Romeo and Juliet Themebook

Romeo and Juliet: Theme Workbook Major Themes: Romeo and Juliet The idea the writer wishes to convey about the subject—the writer’s view of the world or a revelation about human nature. Utilizing the table below: 1. Identify a pervading idea for each Act within Romeo and Juliet (i.e. Provide a few short sentences to demonstrate what Shakespeare is saying) 2. Include evidence to support your theme statement (Quotes from text) 3. Connect your theme to the adaptation discussed in class. Utilize the box below to guide your thinking Common topics identi ed within Romeo and Juliet The Nature of Free Will - Honour and Obligation - The Naivety of Youth - The Power of Love and Hate - Violence and Death - Gender Roles - Revenge - The Multiplicity of Identity An example of evidence used from text and an appropriate citation👇 JULIET: “Tis but thy name that is my enemy; Thou art thyself, though not a Montague. What’s Montague? …O, be some other name! What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet; So Romeo would, were he not Romeo call’s, retain that dear perfection which he owes without that title.” fi (Romeo and Juliet, Act-II, Scene-ii, Lines 38-49) January 10, 2023 at 7:49:42 PM TYBALT. What, art thou drawn among these heartless hinds? Turn thee, Benvolio! look upon thy death. BENVOLIO. I do but keep the peace. Put up thy sword, Or manage it to part these men with me. TYBALT. What, drawn, and talk of peace? I hate the word As I hate hell, all Montagues, and thee. Have at thee, coward! Track Your Understanding: ACT I Explanation: Evidence from text These rst few lines take place as Benvolio attempts to break up a ght between two young Capulet servants and two Montague Servants. This shows how Tybalt feels about the Montagues. “As I hate hell, all Montagues, and thee.” This is likely not from personal experience, and more likely from stories that he has heard. This shows how honouring tradition can greatly alter ones values. Tybalt is ready to let people be injured or even killed in order to uphold and honour tradition. This is even more evident in the second piece of evidence. Tybalt says, regarding the presence of Romeo at a the ball, “Now, by the stock and honour of my kin, To strike him dead I hold it not a sin.” This shows that how murder is perceived as not a sin if it is of a member of the rival family. He also refers to Romeo as a villain, showing how his perception of Romeo is negative even though he is a “virtuous and well-governed youth.” This also represent how the power of hate can cloud reason. Tybalt has no seeming reason to think of Romeo as he does, yet he does. Tybalt’s exiting lines “I will withdraw; but this intrusion shall, now seeming sweet, convert to bitter gall,” shows how Romeo being at the party at rst seems sweet, but it will soon become a “bitter gall”. This also shows that Tybalt will be looking to seek revenge on Romeo. 1 (Romeo and Juliet, Act-I, Scene-i, Lines 59-65) Evidence from text (Romeo and Juliet, Act-I, Scene-v, Lines 52-90) 1. Topic Revealed Honour and Obligation, Tradition, The Power of Love and Hate, Revenge 2. Idea writer wishes to convey People can often be bogged down by tradition and by a desire to honour it. These people often feel an obligation to uphold these traditions. These traditions often can lead to a hatred of a certain group or people. Connection to Adaptation Gnomeo and Juliet: 2. Cooper King January 10, 2023 at 7:48:44 PM TYBALT. This, by his voice, should be a Montague. Fetch me my rapier, boy. What, dares the slave Come hither, covered with an antic face, To fleer and scorn at our solemnity? Now, by the stock and honour of my kin, To strike him dead I hold it not a sin. CAPULET. Why, how now, kinsman? Wherefore storm you so? TYBALT. Uncle, this is a Montague, our foe; A villain, that is hither come in spite To scorn at our solemnity this night. CAPULET. Young Romeo is it? TYBALT. ’Tis he, that villain Romeo. Warm Bodies: This adaptation doesn’t really have a set Tybalt character as much as Gnomeo and Juliet does. The closest parallel I can think of is if Perry is a combination of Paris and Tybalt, and then R killing Perry is like Romeo killing Tybalt, but that isn’t even in this scene. TYBALT. It fits when such a villain