ROMEO Bid a sick man in sadness make his will: Ah, word ill urged to one that is so ill! In sadness, cousin, I do love a woman. BENVOLIO I aim'd so near, when I supposed you loved. Us historyhome. ROMEO A right good mark-man! And she's fair I love. BENVOLIO A right fair mark, fair coz, is soonest hit. ROMEO Well, in that hit you miss: she'll not be hit. (Enter ROMEO) ROMEO Can I go forward when my heart is here? Turn back, dull earth, and find thy centre out. (He climbs the wall, and leaps down within it) (Enter BENVOLIO and MERCUTIO) BENVOLIO Romeo! My cousin Romeo! MERCUTIO He is wise; And, on my lie, hath stol'n him home to bed. BENVOLIO He ran this way, and leap'd this orchard wall: Call. ROMEO Have not saints lips, and holy palmers too? JULIET Ay, pilgrim, lips that they must use in prayer. ROMEO O, then, dear saint, let lips do what hands do; They pray, grant thou, lest faith turn to despair. JULIET Saints do not move, though grant for prayers' sake. ROMEO Then move not, while my prayer's effect I take. Romeo and Juliet - English teaching resources for pre- and post-1914 plays; Arthur Miller, Willy Russell and Alan Bennett nestle within the Shakespeare collections!
Scott Van Wye, a student of Richard Phillipy at Lawrence Central High School in Indianapolis, won first prize at the 31st annual English-Speaking Union National Shakespeare Competition on May 5. Scott performed a speech by Benedick from Much Ado About Nothing and a cold reading from The Tempest in addition to a sonnet.
Modern Version Romeo And Juliet
Bring on the tough stuff - there’s not just one right answer.
Romeo And Julietintensive English 10
- Romeo and Juliet may be the most famous pair of lovers in Western literature, but, seriously: is their love real, or is it just infatuation? Are they just melodramatic teenagers, or are they a model of romantic love? What proof does the play provide that their love is 'real love,' not just infatuation?
- What would have happened to Romeo and Juliet if they hadn't died? Is their relationship sustainable over time? Do they have anything to offer each other once the initial burst of passion calmed down? Would Romeo move on from Juliet as quickly as he moved on from Rosaline?
- How is the world of the young people in the play—Romeo and Juliet, Mercutio, Benvolio, and Tybalt—different from the world of their parents and mentors? In what ways do the young adopt the beliefs of the old, and in what ways do they ignore them or fight against them? Should Romeo and Juliet's relationship be viewed as a rebellion of the young against the old? In other words, is this play's motto, 'Kids these days,' or 'Move over, Grandpa?'
- Motifs of light and darkness run through the play. How do these references to day and night, sun, moon and stars, torches and lightning provide metaphors for what happens in the play? What kind of feelings do these images arouse in the reader?
- 'The Nurse and Mercutio, both of them audience favorites, are nevertheless bad news, in different but complementary ways,' Shakespeare scholar Harold Bloom writes. Do you agree with this assessment? What is similar or different about Mercutio and the Nurse's attitudes towards love, sex, and marriage?
- In general, the play's characters draw a connection between religion and love—however, Mercutio 'does not believe in the religion of love,' scholar Harold Bloom writes. To what extent is there a 'religion of love' in Romeo and Juliet? Who creates this religion of love, and who opposes it? What might explain Mercutio's critical attitude towards love and his tendency to reduce love to sex?
- Is it really all the fault of the Nurse and Friar? The Prince announces that 'some shall be pardoned and some punished.' Do either the Nurse or the Friar deserve punishment? Who else, in your opinion, might bear some responsibility for the two lovers' deaths?
- Why do the Nurse and the Friar ultimately fail in their attempts to help Romeo and Juliet?
- Let's talk about sex: Juliet can't marry Paris because she has sex with Romeo, and the Friar and Nurse are pretty obsessed not just with marrying the kids off but with getting them in bed together. Why is the act of sex so important here?