Notes Act 3

Fact Questions

Who did Romeo Avende?

What day of the week will Juliette get married?

What is Romeo's punishment?

Discussion Questions

Why is Juliet upset? What do her parents think on this topic? Why? 

Who's side is the nurse on? Was this expected?

If Romeo wasn't in love with Juliet, how would it impact him? Would his friend still be alive? Would his foe still be alive? Would he have the same consequences?

To stage this scene, I would have both of them sit at a desk and read their journals out loud to the crowd, with a wall in between them. Juliet would read hers after Romeo. Their scenes would be as follows:

Dear Diary, 

Where art thou love, for I ponder, does he love me? Yes, he must, for if I know love, he is the one. For the stars have pointed him to me. Yet, why must he be on the opposed family. When shall he return? For he is quite the romantic. Of the noblest. Yet, it is not the money, though I do not deny his wealth. My intuition foresees me to sense his burning love. Within me I sense the same. For our love is stronger than the fires of the sun itself. With hope we shall prevail, to flourish.

Love,

Juliet

Dear Journal,

Why art thy lord play these games. Should it be a test? I shall pass the test. For my heart burns with love stronger, than all of the worlds might. Thy shall make great sacrifices to conquer the raging fire from within. Before long we will be united, agains the will of our town. But we are beyond being suppressed. We shall endure there mockery. There acts to constrain us will undoubtedly be in vain. For, no force is stronger than love at first sight. Gods will will protect us and guide us thought our troubles. With our love we shall dominate. 

~Romeo

After watching all of the plays I found many differences in them. Some of them I thought were awful and others were amazing. Features that tended to make a play better included color and perfect acting. The acting couldn't be overdone or I'd think it that everyone was very dramatic, yet it could be dull, boring, or creepy. One of them however I found specifically entertaining. Although it was not my favorite the gnomeo one was entertaining. It had an spin on the play, and used colors to portray the Capulets and Montagues. The title Gnomeo and Juliet also amused me. Although it was quite entertaining it was not my favorite. In analyzing staging in act two, the first scene was weird, but I found the second scene ironically humorous. In the third one I think that the girl looks desperate for love and over enthusiastic which bothers me. The fourth one in this clip is my favorite however. I think this because I find this one romantic and in the right setting. I enjoy this version more because they have better acting and a better set. It doesn't seen too overacted, depressing, or understates. This one was done very well.  The last one however is just weird. The setting is creepy, and there actions bother me. It is too over exaggerated. They seem insane as opposed to in love. Even there kissing is creepy. In this one is seems as if they are in a dungeon and not a mansion. This one was by far my least favorite. The scene was awful and the people were awful. Kissing someone while your crawling like a dog isn't exactly romantic. Although this one was pretty bad most of the plays I found somewhat entertaining, especially the gnome one and the version of the one we watched in class. The gnome one was funny, but if it was as long as the others it would have became annoying. So in conclusion, the one we are watching in class is the best one.

The reading was about performing a play
It was about performing a play in a different "world"
Could be used to brainstorm plays
It asks the questions needed to write a play
It talks about the setting and including yourself in the play, and overall in my opinion how to write the play
It was a guideline for writing plays and the structure of plays

Why were there so many questions? There was little description in the actual paragraphs.
It talks about the play as another world, is this saying that the play is the other world or a play about another mythical world.
Why is the focus another planet? Wouldn't it make more sense if the title was questions to ask when writing the play?