is a guest. I’ll not endure him. fi CAPULET. He shall be endured. fi 2 In this adaptation, Tybalt is much less honourable, and more of a bully. In the movie, Tybalt wants revenge on Romeo because he and Benvolio snuck into the red garden in the middle of the night and vandalized the well. This is less of an attack on Tybalts honour, and more of just a reason for Tybalt to be mad at Gnomeo, so it is a little harder to connect the scenes in the play and the lm. CAPULET. Content thee, gentle coz, let him alone. ’A bears him like a portly gentleman, And, to say truth, Verona brags of him To be a virtuous and wellgoverned youth. I would not for the wealth of all this town Here in my house do him disparagement. Therefore be patient, take no note of him. It is my will; the which if thou respect, Show a fair presence and put off these frowns, An ill-beseeming semblance for a feast. fi fi 1. Cooper King What, goodman boy? I say he shall. Go to! Am I the master here, or you? Go to! You’ll not endure him? God shall mend my soul! You’ll make a mutiny among my guests! You will set cock-a-hoop! You’ll be the man. TYBALT. Why, uncle, ’tis a shame. CAPULET. Go to, go to! You are a saucy boy. Is’t so, indeed? This trick may chance to scathe you. I know what. You must contrary me! Marry, ’tis time.— Well said, my hearts!—You are a princox—go! Be quiet, or—More light, more light!—For shame! I’ll make you quiet; what!— Cheerly, my hearts! TYBALT. Patience perforce with willful choler meeting Makes my flesh tremble in their different greeting. I will withdraw; but this intrusion shall, Now seeming sweet, convert to bitter gall. 3. Cooper King January 11, 2023 at 2:51:41 PM JULIET. O Romeo, Romeo! wherefore art thou Romeo? Deny thy father and refuse thy name! Or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love, And I’ll no longer be a Capulet. ROMEO [aside]. Shall I hear more, or shall I speak at this? JULIET. ’Tis but thy name that is my enemy. Thou art thyself, though not a Montague. What’s Montague? It is nor hand, nor foot, Nor arm, nor face, nor any other part Belonging to a man. O, be some other name! What’s in a name? That which we call a rose By any other name would smell as sweet. So Romeo would, were he not Romeo called, Retain that dear perfection which he owes Without that title. Romeo, doff thy name; And for that name, which is no part of thee, Take all myself. ROMEO. I take thee at thy word. Call me but love, and I’ll be new baptized; Henceforth I never will be Romeo. JULIET. What man art thou that, thus bescreened in night, So stumblest on my counsel? ROMEO. By a name I know not how to tell thee who I am. My name, dear saint, is hateful to myself, Because it is an enemy to thee. Had I it written, I would tear the word. ACT II Explanation: Evidence from text In Juliet’s opening lines in scene two, she pleads that Romeo “deny thy father and refuse thy name! Or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love, and I’ll no longer be a Capulet”. This is already questioning the blood feud between the two families, and how it prohibits people of said families from doing certain things. Her next lines are questioning the nature of what a Montague or a Capulet is, bringing in the multiplicity of identity and how people often feel an allegiance to two di erent things that can be opposing. This is also alluding to themes of internal con ict, and the desire to do things you know you shouldn’t. This also hints at how the right thing to do is often not the easy thing to do. Romeos response to Juliet’s little spiel is quite naive, with him saying “I take thee at thy word. Call me but love, and I’ll be new baptized; Henceforth, I never will be Romeo” this shows the naivety of Romeo and Juliet by showing how they are ready to give up everything just for each other. It also shows the other side of this, the feeling of obligation to your family, and the pressure to honour them. Another thing I think Romeo and Juliet is about is found family, and the idea of being able to live with the family that you choose instead of being forced to live with the family you were given, and I think that this is especially evident in this scene. 