This led to an excellent discussion about the difference between love and infatuation. Infatuation may happen in an instant (and may leave just as quickly, i.e. Romeo's infatuation with Rosaline). Real love takes time to develop. We are more than a little skeptical about the idea that this play is about true love . . .
I handed out the learning activities yesterday. In case you lost yours, here is the list:
Romeo and Juliet
Learning Activities
Choose one activity per week during our study of Romeo and Juliet, by William Shakespeare. Each Monday, starting with January 28, you will turn in one completed activity. You may choose your activities from this list, or you may propose one of your own. You must have teacher approval if you use your own activities.
- Perform a scene from the play. This can be a soliloquy or it may include several characters. Each student involved must deliver a total of 30 lines to get full credit. You should memorize your parts. Do not rewrite the dialogue. You may use props, costumes, lighting, music, etc. This can be a lot of fun for you and for the class—so make it fun!
- Rewrite the ending of the play. Do with it what you will. You must write three pages double spaced Times New Roman 12 pt. font.
- Write an original song based on the play. Perform it for the class.
- Make a diorama of one of the scenes of the play. Use your creativity, but be sure to make the scene recognizable with your images.
- Make a model of one of the theatres Shakespeare would have used to present his plays. You can find information about each of these theatres at http://www.shakespeare-online.com/theatre/.
- Write a three page (Times New Roman 12 pt. font, double-spaced) character analysis about one of the following characters: Romeo, Juliet, Friar Lawrence or Juliet’s nurse. Delve into the character. Find meaning. Make connections. Think on paper.
- Write a three page (Times New Roman 12 pt. font, double-spaced) epilogue to the play. An epilogue usually revisits the main characters of the play, but after a significant amount of time has past. You may focus on the resolution of the family feud, Paris’ reaction to Juliet’s suicide, what happened to Juliet’s nurse, how Friar Lawrence’s life may have changed, or any other ideas about significant characters in the play.
- Watch West Side Story. Write a three page (Times New Roman 12 pt. font, double-spaced) compare and contrast paper about Romeo and Juliet and West Side Story.
- Write an original story based on Romeo and Juliet. It should have all the basic elements of the story, but you should create your own original characters, setting, time period, etc.
- Write a sonnet. It must be 14 lines—3 quatrains (4 lines each) and a couplet (2 rhyming lines.) The rhyme scheme should be a, b, a, b, c, d, c, d, e, f, e, f, g, g. Write in iambic pentameter (ten syllables per line, alternating between unstressed and stressed). Here is an example of one of Shakespeare's best known sonnets:
Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer's lease hath all too short a date:
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimm'd;
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance, or nature's changing course, untrimm'd;
But thy eternal summer shall not fade,
Nor lose possession of that fair thou owest;
Nor shall Death brag thou wander'st in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou growest;
So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.
Extra credit: The first person to tell me Shakespeare's birth place and the name of his wife gets 5 extra credit points.
