Romeo and Juliet Act 4 Scene 1, planning #1

ACT IV
SCENE I. Friar Laurence's cell.

JULIET
Are you at leisure, holy father, now;
Or shall I come to you at evening mass?

FRIAR LAURENCE
My leisure serves me, pensive daughter, now.

JULIET
O shut the door! and when thou hast done so,
Come weep with me; past hope, past cure, past help!

FRIAR LAURENCE
Ah, Juliet, I already know thy grief;
It strains me past the compass of my wits:
I hear thou must, and nothing may prorogue it,
On Thursday next be married to this county.

JULIET
Tell me not, friar, that thou hear'st of this,
Unless thou tell me how I may prevent it:
If, in thy wisdom, thou canst give no help,
Do thou but call my resolution wise,
And with this knife I'll help it presently.
God join'd my heart and Romeo's, thou our hands;
And ere this hand, by thee to Romeo seal'd,
Shall be the label to another deed,
Or my true heart with treacherous revolt
Turn to another, this shall slay them both:
Therefore, out of thy long-experienced time,
Give me some present counsel, or, behold,
'Twixt my extremes and me this bloody knife
Shall play the umpire, arbitrating that
Which the commission of thy years and art
Could to no issue of true honour bring.
Be not so long to speak; I long to die,
If what thou speak'st speak not of remedy.

FRIAR LAURENCE
Hold, daughter: I do spy a kind of hope,
Which craves as desperate an execution.
As that is desperate which we would prevent.
If, rather than to marry County Paris,
Thou hast the strength of will to slay thyself,
Then is it likely thou wilt undertake
A thing like death to chide away this shame,
That copest with death himself to scape from it:
And, if thou darest, I'll give thee remedy.

JULIET
O, bid me leap, rather than marry Paris,
From off the battlements of yonder tower;
Or walk in thievish ways; or bid me lurk
Where serpents are; chain me with roaring bears;
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;
Or bid me go into a new-made grave
And hide me with a dead man in his shroud;
Things that, to hear them told, have made me tremble;
And I will do it without fear or doubt,
To live an unstain'd wife to my sweet love.

FRIAR LAURENCE
Hold, then; go home, be merry, give consent
To marry Paris: Wednesday is to-morrow:
To-morrow night look that thou lie alone;
Let not thy nurse lie with thee in thy chamber:
Take thou this vial, being then in bed,
And this distilled liquor drink thou off;
When presently through all thy veins shall run
A cold and drowsy humour, for no pulse
Shall keep his native progress, but surcease:
No warmth, no breath, shall testify thou livest;
The roses in thy lips and cheeks shall fade
To paly ashes, thy eyes' windows fall,
Like death, when he shuts up the day of life;
Each part, deprived of supple government,
Shall, stiff and stark and cold, appear like death:
And in this borrow'd likeness of shrunk death
Thou shalt continue two and forty hours,
And then awake as from a pleasant sleep.
Now, when the bridegroom in the morning comes
To rouse thee from thy bed, there art thou dead:
Then, as the manner of our country is,
In thy best robes uncover'd on the bier
Thou shalt be borne to that same ancient vault
Where all the kindred of the Capulets lie.
In the mean time, against thou shalt awake,
Shall Romeo by my letters know our drift,
And hither shall he come: and he and I
Will watch thy waking, and that very night
Shall Romeo bear thee hence to Mantua.
And this shall free thee from this present shame;
If no inconstant toy, nor womanish fear,
Abate thy valour in the acting it.

JULIET
Give me, give me! O, tell not me of fear!

FRIAR LAURENCE
Hold; get you gone, be strong and prosperous
In this resolve: I'll send a friar with speed
To Mantua, with my letters to thy lord.

JULIET
Love give me strength! and strength shall help afford.
Farewell, dear father!
Farewell!

God knows when we shall meet again.

I have a faint cold fear thrills through my veins,

That almost freezes up the heat of life:

I needs must act alone. Come, vial.

What if this mixture do not work at all?

Shall I be married then to-morrow morning?

No, no: this shall forbid it: lie thou there.

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?

I fear it is: and yet, methinks, it should not,

For he hath still been tried a holy man.

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?

Or, if I live, is it not very like,

The horrible conceit of death and night,

Together with the terror of the place,

O, if I wake, shall I not be distraught,

Environed with all these hideous fears?

Romeo, I come! this do I drink to thee.

Costuming:

Juliet:

• Not white - no longer pure
• Simple

Friar:

• Priest Robes
• Brown?

Props

• Knife

Setting

• Plants
• Pews
• Private office?
• Confrontation should take place center stage
• Enter from upstage entrances - which one?

