Meet the Parents (and other people of the two families, of course)

Today's Goal: Listen to Act I, Scene i of Romeo and Juliet, in order to make ourselves more comfortable with the language and to identify the important characters we meet along the way.

The Plan:

1. Book Love
2. Review the prologue, and what short answer responses should look like.
3. Read Act 1, Scene 1!
4. Write in your English Journal.

P.A.S.S. Strategy for Reading
Use this strategy before every scene!

• P:  Preview the text (scan definitions, note punctuation, read summary)
• A: Annotate anything important you want pointed out (use post-its)
• S:  Set a purpose for reading (we'll do this together)
• S:  Stop after reading and reflect on how the story progressed (this will happen in your English Journal.)

Remember those questions from yesterday? Here are some examples of "A" level analysis based on our conversations, and the analysis that YOU are capable of doing.

1. Why is the word "two," the very first word of the play, so very important to the story?
   In the prologue, we learn that there are two families that dominate the play, and that there is an impending romance between their two children. "Two" seems to be important because it represents the opposing forces and how they attract to each other, such as the two warring families. There doesn't seem to be any middle ground between Capulets and Montagues, and the love and hate that dominates this story.
2. In what ways is fate against these characters?
   Fate is against these characters because they are "star-crossed" (I.i.6). They are fated to meet, but because their families despise each other, it is already "written in the stars" that they will meet their death. Their meeting is necessary for resolving the strive between the two families, but their very meeting is what will lead them to their death.
3. Why does Shakespeare tell us the plot of the play before it has begun?
   Shakespeare tells us the plot because "fate" plays an important role in the story. We do not need to know the story to understand it, but we need to know their fate in order to understand how that fate was fulfilled. He does not care about the plot as a whole; instead, he cares about "the fearful passage of their death-mark'd love" (I.i.9).

PURPOSES FOR READING: Act 1, Scene 1 (you're going to answer these in your English Journal)

1. Who are Tybalt and Benvolio, and how are they different from one another?
2. What is Prince Escalus upset over and what stipulations does he set forth? 
3. Why isn’t Romeo involved in the fray? Why is he upset?
4. When we first meet Romeo, he says, "Here's much to do with hate, but more with love" (I.i.188). What is he talking about in this line, and why does he make this statement?