BELLWORK: @ petrarchanlove

1. BELLWORK: @petrarchanlove • PICK TWO CHARACTERS FROM ROMEO & JULIET • FROM THE POINT OF VIEW OF ONE OF THE CHARACTERS, WRITE A COUPLET (COUPLET=TWO LINES THAT RHYME) DIRECTED TOWARDS THE OTHER CHARACTER IN THE FORM OF A MODERNIZED TWEET. • THE COUPLET SHOULD REPRESENT HOW THAT CHARACTER FEELS TOWARDS THE OTHER BASED ON HOW THEY INTERACT (DON’T CHOOSE 2 CHARACTERS THAT DON’T TALK TO EACH OTHER). • REMEMBER, A TWEET IS 140 CHARACTERS OR LESS (THAT INCLUDES SPACES AND PUNCTUATION). WRITE YOUR COUPLET ON NOTEBOOK PAPER TO BE TURNED IN ORTWEET IT @petrarchanlove

2. PYRAMUS AND THISBE • are two lovers in the city of Babylon who occupy connected houses but are forbidden to wed because of the rivalry their parents have. Separated by a wall, they whisper their love for each other through a crack and plan to meet at a mulberry tree to elope. Thisbe, arriving first, sees a lioness and flees, leaving behind her veil. When Pyramus arrives he spots her veil and, thinking the blood on the lioness’ mouth is Thisbe’s, falls on his sword. Thisbe returns shortly after, sees her beloved has killed himself, and stabs herself.

3. First, you should know… • William Shakespeare didn’t come up with the story. He just adapted it from a few sources: • The MAIN SOURCE is The TragicallHistorye of Romeus and Juliet—a narrative poem Arthur Brooke translated from an Italian story. We think that Shakespeare’s version was probably written around 1591-1595. • He also drew from the medieval legend of Tristan and Isoldealong with Pyramus and Thisbefrom Ovid’s Metamorphoses. • He manages to make the clichéd story work because of his mastery of English;he uses the power of language to make and unmake the world.

4. Prose and poetry… • POETRY is written in VERSE, writing arranged in a metrical rhythm and typically has a rhyme. The meter and rhythm can vary depending on the type of poetry. • PROSE is written or spoken language in its ordinary form, without metrical structure. It’s origin is Latin prosa (oratio) lit. ‘straightforward (discourse)’. In other words, natural language as we speak it.

5. Shakespeare… • Uses bothPROSE and VERSE in his plays. • Most of his plays are written in VERSE with some PROSE. However, there are a handful that are mostly PROSE with some VERSE like Much Ado about Nothing. • We can further divide his use of VERSE two ways: • BLANK VERSE are metered lines that don’t rhyme. • JULIET: The excuse that thou dost make in this delay/Is longer than the tale thou dost excuse. • RHYMED VERSE are metered lines that do rhyme. • JULIET: My only love sprung from my only hate/Too early seen unknown, and known too late. • So, Shakespeare uses PROSE, BLANK VERSE, and RHYMED VERSE in Romeo & Juliet In terms of Shakespeare, we tend to associate PROSE dialogue with commoners speaking, BLANK VERSE with wealthier, more educated speaking formally, and RHYMED VERSE as most formal.

6. Most of his verse is in iambic pentameter… • IAMBIC means a type of poetic verse that is made up of iambs. English speech, naturally, tends to be spoken in IAMBIC PENTAMETER, so a lot of the PROSE can be counted as metered. • An IAMB is a pairing of an unaccented and accented syllable. IAMBS are words like: • -exist -away -the one -you know • -belong -predict -we played -I can’t • IAMBIC PENTAMETER is poetry with five iambs: • ROMEO: But, soft! What light through yonder window breaks? • It is the east, and Juliet is the sun. • Arise, fair sun, and kill the envious moon, • Who is already sick and pale with grief.

7. Keep in mind… • No word or image is there by ACCIDENT. • The text was never meant to be read—it was meant to be spoken and heard. If it doesn’t make sense, READ IT ALOUD. • Every character is MEANT to speak in a SPECIFIC WAY at SPECIFIC TIMES—Actors would rely on the way the dialogue was written to better understand how that character was supposed to be portrayed. • Shakespeare frequently uses PUNS.A PUN is a wordplay where similar sounding words (HOMOPHONES and HONONYMS) are used to make a joke. There’s (arguably) 175 puns in Romeo & Juliet alone. • HOMONYMS are words that are spelled the same but have a different meaning. • (tear and tear) • HOMOPHONES are words that are pronounced the same but have a different meaning. (their and there and they’re)

8. We can, therefore… • Give qualities to characters based on how they speak. • 1. MERCUTIO: That dreamers often lie. • 2. NURSE: Even or odd, of all days in the year/Come Lammas-eve at night shall she be fourteen. • 3. JULIET: Wash they his sounds with tears: mine shall be spent./When theirs are dry for Romeo’s banishment./Take up those cords: poor ropes, you are beguiled,/Both you and I: for Romeo is exiled./He made you for a highway to my bed;/But I, a maid, die maiden widowed. • 4. LADY CAPULET: A crutch, a crutch! Why call you for a sword? • 5. ROMEO: Alas, that love, whose view is muffled still,/Should, without eyes, see pathways to his will! • 6. FRIAR: Be plain, good son, and homely in thy drift;/Riddling confession finds but riddling shrift.

9. Finally… • A theme we can consider is THE POWER OF WORDS AND LANGUAGE. • Shakespeare makes linguistic power figure thematically in the play. Think about: • The crucial importance of NAMES (A rose by any other name..). • The FORCE OF VERBAL ACTION—how often is the “action” nothing more than throwing insults back and forth? • How often a PUN is used to challenge the validity of a sentiment (Mercutio constantly makes fun of Romeo’s unrequited love for Rosalind. Was Romeo’s ‘love’ genuine or just forced and empty?). • Even in the most tragic scenes of the play, characters are still using PUNS—they juxtapose comedy and tragedy in the same line similarly to the way other opposites exist in the story(love and death, pain and joy, youth and age).