Act 3 "Quiz"

Fact Questions
1. What is Romeo's punishment for killing Tybalt?
2. Who is Juliet set to marry, and when will the wedding be?
3. What does Lady Capulet plan to do to Romeo?

Thinking Questions
1. The conflict "Family vs Love" comes up multiple times in this act. What is one example, and how does Juliet react to it?

2. What does the nurse advise Juliet to do? Why does she advise this, and do you agree?

Romeo and Juliet Act 2 Quiz Final Question

Imagine that after the balcony scene, Romeo and Juliet go somewhere and write in their diaries. Explain how you would stage this scene and write a 100 word diary entry for each of these two characters. Be sure that the entries are both creative and believable.

Juliet:
Dear Diary,
I met the most incredible man at the ball today. His name is Romeo - and he's a Montague. Why does this happen to me? My mother will never approve - she wants me to marry Paris. He's wealthy and old and stupid... Romeo is young, and handsome. He's perfect... Well almost. Why does he have to be a Montague? Why are our families even feuding? I asked him when I saw him tonight what he wanted from me, and he promised his love - forever. I want to marry him, but I am so scared. My family will never approve. Oh diary, what will I do? How can I marry him and not his name?

Romeo:
Diary, 
I have never experienced love like this before. She is perfection - I never want to leave her. Her name is Juliet Capulet. I don't know who I can tell about her, though, because her family is my sworn enemy. I met her after sneaking into a ball to meet somebody else... Who was it? Whatever, her name doesn't matter anymore. The only name that matters is Juliet. I promised her my eternal love, and I will visit Friar Lawrence in the morning to ask him to marry us. Hopefully he will agree, and we can leave this family feud behind us. 

Wherefore Art Thou Romeo?

Every director has their own ideas about the portrayal of a specific scene. The balcony scene from Romeo and Juliet is quite famous, and still every director and actor does it differently. I watched the 1968 version, Gnomeo and Juliet, Royal Shakespeare Company, and the 1936 version. Of the four, Romeo was the most effective portraying a boy in love, and Juliet was only once (to me) successful in her portrayal of a girl who loves a boy. The 1968 version worked, especially as Romeo watched his love from afar. The balcony was very long, which helped provide movement. However, Juliet’s fantasies were less like she was speaking to herself, or pondering, and more like she was just speaking towards - nothing? I was confused at why she was talking. Juliet also got extremely frightened by Romeo, which was slightly over-exaggerated.

The Gnomeo and Juliet version was very clever. The modern terminology managed to keep a lot of the famous metaphors and similes of the original text. It was very short, however, which was interesting. The Royal Shakespeare Company’s version had, in my eyes, the best Juliet. Still, she wasn’t perfect. Her position was often awkward, but when she spoke to herself, her intentions were clear - she was confused, and trying to work it out with herself. Romeo was very intense in this version. This intensity of Romeo was also visible in the 1936 version. Romeo was very bold and boisterous, and Juliet was much softer.

I think, in order for this scene to work, Juliet’s intentions need to be made very clear, and Romeo needs to be soft in approach - nervous about his love. The innocence of both characters should be made very clear.

Some Questions to Ask a Play

Understood:

• You need to understand the "world of the play" before you can focus on your character
• An actor needs to ask what the world demands of them to develop character 
• The world of a play changed throughout the story

Things I want to understand better:

• Theatrical mirrors
• "Music" of a play
• How the images relate

Claudius the Killer (and the killed)

The final scene of Hamlet marks the end of four main characters: Laertes, King Claudius, Queen Gertrude, and Hamlet himself are killed. The man to blame? Claudius. His preoccupation with power kills him in the end.

In this last scene, Hamlet has agreed to a fencing match with Laertes, son of dead Polonius. Claudius, unbeknownst to Hamlet, has conspired with the king to poison his sword and kill Hamlet with it. Claudius, unwilling to take any chances, also poisoned wine he believed Hamlet would be drinking later. In the fight, Hamlet wounds Laertes and is offered a sip of the wine. He denies, and his mother, Queen Gertrude, offers to sip it for him. Claudius wastes little energy trying to stop her. Almost immediately after drinking, she falls ill - and Hamlet gets wounded by the poisoned sword. Laertes (and Hamlet’s common sense) reveals Claudius as he is - a murderer, and Hamlet finishes off both Laertes and Claudius before dramatically dying.