3 (Romeo and Juliet, Act-II, Scene-ii, Lines 33-60) 1. Topic Revealed The Power of Love & Hate, Naivety of Youth, Multiplicity of Identity, Family Pressure, Honour and Obligation, Internal Con ict, The Nature of Free Will 2. Idea writer wishes to convey Young people often wrestle with their responsibilities and their desires, often choosing to prioritize one over the other. This act speci cally tackles the desire to do something, even when you know that it may have serious repercussions with the other side of your life. It also delves into the desire to abandon the responsibility side of your life for the desire side. Connection to Adaptation Gnomeo and Juliet: The main parallel in this scene is Romeo’s behaviour. In the play, when Juliet tells him to leave, he acts as if he can’t, and when he starts to, he turns back and doesn’t multiple times. This is represented in the play when Gnomeo gets stuck in the fence. In the play, he wouldn’t leave, and in the lm, he couldn’t. This adds a humorous layer to the scene that also shows some great symbolism. Warm Bodies: fl fl In this adaptation, I believe that the parallel comes when Jules asks R to get her some food and then tries to run away. R then saves her from a bunch of zombies once they realize she is alive. I think that this is the adaptation because in the play, Romeo refuses to leave, and in the movie, R doesn’t let Jules leave. fi ff fi JULIET. My ears have yet not drunk a hundred words Of that tongue’s utterance, yet I know the sound. Art thou not Romeo, and a Montague? 4. Cooper King January 22, 2023 at 9:11:15 PM TYBALT. Romeo, the love I bear thee can afford No better term than this: thou art a villain. ROMEO. Tybalt, the reason that I have to love thee Doth much excuse the appertaining rage To such a greeting. Villain am I none. Therefore farewell. I see thou knowst me not. TYBALT. Boy, this shall not excuse the injuries That thou hast done me; therefore turn and draw. ACT III Evidence from text The main theme in this scene is revenge. One of Tybalt’s line calls Romeo a villain, saying that he ‘shall not excuse the injuries that thou hast done me’ just before they start to duel. This is in reference to at the party in Act 1, where Capulet said that Tybalt would make a fool of himself if he attacked Romeo, and Tybalt chose to blame Romeo for this. This has resulted in Tybalt eager to get revenge on Romeo. During the duel, Tybalt kills Mercutio, showing the consequences for his lust for revenge. We then see another act of revenge, with Romeo killing Tybalt in return for him killing Mercutio. This shows how revenge can have permanent e ects on people around the people with vendettas. This shows the danger in revenge, and I think that it is a warning that revenge can hurt people. The next demonstration of revenge is when Lady Capulet in uences the Prince in an attempt to get him to execute Romeo for killing Tybalt. This shows how revenge can cloud peoples judgment, with Lady Capulet failing to acknowledge that Tybalt killed Mercutio before he was killed. It also demonstrates how revenge can result in serious consequences such as death, or in this case, exile. 4 (Romeo and Juliet, Act III, Scene i, Lines 55-62) 5 (Romeo and Juliet, Act III, Scene i, Lines 169-174) 1. Topic Revealed Revenge 2. Idea writer wishes to convey Revenge is a dangerous thing and the people that choose to exact it often end up harming themselves and the people around them. It also clouds judgments and in uences poor decisions that can hurt yourself and others. Connection to Adaptation Gnomeo and Juliet: 5. Cooper King January 22, 2023 at 9:11:15 PM LADY CAPULET. He is a kinsman to the Montague; Affection makes him false, he speaks not true. Some twenty of them fought in this black strife, And all those twenty could but kill one life. I beg for justice, which thou, Prince, must give. Romeo slew Tybalt; Romeo must not live. Explanation: Evidence from text The adaptation of this scene in Gnomeo and Juliet more heavily focuses on revenge, with the entire reason that Tybalt dies is because of a constant “prank war” between the Reds and the Blues. Tybalt takes it a bit to far and is so blinded by hatred that he fails to notice that he is in danger before its to late and he dies. The Reds then attempt to take revenge on Gnomeo, who wasn’t actually at fault for Tybalt’s death. This results in everyone thinking that Gnomeo dies when he is thrust into a road and a blue pot falls out of a truck and smashes on the ground where Gnomeo was standing, furthering the idea of consequences of revenge. fl fl fi ff Warm Bodies: This scene is hard because there is no dedicated Tybalt character. I think that the closest character to Tybalt is Perry and the closest scene to this scene is also the scene where R and Jules rst meet each other in the lab. The reason I think this is because in this scene, R kills Perry, just like the scene in the play where Romeo kills Tybalt. 