First Draft

In a short five days, “A pair of star-cross’d lovers” experienced knowing each other, falling in love, separation, reunion, and death. They are the couple who goes down the history: Romeo and Juliet. The character Romeo has braveness and sensibility that doesn’t belongs to his age. In my part of the scene in Act 3 Scene V, Romeo is leaving to Mantua, so Juliet and him are reluctant to part. Thus, in my translation of this scene to the play, I especially focused on Romeo’s movements to show his manhood, and his ambivalent inner activities. Playing the role of Romeo helps me understand more about not only this character but also makes me truly feel the bitterness of separation.

Our performance begins when Romeo wakes up from Juliet’s bed, and walks toward the faint morning light. The scene successfully accomplished Juliet’s changes and Romeo’s faithful. The sadness through words and Romeo’s irony all shows the bitterness of parting: “I have more care to stay than will to go. Come, death, and welcome! Juliet wills it so.” Without experiencing storms and waves, he would never know he and Juliet’s relationship could not only rely on the courage of love. Before this scene, he would rather being killed in order to protect his friend. But at the time, that immature Romeo didn’t imagine this act would bring a catastrophe to his love. They say goodbye again and again by early morning; their love entangles each other. Neither of them wants to separate. Especially for Romeo, things that are waiting for him is an unknown nation with no friends and no Juliet. Even if their love goes over families’ prevention and friends’ disapproval, they still yield to the pressure from the king.

Romeo was born in a feudal extended family, but he doesn’t inherit those feudal tradition and ideas, like Montagues’ family feud with Capulets. Instead, he adapts the development of time, betrays his family, and becomes a firmly humanists; he is sincere, courageous, have a heart of universal love; he pursues a free, independent, romantic love life. Even if he wrong loves his enemy’s daughter, Juliet, he doesn’t hold back. He also has no sectarianism; when he falls in love with Juliet, he treats all Capulets as his own family members. Even if Tybalt come to kill him, he has no anger or fear, and says: “ Tybalt, the reason that I have to love thee Doth much excuse the appertaining rage To such a greeting.” Romeo, a young boy, looks forward to resolve the hundreds year of feud. 

In term of performance, I made a point of performing Romeo’s sadness and manliness. In the beginning of my partner’s and my first tryout, we were like robots, which read lines with no emotions at all. Our act movements were stiff and incongruity as well. However, through our observations of men’s daily movements and bearing, I made some change on my movements, and my way to walk and stand. The biggest and also the most obvious change is my standing posture. Men’s walk posture has a huge difference with women’s; men walk with their feet open, toes opining to sides. By putting arms at sides and draw myself up, this posture could out stand Romeo’s manhood.

Specific details in actors’ actions and lines are both important in all plays. Through those details, audiences are only able to see two actor’s well matching up, but also characters’ inner activities as well. As the acting started, I woke up on the side of Juliet and walked slowly to ward balcony facing back to her. When she yawned and calling me: “Wilt thou be gone? It is not yet near day.” I look back, but my whole body except my head is still facing camera. This detail shows that even though Romeo doesn’t want to leave Juliet, his body suggests that he has been ready to leave and accept his fortune, so does his words: “Night’s candles are burnt out, and jocund Stands tiptoe on the misty mountain tops. I must be gone and live, or stay and die.” Even though Romeo is older than Juliet, he is still an immature boy who is forced to accept the fate of never seeing his family. In this way, his head and his body separately show Romeo’s rationality and sensibility. Another detail that worth mention is the blocking of my and my partner. When Romeo and Juliet separate on Juliet’s balcony, they walk together to balcony, which is a metaphor of “way to mantua”. Every time Juliet calls Romeo, he runs back to her even if he has already left for a while, so he runs between the center and the edge of the stage. Their blocking is same as Romeo’s inner activities: he clearly knows going to Mantua is where he should go, but his love and endless missing for Juliet makes him hovers between Juliet’s warm embrace and that desolate strange land.

The play ends in William Shakespeare’s poetic language with Romeo and Juliet embrace love and go to heaven together. The two big families faces the death of their child, they have to confess for their sin. Their Love is pure. However, when love faces feud, love would always disappear, and become the prisoner of anger. The death of Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy, but it is exactly their death makes Romeo and Juliet becomes an eternal play. Shakespeare knows only to part forever can make people remember their story forever. Although Romeo and Juliet dead, their story is still alive.

Love plays many roles. It can be the planner of tragedy, the director of comedy, even poison or candy. No one knows what exactly it is. Once we jump in to the trap of love, we are like a takeoff arrow that never comes back. We can only flies to our target stubbornly, ignoring the distance, strait through the air…. Romeo and Juliet’s love arrow is broken into pieces. We should not firmly think that love could last forever. Once it was detrimental to the interests of the third parties, then this relationship has the danger of being forced to break. No matter how innocent Romeo and Juliet are, no matter how they against, the play’s background has made groundwork for their end. Is their ending a tragedy? Maybe it is, because they die young, and they cannot grow old as lovers. But they find the other half of their life, and can stay together in the afterlife forever.