King Claudius, Hamlet’s uncle, has a one-track mind. He wants the throne, and will do anything he can to get there. This is especially evident in the final scene of the show, where he lets his “beloved” wife die and ensures the death of his nephew. Claudius’s “large goal,” therefore, is to maintain his position as king, and therefore get rid of Hamlet. This is only half - successful. He poisoned Laertes’s sword and the wine, effectively ensuring that Hamlet would die. With Hamlet’s death, he would keep the throne - Hamlet was the only one who knew Claudius murdered his father.

His “scene-based goal” in the last scene was to have Laertes kill Hamlet, and avoid getting caught in his scheme. He fails at this. Poisoning the wine glass was his first mistake. Hamlet refused to drink, and instead his wife drank it - killing her. This made it clear to Hamlet and the audience that something was wrong. This also reinforces Hamlet’s fears. Claudius cannot be trusted, not even with the woman he supposedly loved.

The “given circumstances” for this scene rely heavily on Claudius’s relationships. He claims to love the Queen, but lets her drink the poisoned wine and die in the end. He also has a bond with Laertes, over the death of Polonius. This bond allows Claudius to manipulate Laertes into poisoning his sword and killing Hamlet.  The most important relationship is between Hamlet and Claudius. The two hate each other. Hamlet knows Claudius killed his father, and wants to take revenge. Claudius knows Hamlet found out about his crimes and wants to clear his name. This hatred between the two leads to the death of them both.

Claudius is motivated by selfishness and narcissism. No sane man would kill his own brother, never mind marry his sister-in-law. Hamlet seemingly has every right to turn on his uncle once he realizes that depth of his actions. After Hamlet is stabbed and his mother is poisoned, Laertes betrays Claudius and confesses to his actions. Hamlet knows he is going to die - and he knows that he must take his uncle down with him.

Proving With A Play

              One of the most interesting scenes in Hamlet is the “play within a play.” Hamlet manages to get a confession from his uncle, without coercing him into saying a word. You can see Hamlet’s cunningness in this scene, starting with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern when he first sees the players, and ending with his execution of the performance. He is successful in making his uncle uncomfortable, therefore proving the ghost and solidifying his suspicions. Hamlet’s clever attitude and quick wit displayed here also supports the theory that his earlier madness was fake. It is demonstrated that he has the creativity and motivation to feign insanity. This scene provided the reader with a refreshing, new and interesting view of Hamlet.

Hamlet's Emo Phase

“To be or not to be, that is the question” says Hamlet in his famous soliloquy. To live, or to die? Hamlet’s dramatic monologue is not the only occurrence in which he contemplates death, but it is considered the most famous. William Shakespeare deliberately gave Hamlet the line as a soliloquy. Benedict Cumberbatch believes this was done to provoke empathy from the audience, and I agree. There is a certain intimacy between the audience and actor during a monologue, because the actor has the chance to speak directly to them. In Hamlet, many of the characters are fairly “two-faced.” They act differently depending who they are talking to, deceiving and lying to others in the play. A monologue shows the true belief of the character, instead of a false version meant to deceive. This distinct monologue reveals Hamlet as he almost gives up on life, and his contemplation of suicide.

Ah, and there is the rub. Many (including myself) believe that Hamlet’s slow descent into madness is fake, a mask put on to fool his uncle and Polonius. The “to be or not to be” soliloquy exposes the possibility that this assumption is wrong - Hamlet could be genuinely deeply disturbed by the events in his life. (particularly his uncle murdering his father and marrying his mother.) At the very least, it is possible his madness is not feigned completely.

However, I do not empathize with Hamlet. I understand how somebody could - the monologue is extremely depressing and personal.Yet to me, this back and forth between “oh the sweet slumbers of death” and “how I wish to live!” (not direct quotes) is reminiscent of middle school. Hamlet is supposed to be in his late 20s, not 13 and going through an emo phase.

There was only one version of the monologue, out of the 5 I watched, that actually struck empathy with me.

Mel Gibson’s portrayal of Hamlet had its faults, sure, but his rendition of the famous soliloquy stood out to me. Instead of the angst portrayed by many other actors, Gibson remained soft, sad, and clearly depressed. It was in line with what I pictured when reading the book.

William Shakespeare knew what he was doing when he gave Hamlet the soliloquy. I only wish he was still around to tell us why. Maybe it was to spark emotion with the audience, but it is entirely possible he had a different plan in mind.