The scene where Hamlet duels Laertes was a scene with a specific goal. In this scene Claudius makes Laertes and Hamlet dues. Laertes has a plan that cannot fail because if he doesn't kill Claudius with a poison sword he will drink the poison. Yet, he does not know that he is really being manipulated by clausius to get him to do his dirty work. Claudius just wants hamlet dead and will do whatever he can to do this. Laertes is just another one of his pawns used to kill Hamlet. When Hamlet goes to fence Laertes he asks for forgiveness but is denied. They say that if Hamlet wins the first hit he will drink from the cup. He wins but declines the cup so Gertrude decides to drink from the poisoned cup. Hamlet is then hit by Laertes sword and he manages to hit Laertes with his own sword poisoning them both. The queen then dies from the poisoned cut where Laertes reveals the kings plot. Hamlet then runs to Claudius with the wine and forces him to drink the wine killing him. Everyone dies and Hamlet tells his one true friend Horatio to pass on his story. This scene set the mood of the entire story. It shows that the story was tragic, and shows the dimness throughout the story. It shows betrayal and sneakiness which is also expressed throughout the story. Claudius acts reckless in this scene. He takes the duel against Horatio's advise. Claudius acts brave in this scene, and courageous, which I think is his true self. Claudius is shown as a hero in this scene. Claudius only had one goal and that was to win the duel. Of course he had the goal of killing claudius over his head for a long time, except he had no intentions of killing him then. However when he realised he was trick his motivations changed. With his last breaths he was able to get his revenge and kill claudius. Finally, his overall goal that he had been aspiring to achieve for the entire play had been accomplished. In the big picture hamlet wanted one thing. He wanted to take vengeance on the king who had both tried to kill him and his dad. At the same time everyone who had betrayed him was also killed at the same time. Hamlet's true friend was the only one who remained alive to pass on Hamlet's tail. This shows that Hamlet is smart and able to overcome any obstacles in his way. Dying was not necessarily a loss for hamlet. Earlier in the play Hamlet talks about how dying is like sleeping. He was contemplating suicide but it is a moral sin. This answered his problems in his to be or not to be speech. He was able to take arms against a sea of troubles, and die without it being a scene. This scene cleared Hamlets name and passed on the message possibly for centuries that he is a Hero. Although tragic, Hamlets dreams were answered in this phenomenal scene that portrayed death, slyness, and vengeance.

Karma?

My favorite scene is when hamlet stabs Polonius who is spying hiding behind the curtains. Although this may seem dark I think he deserved to die. I was somewhat glad that Hamlet killed Polonius. Hamlet is my favorite character and, I dislike Polonius for telling her daughter what to do. I additionally dislike him for keeping Hamlet and Ophelia apart. Additionally, I think Ophelia was punished for choosing her father's side. If she was really in love with Hamlet she would have chose Hamlets side. Therefore in some bizarre manner I think that her father dying was karma for not following her heart.

Hamlet interview

In the interview with Benedict Cumberbatch the insights on to be or not to be are accurate. I agree that the play is more empathetic with as a monologue.  If there were other people in the scene it wouldn't be as tragic because he would be with people. The fact that he is alone sets a lonely scene for the audience which goes along with the mood. The fact that he is alone is almost symbolic for his life. His father was killed by his uncle.  No one is on his side, even his closest of friends.  He has no one to turn to so he has no other choice then to contemplate death. The play infact is very lonely and depressing. I can empathise with hamplet. all of his friends except for Horatio are not his true friends. His father was killed by his uncle and the queen then went on the marry him quickly after the incident. It makes sense that he was contemplating death. He has to bow down to the person who killed his father and married his mother. This speech is is important because it shows him contemplating suicide. To be or not to be, it the same thing as saying to live or not to live. He was contemplating if it would be noble to live or it would be harder to live than to die swiftly. He compares dying to sleeping as if it was as easy as that. He says that death would be easier than living. To die would end his pain and heartaches. Yet, he questions if its worth it because he thinks it might send him to hell. He does not want to suffer from the whips and lashes faced in hell for all of time. He describes the pain of mistrust and heartbreaking. It would be easier for him to kill himself then to live. He also talks about how after you die, you don't know what is going to happen and there is no coming back from death. There is lots of uncertainty and unanswered questions about death. then he continues to talk about how ending your life instead of living it makes you a coward. This speech shows how life can be taken away so swiftly and the moral position on suicide and if its write or wrong. This is such a simple saying that has made a mark in the history of writing. It is a saying known across the globe and one of the most well known sayings in the english language. It may seem simple but there is much more to it than it seems.