6. Cooper King January 22, 2023 at 10:45:54 PM fi fl fi fi fl JULIET. Farewell! God knows when we shall meet again. I have a faint cold fear thrills through my veins That almost freezes up the heat of life. I’ll call them back again to comfort me. In her fear, Juliet starts to call the Nurse!—What should she do here? nurse back but realizes that she must be alone to drink the poison. My dismal scene I needs must act alone. Come, vial. What if this mixture do not work at all? Shall I be married then tomorrow morning? No, no! This shall forbid it. Lie thou there. [lays down a dagger] What if it be a poison which the friar Subtly hath ministered to have me dead, Lest in this marriage he should be dishonored Because he married me before to Romeo? I fear it is; and yet methinks it should not, For he hath still been tried a holy man. How if, when I am laid into the tomb, I wake before the time that Romeo Come to redeem me? There’s a fearful point! Shall I not then be stifled in the vault, To whose foul mouth no healthsome air breathes in, And there die strangled ere my Romeo comes? Or, if I live, is it not very like The horrible conceit of death and night, Together with the terror of the place— As in a vault, an ancient receptacle Where for this many hundred years the bones Of all my buried ancestors are packed; Where bloody Tybalt, yet but green in earth, Lies fest’ring in his shroud; where, as they say, At some hours in the night spirits resort— Alack, alack, is it not like that I, So early waking—what with loathsome smells, And shrieks like mandrakes torn out of the earth, That living mortals, hearing them, run mad— O, if I wake, shall I not be distraught, Environed with all these hideous fears, ACT IV Explanation: Evidence from text This scene starts with Juliet sending her mother and the nurse away from her room so she can take the potion. She then is immediately tempted to call them back to comfort her. She then dismisses the idea, saying ‘my dismal scene I needs must act alone.’ She then starts questioning if the potion would actually work. This brings up the theme that has been present throughout the play of internal con ict. In this scene Juliet is struggling with doing something that in the long term she wants to do, but is in fear of what could happen if she does do it. She then starts questioning the Friars intentions, wondering if he actually gave her this potion so that she would die and no one would know of Romeo and Juliet’s marriage. She then dismisses that idea as well. This scene for me feels like a metaphor for suicide. It seems like what would be going through the head of a person that is about to kill themself. On one side, there is the desire to stay alive and the fear of death, and on the other side, there is all the reasons to take the potion. 6 (Romeo and Juliet, Act IV, Scene iii, Lines 14-58) 1. Topic Revealed Internal Con ict, Fear, Suicide 2. Idea writer wishes to convey External causes of stress and other emotions can lead people to consider or follow through with committing suicide. Connection to Adaptation Gnomeo and Juliet: This movie doesn’t have any suicide scenes, which makes it a little hard to connect to the play, but there are still some parallels that are present. In the play, Juliet fakes her death in a grand plan with the Friar. The closest thing to this in Gnomeo and Juliet is when everyone thinks that Romeo got crushed after his squabble with Tybalt. This causes Juliet to reveal her love for Romeo and essentially sacri ce herself. In the nal part of the movie, the roles almost are reversed from what they were in the play. Warm Bodies: This movie also doesn’t really have any scenes close to this