemy; for. 


Disparagement: something that derogates or casts in a bad light, as a remark or censorious essay

Pernicious: deadly, fatal

Posterity: succeeding or future generations collectively

Propagate: to cause to increase in number or amount


Want to learn more about Drama terms? Check out this link
:http://highered.mcgraw-hill.com/sites/0072405228/student_view0/drama_glossary.html

Blog Post #1

    The prologue to act I suggests that the relationship of Romeo and Juliet is doomed from the start. Some people believe that your actions can change the course of your life. Is it true? The definition of fate is that which is inevitably predetermined; destiny. Everything that relates to fate depends on what you believe. I think that fate depends on who you are asking. One may say fate is just a word, and doesn't believe in it. But another may reply fate is what is meant to happen, and will happen. For example, if you are married to someone you can's stand, someone may say it's just fate, someone else may say it's bad luck, while another person may say why did you marry him in the first place?

      You can see how any reader would relate fate to Romeo and Juliet. It is fate that Romeo falls in love with Juliet. It is fate that despite their strong love, they are not meant to be and are forbidden to be together. Like I said before, fate depends on who you are asking, weather the fate be good or bad.

Click on this link to learn about the various opinions of fate:

Fate Video