Year 11 Romeo and Juliet Research
http://shakespeare.mit.edu/romeo_juliet/full.html
Search for any use of the words fate/fortune. Copy the quotation and try to work out what it means and whether it could go into your essay.
http://www.shakespeare-online.com/plays/romeoscenes.html
Read the article called Shakespeare on Fate - make notes on anything that might help in your essay.
Look at Q&A on Romeo and Juliet. e.g. the note on tragedy
Have a look at the notes on Romeo as a character.
Read the modern version of act 3, scene 1 alongside the original. Do you think it gets across the meaning of the original as you have studied it? Which do you prefer and why?
http://nfs.sparknotes.com/romeojuliet/page_136.html
This page has a summary of 3:1 with notes on the action.
http://www.shakespeare-navigators.com/romeo/S31.html
Go to http://10x1english.blogspot.com/
Look at the essay on Fate/Destiny. Look at the Powerpoint.
Watch the video on the following page on themes.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/english_literature/dramaromeojuliet/romeothemesact.shtml
Have a go on the following game
http://www.shakespeare4kidz.com/r-j-shootout-game-3.html
Create your own poster to advertise a new version of the play or movie.
Monday, 18 October 2010
Thursday, 7 October 2010
A Possible Essay Plan for Romeo and Juliet
Remember this is the basic plan. If you are aiming for a high grade you must go beyond this but you can use it as your basis:
P1
In your first paragraph you should introduce the play and the topic that you will write about. Write about where Shakespeare would have got the idea for the play.
P2
Mention how Fate Fortune was viewed in Shakespeare’s time and why this topic is important to discuss. Why might this have made the play/scene popular or dramatic.
MAIN BODY
In the main body you should explain the various things which might make the scene dramatic. Use the grid in your pink booklets on p9.
P3
Where does the scene fit into the play as a whole? What comes immediately before the scene?(2:6) How has the audience been prepared for the fights in this scene? Mention the Capulet’s ball(1:5) and how Tybalt wants revenge. Contrast.
P4
Look at the start of the scene. Benvolio’s warning sets up the atmosphere. Compare him to Mercutio at this point. How does the weather help to build up tension?
P5
Look at the different characters in the scene. What do they add to the drama?
Romeo: he refuses to fight. Why and how does this add to the tension?
Mercutio: he seems to want to fight more than any other? How do we know this? He uses lots of word play. Give examples.
Tybalt: He goes along to find Romeo to start a fight. He uses lots of insults. Give examples.
P6
Discuss the different versions of the scene. Compare Shakepseare’s script, Baz Luhrmann’s film and Zefferelli’s film. How do each of them add tension and portray the action in different ways? Especially the fights.
P7
In the conclusion you should sum up the main points in your essay and suggest which are the most important ways that tension and drama are created in the scene and how successful was Shakespeare at creating drama.
Maybe also state what we think of Romeo by the end of the scene and what happens after 3:1
P1
In your first paragraph you should introduce the play and the topic that you will write about. Write about where Shakespeare would have got the idea for the play.
P2
Mention how Fate Fortune was viewed in Shakespeare’s time and why this topic is important to discuss. Why might this have made the play/scene popular or dramatic.
MAIN BODY
In the main body you should explain the various things which might make the scene dramatic. Use the grid in your pink booklets on p9.
P3
Where does the scene fit into the play as a whole? What comes immediately before the scene?(2:6) How has the audience been prepared for the fights in this scene? Mention the Capulet’s ball(1:5) and how Tybalt wants revenge. Contrast.
P4
Look at the start of the scene. Benvolio’s warning sets up the atmosphere. Compare him to Mercutio at this point. How does the weather help to build up tension?
P5
Look at the different characters in the scene. What do they add to the drama?
Romeo: he refuses to fight. Why and how does this add to the tension?
Mercutio: he seems to want to fight more than any other? How do we know this? He uses lots of word play. Give examples.
