Act Four Questions - Homework for Tuesday 4th October

UPDATE- Answers will be here once I receive ALL homework submissions.

In case of homework emergency, here are the questions for Monday's homework. Also, here's a link to an online version of theplay, just in case your copy isn't to hand:
http://www.bibliomania.com/0/6/3/1085

I'd also like to give you the option of emailing your homework to me this week (if you prefer) at ariadnestar@gmail.com

Last but not least, here's the homework. Click 'read more' at the bottom of the post to find it. This link will be at the bottom of every post, but I'll make it clear if there's actually something worth looking at there. Answers to follow in good time!

Ms B



Romeo and Juliet – Act 4 Homework

Act 4 Sc 1

1. In this scene, what do Paris’ lines tell you of his feelings towards Juliet?

That he clearly loves her, and is looking forward to their marriage.

"My father Capulet will have it so;And I am nothing slow to slack his haste." - he is happy that the marriage has been brought forward.

"Happily met, my lady and my wife!" - pleased to se Juliet

"Poor soul, thy face is much abused with tears" - Worried about her

"Thy face is mine, and thou hast slander'd it." - possessive, feels he owns her (as was normal for husbands at the time).

2. Quote then, if necessary, ‘translate’, the six things Juliet says she would rather do than marry Paris.

"O, bid me leap, rather than marry Paris,From off the battlements of yonder tower;" - Tell me to throw myself off a tower

"Or walk in thievish ways;" - or walk in dangerous streets, where I could be attacked.

"Or bid me lurk where serpents are; " - Or hang around where there are snakes

"chain me with roaring bears;" - or chain me up with vicious ursine mammals (relly big ones, with sharp teeth and everything...)

"Or shut me nightly in a charnel- house,O'er-cover'd quite with dead men's rattling bones,With reeky shanks and yellow chapless skulls;" - Lock me at night into a bone depository, and cover me with bits of dead people.

"Or bid me go into a new-made graveAnd hide me with a dead man in his shroud;" - Or tell me to go into a freshly dug grave, and hide with the dead body.

3. The Friar outlines his plans to Juliet in lines 89-117. Create a timeline OR a mindmap to show the sequence of steps that will be taken until the plan is complete. Use pictures and colour if you wish.

Sequence of events:

1. Say you will marry Paris 2. Make sure you sleep alone. 3. When you're in bed, take the potion. You will fall asleep, and seem dead. 4. The effects will last 42 hours 5. When Paris comes to wake you, you will be thought dead, and take to the Capulet tomb. 6. I'll write to Romeo and let him know about this. On the night you wake, we will both be there to get you, and he will take you back to Mantua to live your lives together.

4. How many hours will the potion make Juliet sleep?

42

Act 2 Sc 2

1. How does Capulet contradict himself in this scene (refer to his words in Act 3 Sc 4)?

He implies that the wedding is going to be a big affair - "So many guests invite as here are writ./ Sirrah, go hire me twenty cunning cooks." Previously he had said that the wedding would be small and intimate, in respect to Tybalt - "We'll keep no great ado, –a friend or two;For, hark you, Tybalt being slain so late,It may be thought we held him carelessly,Being our kinsman, if we revel much:Therefore we'll have some half a dozen friends, And there an end"

2. What significant change does Capulet make to the wedding arrangements after Juliet’s apology?

He moves the wedding from Thursday to Wednesday - "Send for the county; go tell him of this:I'll have this knot knit up to-morrow morning."

3. Look at lines 39 to 47. Translate Capulet’s speech into Standard English.

Something like.....

Shush, I'll stay up, and everything will be fine, I promise you wife! You go to Juliet and help her get ready. I'll stay up all night, leave me to myself. I'll play the housewife for once, let's go. Oh, everyone's out. Well then. I'll just go myself to get Paris ready for the morning. Oh, I feel so relieved and happy that my dispbedient daughter has come back to me!

Act 4 Sc 3

1. After sending her mother and nurse away, Juliet prepares to take the potion. Describe the four worries that Juliet has regarding the aftermath of taking the potion.

These quotes are long - an excerpt would do:

What if it be a poison, which the friar Subtly hath minister'd to have me dead,Lest in this marriage he should be dishonour'd,Because he married me before to Romeo? - What if the Friar has made this potion to actually kill me, because he'll get in trouble for marrying me and Romeo?

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? - What if I wake up before Romeo comes, and suffocate on the nasty fumes?