Bold = Emphasis (subject to change)

Romeo and Juliet Act 4 Scene 1

ACT IV
SCENE I. Friar Laurence's cell.

JULIET
Are you at leisure, holy father, now;
Or shall I come to you at evening mass?

FRIAR LAURENCE
My leisure serves me, pensive daughter, now.

JULIET
O shut the door! and when thou hast done so,
Come weep with me; past hope, past cure, past help!

FRIAR LAURENCE
Ah, Juliet, I already know thy grief;
It strains me past the compass of my wits:
I hear thou must, and nothing may prorogue it,
On Thursday next be married to this county.

JULIET
Tell me not, friar, that thou hear'st of this,
Unless thou tell me how I may prevent it:
If, in thy wisdom, thou canst give no help,
Do thou but call my resolution wise,
And with this knife I'll help it presently.
God join'd my heart and Romeo's, thou our hands;
And ere this hand, by thee to Romeo seal'd,
Shall be the label to another deed,
Or my true heart with treacherous revolt
Turn to another, this shall slay them both:
Therefore, out of thy long-experienced time,
Give me some present counsel, or, behold,
'Twixt my extremes and me this bloody knife
Shall play the umpire, arbitrating that
Which the commission of thy years and art
Could to no issue of true honour bring.
Be not so long to speak; I long to die,
If what thou speak'st speak not of remedy.

FRIAR LAURENCE
Hold, daughter: I do spy a kind of hope,
Which craves as desperate an execution.
As that is desperate which we would prevent.
If, rather than to marry County Paris,
Thou hast the strength of will to slay thyself,
Then is it likely thou wilt undertake
A thing like death to chide away this shame,
That copest with death himself to scape from it:
And, if thou darest, I'll give thee remedy.

JULIET
O, bid me leap, rather than marry Paris,
From off the battlements of yonder tower;
Or walk in thievish ways; or bid me lurk
Where serpents are; chain me with roaring bears;
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;
Or bid me go into a new-made grave
And hide me with a dead man in his shroud;
Things that, to hear them told, have made me tremble;
And I will do it without fear or doubt,
To live an unstain'd wife to my sweet love.

FRIAR LAURENCE
Hold, then; go home, be merry, give consent
To marry Paris: Wednesday is to-morrow:
To-morrow night look that thou lie alone;
Let not thy nurse lie with thee in thy chamber:
Take thou this vial, being then in bed,
And this distilled liquor drink thou off;
When presently through all thy veins shall run
A cold and drowsy humour, for no pulse
Shall keep his native progress, but surcease:
No warmth, no breath, shall testify thou livest;
The roses in thy lips and cheeks shall fade
To paly ashes, thy eyes' windows fall,
Like death, when he shuts up the day of life;
Each part, deprived of supple government,
Shall, stiff and stark and cold, appear like death:
And in this borrow'd likeness of shrunk death
Thou shalt continue two and forty hours,
And then awake as from a pleasant sleep.
Now, when the bridegroom in the morning comes
To rouse thee from thy bed, there art thou dead:
Then, as the manner of our country is,
In thy best robes uncover'd on the bier
Thou shalt be borne to that same ancient vault
Where all the kindred of the Capulets lie.
In the mean time, against thou shalt awake,
Shall Romeo by my letters know our drift,
And hither shall he come: and he and I
Will watch thy waking, and that very night
Shall Romeo bear thee hence to Mantua.
And this shall free thee from this present shame;
If no inconstant toy, nor womanish fear,
Abate thy valour in the acting it.

JULIET
Give me, give me! O, tell not me of fear!

FRIAR LAURENCE
Hold; get you gone, be strong and prosperous
In this resolve: I'll send a friar with speed
To Mantua, with my letters to thy lord.

JULIET
Love give me strength! and strength shall help afford.
Farewell, dear father!
Farewell! God knows when we shall meet again.

I have a faint cold fear thrills through my veins,

That almost freezes up the heat of life:

I needs must act alone. Come, vial.

What if this mixture do not work at all?

Shall I be married then to-morrow morning?

No, no: this shall forbid it: lie thou there.

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?

I fear it is: and yet, methinks, it should not,

For he hath still been tried a holy man.

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?

Or, if I live, is it not very like,

The horrible conceit of death and night,

Together with the terror of the place,

O, if I wake, shall I not be distraught,

Environed with all these hideous fears?

Romeo, I come! this do I drink to thee.

Proof I Am Done With Juliet.

I am the first to admit that in the 1996 version of Romeo and Juliet, Juliet is my least favorite character. I hate the way she acts in the balcony scene, and when she talks to Friar Lawrence - very whiny, and kind of annoying. However I like her actions when she drinks the potion and says goodnight to her mom.

