This project was my favorite project that I have completed this year. Our group made a brief trailer/summary of the novel Romeo and Juliet, and we acted out all of the parts ourselves. The trailer fits in with the text because it shows all of the most important scenes in the novel. We included the party scene, balcony scene, the battles, and the suicide scene at the end of the story.
I wanted to make a fun project that we would all put passion into and try and recreate some of the famous scenes. Also, I wanted to show the people that the book is actually very entertaining once you get past some of the tough language and annoying monologues. I wanted to draw attention to the cool and fun parts of the play, to show that it isn’t as boring as a lot of teenagers think it is. I did this by trying to add in some humor and action to spice things up a bit. I am very happy with how the finished project came out. I had so much fun making it, and it didn’t really seem like a chore, but something fun to do with my friends. I wanted to make a project that would not feel boring, like a long essay, but instead a creative project. I have written many essays in this class and others this year, so I wanted to mix things up. I loved seeing the finished project, as we had put a lot of time into filming and editing, and the finished video looked great. I also liked seeing the video because it reminded me of the fun time we had filming and making it. One thing that I would like people to take away from the project is that Romeo and Juliet is still relevant and interesting today, and its underlying message can be applied anywhere, including today’s world. Also, I want people to know that it isn’t the stale and old boring Shakespeare play most young people believe it is. Here is the link to the video on YouTube. Hope you all enjoy! https://youtu.be/dS0yfL-2xlA
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After finishing the play, I can now appreciate Shakespeare for myself. I really liked the play overall. I loved the language and the poetic flow of the words, even though sometimes it was hard to understand. I’m happy with how it ended, as the two can finally find peace and be together forever. Their love is truly able to be eternal, and for that reason, I don’t find it to be too much of a tragedy, as they did end up together.
When Romeo is about to kill himself after seeing Juliet “dead”, he says, “For fear of that I will stay with thee/And never from this palace of dim night/Depart again. Here, here I will remain” I think that this quote is great and shows the devotion that Romeo has for Juliet. After finishing the play, I believe more strongly in love at first sight, as Romeo and Juliet were good examples of it, and I have seen and read stories of people that also feel this way in real life. When it comes to the question of who killed Romeo and Juliet, I think that in the end, it was not society around them. They were their own killers, literally and metaphorically. Of course the hostile atmosphere between the two families didn’t help, but they acted so rashly and without thinking throughout the play, if they had taken time to think rationally, they would have been able to make things work without them both dying. Helen Fisher would talk about love making the brain do irrational things, and this play definitely makes that idea true. The brain will do anything to continue to have the dopamine released, so things aren’t done as rationally. And Romeo certainly acted rather irrationally, as he said, “Here’s to my love. O true apothecary,/Thy drugs are quick. Thus with a kiss I die.” Romeo kills himself for love at the age of 18, when he had so much more to do in his life. Here’s an interesting article I found when I was reading online comparing Romeo and Juliet to a popular modern day movie, Twilight. I have read the book and agree that there is a lot in common. http://blogs.setonhill.edu/KatieVann/2009/04/deemed_the_new_modern_day.html After finishing Act 2 and 3, I am already more interested in the play. After all of the fighting and death, I am drawn into the play more, as I think things will be getting interesting with Romeo’s exile and the growing tensions with the two families. I don’t really get why Romeo wanted to kill himself because he thought Juliet thought he was a murderer. This just seems very unnecessary and a bit over the top. Romeo says to the Friar, “There is no world without Verona walls/But purgatory, torture, hell itself.” This is just annoyingly dramatic, and sort of makes the general idea of black and white decisions more clear as in love or death, nothing in between. The love at first sight idea is going forward, as they are still in love, but they are just having a harder time seeing each other now, as Romeo is about to be exiled.
