Nelson's English Journal

How does Shakespeare explore the concept of  fate in Romeo and Juliet?

shakespeare explores the concept of fate by predetermining Romeo  and Juliet’s future

discuss how William Shakespeare’s ideas and intentions are effectively interpretedby baz  luhrman   in his film, Romeo and Juliet?

baz luhrman effectively  interprets weapons as they still have the same brutal force able to kill but it gives it a more modern look.

Shakespeare often used metaphorical writing  eg  a line given to the character mercutio:

True, I talk of dreams,

Which are the children of an idle brain,
Begot of nothing but vain fantasy,
Which is as thin of substance as the air
And more inconstant than the wind, who wooes
Even now the frozen bosom of the north,
And, being anger’d, puffs away from thence,
Turning his face to the dew-dropping south.

The my understanding of the quotation assigned to Mercutio “true I talk of dreams” means that true I talk of dreams or illusions “and more inconstant than the wind, who wooes” but they are very inconstant so he should not be “hooked” on rosalind

Your task is to identify the metaphor present in the following excerpt and then write a paragraph that explains the metaphor and its effect on the meaning of the passage it is embedded in.

MERCUTIO

True, I talk of dreams,
Which are the children of an idle brain,
Begot of nothing but vain fantasy,
Which is as thin of substance as the air
And more inconstant than the wind, who wooes
Even now the frozen bosom of the north,
And, being anger’d, puffs away from thence,
Turning his face to the dew-dropping south.

Feel free to watch the presentation again from this lesson to remind you of how to approach a passage that contains a metaphor:

Year 9 English – Shakespearian Language from Edutronic.net on Vimeo.

Things I need to remember about essays

• Allows to communicate complex ideas in a precise and structured way.
• An introductions outlines what the subject is about.
• Always remember to structure my writing into paragraphs.
• Body: Paragraphs

statement/point

Example

Explanation

• Conclusions:

As part of our classes Romeo and juliet project our class was given options for indipendeant learning. my choices were:

• The analitcal essay (which was composery)
• Run a class activity
• Film a scene from R&J

the interpretation our group chose was the evolution of the character prince into police chief. In my eyes i don’t believe that this is a massive change of character as they are both in around the same position of authority over Verona or in this case New Mexico. I believe that the change is just really the change of name as his authority over everyone else isn’t changed but i think it is a good adaptation of characters for a modern day version of romeo and Juliet. 

 Sunday evening

•  Romeo & Juliet decide to marry each other.

Monday morning

•  Romeo tells friar Lawrence about his decision to marry Juliet (friar Lawrence agrees due to a pre-minission of the two families ending the feud).

• Nurse confirms Romeo will marry Juliet.

Monday afternoon

• Romeo and Juliet get married.
• Tybalt goes to the “Montague HQ” and decides to start a fight.
• romeo comes back (from wedding) just as the fight is starting.
• Tybalt starts a fight with romeo (as he was seen at the Capulet party).
• Mercutio helps romeo as he is not fight to defend his family.
• Mercutio is stabbed and he calls a “plague” (curse) on the two houses.

Monday evening

• Romeo takes Tybalt life to avenge Mercutio.
• Romeo is exiled for the murder of Mercutio.
• Romeo and Juliet spend their final day together (as Romeo is exiled) while friar Lawrence thinks of a plan.

Tuesday morning

• Friar Lawrence comes up with a plan to get Romeo and Juliet back together (his plan is to get Juliet to drink a potion to make her sleep for day’s almost like she was in a state of unconsciousness, she would be buried and romeo would come and get her ).

Tuesday evening

• Juliet takes the potion and friar Lawrence sends a message to romeo telling him about the plan

Wednesday morning

• The note doesn’t get to romeo but the news about Juliet death does and romeo rushes back to Verona to see Juliet one last time.

Wednesday evening

• Romeo buys poison to kill his self.
• Romeo visits Juliet’s grave but bumps into Paris.
• Romeo and Juliet fight because Paris thinks that Juliet “death” was romeo’s fault.
• Romeo kills Paris.
• Romeo drinks the poison and kisses Juliet and dies.
• Juliet wakes up and notices Romeo is dead and she stabs herself  as she doesn’t want to live without him.
• The Montagues  and the capulets decide the feud has gone on too long and taken too many lives and decide to make peace.

Today we just started using the iPads in our English classes. I hope they will be enjoyable but also help us learn as a class – but we also have to co-operate with our teacher and show that these iPads will help us learn. I am looking forward to this year in English.

Yours faithfully,

Nelson Abioye