Tybalt: He goes along to find Romeo to start a fight. He uses lots of insults. Give examples.
P6
Discuss the different versions of the scene. Compare Shakepseare’s script, Baz Luhrmann’s film and Zefferelli’s film. How do each of them add tension and portray the action in different ways? Especially the fights.
P7
In the conclusion you should sum up the main points in your essay and suggest which are the most important ways that tension and drama are created in the scene and how successful was Shakespeare at creating drama.
Maybe also state what we think of Romeo by the end of the scene and what happens after 3:1
How to get a Higher Grade in the Romeo and Juliet Essay
For the higher grades
Don’t mix up fate and fortune. They are two different ideas. Have a think about it. Fate: things are planned out in advance. Fortune: things keep changing. Both are outside human control. (See also below)
Use the EXPLAIN bit of the paragraph to show your advanced understanding (in other words, to get an A grade, this is where the difference lies). Extend your explanations to link back to the question to keep your essay focused. It’s no good simply saying Mercutio uses wordplay. What is the effect of the wordplay. To cause confusion, to antagonise? Therefore making the fight inevitable?
Try to get references to context into the main body of the essay. This allows you to link text to context.
Important!
Remember that word Conceptualize. In other words, discuss complex ideas. In this essay the big complex idea is the conflict or tension between:
the individual characters and how responsible they are for their own actions
and
external forces such as Fate and Fortune which act on the characters and take things out of their hands.
This is the core of the questions. It is this struggle that creates the drama in the play. Make it a key element of your essay.
Don’t mix up fate and fortune. They are two different ideas. Have a think about it. Fate: things are planned out in advance. Fortune: things keep changing. Both are outside human control. (See also below)
Use the EXPLAIN bit of the paragraph to show your advanced understanding (in other words, to get an A grade, this is where the difference lies). Extend your explanations to link back to the question to keep your essay focused. It’s no good simply saying Mercutio uses wordplay. What is the effect of the wordplay. To cause confusion, to antagonise? Therefore making the fight inevitable?
Try to get references to context into the main body of the essay. This allows you to link text to context.
Important!
Remember that word Conceptualize. In other words, discuss complex ideas. In this essay the big complex idea is the conflict or tension between:
the individual characters and how responsible they are for their own actions
and
external forces such as Fate and Fortune which act on the characters and take things out of their hands.
This is the core of the questions. It is this struggle that creates the drama in the play. Make it a key element of your essay.
Some Dos and Don'ts for the Romeo and Juilet Essay
Don’t re-tell the story. Presume the reader knows the play reasonably well.
Use higher level vocab. Words like ‘big’, ‘bad’, ‘good’ etc will not do!
Do not abbreviate words like ‘They’re’ or ‘should’ve’. It lowers the formality of the essay.
Spellings. Get the characters’ names right. And Shakespeare’s!
If relevant to what you’re saying, refer to the film versions. These are performances and should help with talking about ‘theatricality’ or staging (even if it is on a screen).
Incorporate quotes into sentences. Even ‘Romeo says, ‘O…’ is better that a sentence that is simply a quote.
For the conclusion: sum up your main points; possibly give your own opinion;
say why 3:1 is an important scene and how it begins the tragic chain of events; perhaps add how the audience view Romeo by the end of the scene.
Use higher level vocab. Words like ‘big’, ‘bad’, ‘good’ etc will not do!
Do not abbreviate words like ‘They’re’ or ‘should’ve’. It lowers the formality of the essay.
Spellings. Get the characters’ names right. And Shakespeare’s!
If relevant to what you’re saying, refer to the film versions. These are performances and should help with talking about ‘theatricality’ or staging (even if it is on a screen).
Incorporate quotes into sentences. Even ‘Romeo says, ‘O…’ is better that a sentence that is simply a quote.