I am mapping out the Nurse and Paris, so things were interesting in this act. In Act 3, the Nurse talks a lot about Romeo, after hearing that he has killed Tybalt. She tries to tell Juliet what an awful person he is, but she does not want to hear it, even though she admits he made a mistake. With Paris, the only time he is in this act is when he walks with Lord and Lady Capulet as they discuss his marriage plans with their daughter. The Capulets say that they will have the wedding on that Thursday, as they are sure that she will agree to the marriage. My main character Paris was not really in this section, so I supplemented with the Nurse. Next act should have more with Paris, hopefully. The battle between Mercutio and Tybalt just made me angry and upset. I haven’t liked Tybalt at all since I have started the reading of the novel. His constant anger and aggressiveness just was grinding my gears and I didn’t like him as a person. I did like Mercutio, however, as he gave Romeo some interesting advice back when Romeo was still trying to get over his past love. I think that Tybalt’s aggressiveness was completely the fault for the fight, as he provoked it. When Tybalt just saw Romeo, he said, “Boy, this shall not excuse the injuries/That thou hast done me. Therefore turn and draw.” He just went up to Romeo without Romeo even doing anything to Tybalt, and asks Romeo to fight him. It’s just aggravatingly provocative. I think Shakespeare wanted to kill them off so quickly so he could focus on developing other characters, like Paris, whom we haven’t heard much about yet. I think that in the end, Juliet is responsible for how the play ends. She has a Twilight-style decision in which she must choose between the suitor which her parents like and will be good for her named Paris (Jacob), or the forbidden and passionate love that her parents will in no way approve named Romeo (Edward). In Twilight, Bella chose the forbidden love Edward, and worked it out. I don’t think that Juliet’s family could work it out easily, so I don’t think this will happen here, but I am interested to see the details of how it is handled. Whatever decision she makes will completely drive the story one way or another. Even though I know what decision she makes, it would completely change the course of the story, making one or the other the main love interest and the other the pitiful failure. http://www.shmoop.com/romeo-and-juliet/tybalt.html This is a link out to an article that I thought gave a good analysis of Tybalt and how annoyingly aggressive he was. The Morning after the Family Party:
Last night was such a great time. I had so much fun seeing all of the family in the same place. Tybalt behaved himself well and there was little talk of any of the Montagues. The best thing that happened to me, though, was when I met this amazing guy. He was in a mask and we met eyes from across the room, and it was just magical. Then, he followed me and we met in a quiet area so we could meet. He was absolutely wonderful, such a gentleman, and he was gorgeous. Just looking at him made my heart flutter with excitement. I know now what love feels like and I have no doubt in my mind that I love him. He makes me feel absolutely amazing, happy, and I want to spend every waking hour with him. I wonder if he feels the same way about me. I know that when we kissed it was passionate, but I hope that it’s more than just a sexual desire for him like it is for me. I asked my nurse about who he was after he left because I didn’t catch his name. I was surprised immensely when she told me that he was the son of the lord Montague, Romeo. I just don’t know how I feel about this, as our entire family hates their entire family and vice versa. I hope that when he finds out who I am he will still love me, because I still love him. Hopefully in the coming days I will get a chance to see him again and spend more time with him. P.S. Sorry no picture to break up the text, Weebly is glitching out and not letting me resize any photos. The play was a bit different from what I was expecting overall. I haven’t read any Shakespeare before and I was surprised at how the language had to be deciphered at every step. It was not unpleasant, but different from what I’m used to. I did find it oddly similar, in some ways, to the language used in Game of Thrones, but the iambic pentameter and the poetic flow were very different from the harsh words of the Westeros world. I really enjoyed having a change and being challenged while reading, as I had not been challenged like this in many years. I liked the overall feel of the novel, and I’m very interested to see what happens next in the play, even though I know the end result. My character, Paris, did not appear in this section at all, so I’ll talk a little about his rival Romeo. When Romeo first appeared and he was so emotionally distraught and upset, I found him almost annoyingly dramatic over his love life. On page 33, it says, “One fairer than my love?/The all-seeing sun Ne’er saw her match since first the world begun.” I understand the pain, but the language and dramatics used were just a little over the top. I can relate to this a little, as when I have pursued crushes and sometimes they don’t feel the same way so I feel a little distraught, but nothing compared to the angst and suffering here. I liked him as the act continued, and when he met Juliet, he became much less annoying, as he was no longer moping about. When it comes to love at first sight, and if it is real, in this play, at least, I think Shakespeare tried to input some of it in the play to make it more whimsical and magical, and set himself up to tear it all down later. On page 57, when Romeo has just met Juliet, he forgets all of his sorrows immediately and says, “If I profane with my unworthiest hand/This holy shrine, the gentle sin is this:/My lips, two blushing pilgrims, ready stand/To smooth that rough touch with a tender kiss.” Romeo has barely met this girl and he is quite over the top in love with her.
If I were to think back to a time when I acted impulsively without thinking through all of the options and the repercussions, there is one time in particular that stands out to me. I can remember back to a few years ago when I was at a car show and they had scale models of the exotic cars for sale. I was in the Ferrari tent and they had a 458 Italia model up for sale. I had always been a fan of the clean lines and the magnificent styling of the car, and as it turn out, it was just after my birthday, so I had some money saved up. I went over to the cash register all excited and happy, and then when the woman rang me up, I saw the total come to $80. I was startled a little at the price, but I went for it anyway. A few days later, I realized that I was short money on my original plan to spend my money, which was an Xbox. Looking back at this now, I can see that this was quite a waste of money, and I completely rushed into it. I was at the car show, and I was in the heat of the moment. I was not able to buy the Xbox for another few months, and that really bummed me out. Looking back at it now, I would have probably gone for a smaller model or not one at all, as I never really used/played with it when I first got it, as I was afraid of damaging the paintwork. I have gotten so much better with this type of thing now, because I end up saving and saving my money and not buying anything unless I really have been thinking about it a lot. |
AuthorI am Andrew, a high school kid attending PVHS. I enjoy golf, track, Xbox, and skiing. I have a passion for cars. I love reading, and my favorite book is Game of Thrones. ArchivesCategories |