Romeo and Juliet 2nd draft

Yuexuan Gao

IB Literature and Performance

Mrs. Guarino

December 6, 2016

Rough Draft 2

In a short five days, “A pair of star-cross’d lovers”(Prologue; Line 6) experienced love, separation, reunion, and death. They are a historical couple: Romeo and Juliet, written by William Shakespeare. The character Romeo has bravery and sensibility beyond his years. I transformed part of Act III Scene V, where Romeo leaves for Mantua to reluctantly part with Juliet. In my interpretation of this scene, I specifically focused on Romeo’s movements to show his manhood, and his ambivalent thoughts. Playing the role of Romeo enabled me to have a new understanding about his relationship. In addition, I understand more about Romeo’s character and his willingness to break from his family. His courage causes him to fall in love with the daughter of his family’s enemy.

This scene establishes Romeo and Juliet’s changing from enjoying residual happiness to feeling heartbroken because of the painful separation. It begins with Juliet calling Romeo back to her side, and trying to trick Romeo to make him stay longer: “Wilt thou be gone? It is not yet near day.” (3.5.1) Romeo changes from fearing his unclear future to being determined to see Juliet again. Juliet at the same time changes from deceptive to honest, and sends Romeo away to Mantua. Romeo’s fear is shown when he says: “I must be gone and live, or stay and die.”(3.5.11)) And bitterness when: “I have more care to stay than will to go. Come, death, and welcome! Juliet wills it so.” (3.5.23-24) The expression: “More light and light, more dark and dark our woes” (3.5. 36) reflects Romeo’s hopelessness for his future. The light outside is a metaphor of Romeo’s future, the more light there is, the clearer he sees his lonely future. An unknown nation waits for him with no friends and no love. Romeo knows that this future is not what he wants. And the more light there is, the less time he has to stay with his wife.  

To represent Romeo’s character perfectly, I studied his personality and asked myself: if I were Romeo, what would I do in this scene where I leave my family, lover, and home? Romeo was born in a feudal extended family, but he didn’t inherit feudal traditions and ideas, nor the feud with the Capulets. Instead, he adapts with time, betrays his family, and becomes a firm humanist; he is sincere, courageous, has a heart of universal love and pursues a free, independent, romantic love life. Even if it is wrong to love his enemy’s daughter, 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 when Tybalt comes to kill him, he has no anger or fear, and only says: “Tybalt, the reason that I have to love thee Doth much excuse the appertaining rage To such a greeting.” (3.5.58-60) Romeo, a young boy, looks to resolving countless years of feuding. Even though Romeo is a young man who is taking action to change the two families, it was hard to express his personality in my acting. In my scene, he is just like every other young boy who feel confusion towards their future.

In terms of performance, I made a point of performing Romeo’s masculinity. In the beginning of my partner’s and my first tryout, we were like robots, reading lines with no emotions or tone at all. Our movements were stiff and incongrous as well. At the beginning of our first rehearsal, we needed some time to think about our posture after we said our lines. However, through my observations of the way men move, I made some change to my own movement. The biggest and also the most obvious change is my  posture. Men walk differently than women,  with their feet open, toes opening to sides. By putting my arms at my sides and drawing myself up, this helped me portray Romeo.

To represent my character’s inner feelings, I used different body parts to show different emotions. As the scene started, I woke up on the side of Juliet and then walked slowly towards the balcony, with my back facing her. When she yawned and called for me, I looked back, but only turned my head and kept my whole body facing the audience to show that even though Romeo doesn’t want to leave Juliet, his movement and words still suggest that he has been ready to leave and accept his fortune: “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.” (3.5. 9-11) In this way, I performed Romeo’s character by using my body to show Romeo’s rationality and sensibility. In addition, while I was saying: “I doubt it not, and all these woes shall serve/For sweet discourses in our times to come,” (3.5.52-53) I walked further away from Juliet, however, my hand was still reaching out to her.

Blocking is also an important part. In my scene, when Romeo and Juliet separate on her balcony, they walk together to the railing. The balcony in this scene is not only a place but more of a metaphor for a way to Mantua. Juliet held Romeo’s hand and led him to the balcony, which is symbolic of both of them bowing to fate. Also, every time Juliet called for Romeo, he ran back to her even if he had already chose to leave. By running between the center and the edge of the stage, Romeo’s inner thoughts were clearly represented: He is struggling. Romeo clearly knows Mantua is where he should go, but his love for Juliet causes him to hover between her warm embrace and the desolate and strange land. By looking at blocking, the audience can see that Romeo is deeply controlled by both his perceptual and rational desire.

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.