The movie adapted Act 4 Scene 1 by shortening it, and increasing tension and violence. This is clear with the music used. It gets very high pitched and ominous when Paris leaves, and much deeper as Juliet runs down the hallway with tears streaming down her face. She speaks of death with a gun held to her head, then turns it on him. Traditionally, a knife would have been used - but a gun is louder, more violent and dramatic. We noted in class that the movie begins and runs much like a soap opera - and dramatic effect is important in a soap opera, and therefore important here. This dramatic effect is intensified when she says “I long to die.” Her mascara is running down her face, she is dressed in all black, and the music reaches a high note then dies out. The only sound to accompany that line is her own tears. I find this dramatic effect is often useful in a movie adaptation, however here it is just annoying. She is over reacting, crying, and acts too quickly. Still, no matter how annoying it may be, it is shocking to see her pick up a gun and point it at herself. There is an obvious feeling of desperation and fear. Reading Romeo and Juliet conveys less of these emotions, perhaps because we cannot watch it happen.

In only one scene is there an exception to my hatred of Juliet - when she drinks the potion. This scene is very well done, qualifying as one of my favorites. When it opens, there is a transition from her, dressed in a wedding gown at the church, in a vision of purity. We have just seen Romeo miss the letter explaining her plan, and the audience knows the white wedding dream will never come true. The, we see Juliet, on her knees praying in front of Mary. She asks what will happen if the potion does not work, then gets into bed as her mom walks in to say goodnight. The interaction between these two is different from the first interaction before the ball - You can see it in Juliet’s eyes that she does not know how to say goodbye. She tells her mother “farewell, God knows when we shall meet again.” (4.3.14) The sadness in her voice demonstrates this is her way of apologizing, and of saying goodbye. She knows her love is too strong to remain a Capulet, but deep down Juliet loves her mother. When reading it, I felt much more panicked - there was less pausing, and I read Juliet as frantic and all over the place. There was a clear difference. I also saw an interesting use of foreshadowing through imagery. When Lady Capulet shuts off the light, Mary glows in a bask of candlelight. Later, when we see Juliet in her coffin, she is surrounded by candles, and the scene has very soft lighting. I saw an immediate comparison between Juliet in her coffin and Mary on her shrine. I believe this indicated the purity of Juliet and the innocence she possesses in death.

The Upside-Down World of Romeo and Juliet

This week, I gained a new perspective of Romeo and Juliet. It was interesting to look at it as more than a reader, and actually try to make sense of Shakespeare’s world. I had never picked up on a lot of the patterns and trends we made note of in class.  

Of the first posters we made, I found “time” and “place and space” to be the most eye opening. The time poster recognized how different times of day related to events - and they observed that the daytime was reserved for conflict and tension, while the romance and tenderness happened at night. This impacted us, as readers, even if we didn’t realize it. Everything in this story was flipped around. We usually associate the night with fear, as darkness usually evokes this emotion. However Shakespeare put fear in the daylight - and this confuses readers, adding to the semblance of the play.

The “place and space” poster gave insight to gender roles of Romeo and Juliet. Juliet is always seen inside or in a private setting, but Romeo has full freedom. It is obvious to the audience that women are left in private. Space and place also added to the aura of confusion present throughout the play. When Juliet is with Romeo, she is in a mixture of public and private - when they meet, she is indoors, but surrounded by people. Then later, at the balcony scene, she is outside yet in private. Shakespeare really plays with public and private vs indoor and outdoor, which to the audience shows an upside down world.

As I have already mentioned, Shakespeare plays with time, space, and place to highlight the confusion and panic occurring in Verona at this time. The fighting between the Capulets and Montagues have thrown the city into disarray, and Shakespeare effectively shows that through more than just flipping expectations upside down. He also uses language.

One of the biggest moments in the play is Mercutio’s death. He is killed by Tybalt, a Capulet - but exclaims “A plague a’ both your houses!” as he dies. Again, this isn’t what the audience expects. To me, this line means that Mercutio has realized the foolishness of this feud, and for just a brief moment, he is able to see things the way they should be. Everything is right-side up for just a second, then he dies. The audience is left with a world more complicated than before - Mercutio dead by Capulet, and then Romeo kills Tybalt - and everything instantly goes downhill.

On the second round of posters, I saw even more about how the world of Romeo and Juliet is backward. On the “patterns” poster, it was clear that the play alternated between love and fighting, while simultaneously getting progressively more violent. This was interesting, because it again created an atmosphere of confusion - the play was constantly shifting between love and war. This quick back and forth keeps audiences on their toes.

It is evident that Shakespeare used time, place and space, language, and patterns to create a confusing and “upside-down” world in Romeo and Juliet. The audience picks up on this confusion subconsciously, and we were able to find exactly what causes it in class this week.