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?And madly play with my forefather's joints?And pluck the mangled Tybalt from his shroud? - What if I go mad, and play with the dead bodies?

And, in this rage, with some great kinsman's bone, As with a club, dash out my desperate brains? - What if I kill myself with the bone of one of my ancestors, by hitting myself rather hard on the head with it?

2. Just before she takes the potion, what does Juliet believe she sees. Why do you think she ‘sees’ this?

She sees Tybalt (or his ghost). This suggests she is really stressed and worried about what will happen after she takes the potion. She may feel guilty on Romeo's behalf.

3. Comment on the sentence structure of Juliet’s speech, particularly towards the end. What does it say about her state of mind?

The end of her speech is a huge, long sentence, punctuated with lots of commas. It suggests she is rambling on, speaking breathlessly, getting into a panic, and speaking quickly.

Act 2 Sc 4

1. In lines 11 and 12, what does Lady Capulet accuse her husband of being.

She accuses him of being a womaniser: "Ay, you have been a mouse-hunt in your time;But I will watch you from such watching now."

2. There are several instances of ‘preparation’ scenes in the play, where we see the servants and their masters bustling about, getting ready for an event. What do you think could be the purpose of these scenes, taking into account:

a) the staging of the play

To give the main actors time to change costume, and/or set up for the next scene.

b) the content and plot of the play.

A bit of light relief, to provide 'background colour' to the play, and to appeal to the different types of people who made up a Shakespearean audience. We know at this stage that bad things are going to happen, so this scene lightens the mood a bit for us. The effect of this may be to make the horrible happenings to come seem even worse!

Act 2 Sc 5

1. After Juliet’s ‘death’ the reactions of the Nurse and Lady Capulet are remarkably similar. With reference to their personalities as shown in the play so far, do you find this surprising? Give reasons.

The Nurse is close to Juliet. She has brought her up like a daughter, and even nursed her (fed her) as a baby. Juliet trusted her to help arrange her marriage, and often asks her advice. The nurse would be understandably distraught at Juliet's 'death'.

Lady Capulet is very distant from Juliet. She is only 26 (or thereabouts) and finds it hard to identify with her daughter. She would rather the nurse act as an intermediary. However, she seems just as upset as the nurse at Juliet's 'death'.

This is surprising because you wouldn't expect Lady Capulet to react so strongly, considering how she has treated Juliet so far in the play.

2. Capulet makes many references to death in his speech in lines 34-40. List them!

Death lies on her like an untimely frostUpon the sweetest flower of all the field.

Death, that hath ta'en her hence to make me wail,Ties up my tongue, and will not let me speak

Death lain with thy wife. There she lies,Flower as she was, deflowered by him.Death is my son-in-law, Death is my heir;My daughter he hath wedded: I will die,And leave him all; life, living, all is Death's

3. Friar Lawrence tries to console the mourners, while knowing the truth. What thoughts might be going through his head at this point?

He would be nervous of being found out. He would be feeling guilty for causing such distress to the Capulets. He would be happy that the plan is working so well. (Any justifiable answetr is acceptable here)

4. Why do you think Shakespeare included the light-hearted musicians scene at the end of this scene?

To lighten the mood for the audience, to show a different side of the events, and to make what is to follow seem all the more upsetting.

5. Which two songs are mentioned by Peter to the musicians? Why are they relevant to this scene?

"Heart's Ease" - Any justification is fine - something like: tje Capulets' hearts areborke, so they will need something to 'ease' their pain.

"My Heart is Full" - As above, something like the fact that their hearts are full of grief would be fine!

6. In Act 4 Sc 5, Lady Capulet, the Nurse, Paris and Lord Capulet all believe Juliet is dead. Look at lines 43, 50, 55 and 59. Each line is spoken by a different character but the style is similar. What does each line tell you about the character who speaks it? What or who are they describing?

Lady Capulet - "Accursed, unhappy, wretched, hateful day!" - Listing negative emotions. Describing the terrible day of Juliet's death. She is feeling distraught.

The Nurse - "O woe! O woful, woful, woful day!" Again describing the day, cursing it. Showing the extent of her grief.

Paris - "Beguiled, divorced, wronged, spited, slain!" Talking about Juliet. He is feeling robbed of his wife. Shows how he felt for Juliet.

Lord Capulet - "Despised, distressed, hated, martyr'd, kill'd!" Very similar to Paris' feelings. Talking about Juliet. Feels his daughter was a saint ("martyr'd") and he has had her unjustly taken from him.