For the conclusion: sum up your main points; possibly give your own opinion;
say why 3:1 is an important scene and how it begins the tragic chain of events; perhaps add how the audience view Romeo by the end of the scene.
An Article on the Theme of Destiny in Romeo and Juliet
The Theme of Destiny
As critic Bertrand Evans points out: "Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy of unawareness" more so than any of Shakespeare's other plays. "Fate, or Heaven, as the Prince calls it, or the "greater power," as the Friar calls it, working out its purpose without the use of either a human villain or a supernatural agent sent to intervene in mortal affairs, operates through the common human condition of not knowing. Participants in the action, some of them in parts that are minor and seem insignificant, contribute one by one the indispensable stitches which make the pattern. They act when they do not know the truth of the situation in which they act, this truth being known, however, to us who are spectators." The idea that Fortune dictates the course of mankind dates back to ancient times. Those writers of the medieval world incorporated the goddess Fortune into Christianity and made her God's servant, responsible for adding challenges to our lives so that we would see the importance of giving up our tumultuous earthly lives to God. The most influential treatise on the theme of Fate was The Consolation of Philosophy, written by the scholar Boethius (A.D. 475-525). Written while he awaited execution, it is a dialogue between himself and his guide 'Philosophy', who explores with him the true nature of happiness and fate, and leads him to hope and enlightenment. Here is an excerpt from Book IV:
Why does slippery Fortune change so much, and oppress the innocent with punishment more fit for criminals? …Look down on all earth's wretchedness. Man plays so little a part in this great work and is controlled by Fortune. (Book IV)
Boethius' work, specifically his concept of "Fortune's wheel", made an enormous impact on the work of Chaucer and Dante and, less directly, Shakespeare. Fate's impact on Romeo and Juliet is made clear from the outset of the play. The Chorus tells us that the lovers are "star-cross'd", and thus hindered by the influence of malignant planets (note that Renaissance astrologers used the planets to predict plagues and other such calamities, in addition to predicting the outcome and quality of individual's lives). Throughout the play Fate's role is reaffirmed as the lovers sense its interference. Romeo, just before he attends Capulet's ball, has a premonition:
My mind misgives
Some consequence, yet hanging in the stars,
Shall bitterly begin thisd fearful date
With this night's revels, and expire the term
Of a dispised life, clos'd in my breast,
By some vile forfeit of untimely death:
But he that hath the steerage of my course
Direct my sail! (1.4.106)
Romeo later cries that he is "fortune's fool" (3.1.141), and Juliet exclaims that she has an "ill-divining soul" (3.5.52). Moreover, their predictions extend into their dreams, as Romeo says "I dreamt my lady came and found me dead" (5.1.6). So in keeping with tradition set down by the great writers of the past, Fate controls Shakespeare's doomed lovers. And takes no share of the blames for the catastrophic ending. He disowns responsibility and places the blame on Destiny or Fate." This reliance on the idea of Fate in the play is the most representative of Shakespeare's dramatic deficiency. It is not the lovers' flaws that lead them to ruin; the tragedy does not spring from their own weaknesses. As a result, there is little growth of character and no profound analysis of the complexity of human nature. Thus, despite the lyrical beauty of the play and the endearing qualities of Romeo and his Juliet, (which have secured its place as one of the great dramas), it fails to rise to the level of Shakespeare's other tragedies that explore the inner failings of humankind.
http://www.shakespeare-online.com/playanalysis/romeocommentary.html
Romeo and Juliet Essay Title
How does Shakespeare create such a powerful and dramatic scene in Romeo and Juliet, act 3, scene 1?
In your essay you should discuss
• The context of the original play (Elizabethan)
• The characters in the scene
• The dramatic devices (e.g. dramatic irony)
• How the audience might respond to the events and the characters
In your essay you should discuss
• The context of the original play (Elizabethan)
• The characters in the scene
• The dramatic devices (e.g. dramatic irony)
• How the audience might respond to the events and the characters
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