Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Romeo and Juliet Act 2, Scenes 4-6

212.

yet another great day in California. another yummy vegetarian breakfast at a little cafe and adventuring in the city. we tried to go to the museum of contemporary art to see their exhibit on graffiti art, but it's closed today! BOO. but that;s all right. we will go see a rehearsal of Good Luck Charlie at the studio later today, and dad is cooking his famous macaroni and cheese tonight. loving L.A.! (and hoping Sean is loving too so we can live here- or close by- one day!) right now i'm sitting in my dad's loft with the windows open, lovely city sounds wafting in on a cool breeze, and enjoying Mercutio's craziness. hope you are having just as much fun reading along!


act 2, scene 4
Benvolio and Mercutio discuss the fact that Romeo did not go home the previous night after the party, and muse on what's going on with him until he himself enters. Romeo and Mercutio get into a saucy battle of wits, sex jokes flying right and left. this goes on until Nurse enters and their attention turns to her. Mercutio, in particular, is rough on her, and she is deeply offended. once Mercutio and Benvolio leave, it takes a little prodding for Romeo to get the info about Juliet out of her. she is not too happy with them. after a bit of cajoling, Nurse receives the message from Romeo that Juliet should come that afternoon to Friar Laurence's chamber instead of going to confession. Romeo gives her a little money and asks her to fashion him a rope ladder so he can climb Juliet's wall later.

act 2, scene 5
Juliet anxiously awaits the Nurse's return. impatient is an understatement here. when Nurse arrives, she complains that she is too tired and needs a break before she tells Juliet what happened. (see quote below.) finally, Nurse tells her and Juliet is HAPPY!

act 2, scene 6
Friar Laurence and Romeo wait for Juliet in his cell. the friar gives Romeo some much-needed advice: therefore love moderately. long love doth so;/ too swift arrives as tardy as too slow.' Juliet arrives and the two get all mushy gushy until Friar Laurence gets them moving. it's time to get married!


Mercutio is SO bad. i can't even believe some of this tiff he's saying in scene 4! ha! do they cut this scene out of high school productions? because the sex jokes are rampant! i also don't remember the first half of the scene (before the Nurse enters) from the Zeffirelli film. was this kind of humor pretty common back then? i feel like i remember from history that it was, but we haven;t seen a ton of it in Shakespeare yet. i would argue that this is the first time we see raunchy humor to this degree. what brought that on? is that what the public wanted? some sex jokes, a little romance, and a sad ending? hm...

i love scene 5! it's hilarious. would be a great first duet scene in a beginning shakespearean acting class.

it feels like Friar Laurence contradicts himself a little bit in scene 6? i thought he was saying earlier that this might help the family feud, but now it seems like he's saying it will make it worse. am i misinterpreting?

quote of the day:
Nurse: Jesu, what haste! can you not stay awhile?
     do you not see that i am out of breath?
Juliet: how art thou out of breath, when thou hast breath
     to say to me that thou art out of breath?
     the excuse that thou dost make in this delay
     is longer than the tale thou dost excuse.
     is thy news good or bad? answer to that;
     say either, and i'll stay the circumstance.
     let me be satisfied: is't good or bad?
   -act 2, scene 5

for tomorrow: act 3, scenes 1-3

-rebecca may

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