scene in the play. In my opinion, the closest thing there is in this movie is when Jules stays with R as long as she does when she had multiple opportunities to escape and go back to the human world. This is essentially sacri cing herself for Romeo, just as she does in the play. And madly play with my forefathers’ joints, And pluck the mangled Tybalt from his shroud, And, in this rage, with some great kinsman’s bone As with a club dash out my desp’rate brains? O, look! methinks I see my cousin’s ghost Seeking out Romeo, that did spit his body Upon a rapier’s point. Stay, Tybalt, stay! Romeo, I come! this do I drink to thee. [She drinks and falls upon her bed within the curtains.] 7. Cooper King January 24, 2023 at 11:58:41 AM ACT V Explanation: Evidence from text This scene where Romeo commits suicide parallels the scene in act four where Juliet drinks the potion and enacts her fake death. In this scene, Romeo accepts his death, whereas in the prior suicide scene, Juliet is very worried about what will happen if she tries. I think that this duality symbolize the behaviours of Romeo and Juliet during the play. Throughout the play, Romeo acts very lovestruck, with him willing to do almost anything for Juliet, whereas Juliet acts as more of a reasonable, cautionary gure, and this is shown in their suicides. Romeos suicide has much less worrying and hesitation, and is much more reckless and committed. This mirrors his behaviour in the play, for example when he got on board with marrying Juliet a lot sooner than she did. In Juliet’s suicide, she was much more cautious and wary, which parallels her behaviour in the marriage situation, with her being more reluctant to go along with it than Romeo. I think that these two scenes are the most important ones in the play, and they tie all of the themes present throughout the play together. 7 (Romeo and Juliet, Act V, Scene iii, Lines 108-120) 1. Topic Revealed The Power of Love, Suicide 2. Idea writer wishes to convey People will make the same decisions for di erent reasons. Some people make decisions out of necessity, whereas others make it for numerous other reasons, but few of them are necessity. fi ff ROMEO. Here, here will I remain With worms that are thy chambermaids. O, here Will I set up my everlasting rest And shake the yoke of inauspicious stars From this world-wearied flesh. Eyes, look your last! Arms, take your last embrace! and, lips, O you The doors of breath, seal with a righteous kiss A dateless bargain to engrossing death! Come, bitter conduct; come, unsavory guide! Thou desperate pilot, now at once run on The dashing rocks thy seasick weary bark! Here’s to my love! [drinks] O true apothecary! Thy drugs are quick. Thus with a kiss I die. [ falls] Gnomeo and Juliet: 1.11.45 This adaptation doesn’t include any suicide scenes, yet there are still many parallels between the play and the lm. The main connection here is Romeos behaviour. In Gnomeo and Juliet, Gnomeo stayed on the pedestal with Juliet as the Terra rminator ies towards the two of them. This mirrors Romeos behaviour in the play. In the play, Romeo thinks that Juliet is dead. He decides that if Juliet is dead, then he should be too. This is like in Gnomeo and Juliet where Gnomeo realizes that there is no way that Juliet gets out of the situation, so he decides that he would stay with Juliet and they would both die. In this scene, Juliet is being the voice of reason, telling Gnomeo that he should run while he still can and save himself. This mirrors her behaviour in the play, where she is much more calculated and cautious. Warm Bodies: 1.23.27 fi fi fi ff This adaptation also doesn’t have a suicide scene, but has a similar part to Gnomeo and Juliet. In this movie, R and Jules get cornered by boneys high above a small pool. Jules says “its over”, again being the voice of reason, but R disagrees. He then grabs Jules and jumps o the tower over the pool. He positions himself under her as to cushion her fall so that he will die and she will survive. This accentuates the theme of sacri ce present in both the play and the lm. This parallels the play, where Romeo is more reckless, with him not caring about his life as much, whereas Juliet is a lot more reasonable and cautious. fi fl Connection to Adaptation