A) Act 4 is all Juliet. She considers options, defies her parents, gets advice, goes against the advice of one trusted counselor and agrees to trust a more unknown one, makes a decision, faces real fears, chooses to make sacrifices, chances death, takes an unknown potion, embarks on an adventure that risks exile or worse. Discuss her character and personality. What does this act reveal about her that we didn't know before? How has her character changed since we first met her in act one? Be specific. Also, while Juliet is going through all of this, what is Romeo doing? How are their characters contrasted by this juxtaposition? What is Shakespeare perhaps suggesting about gender in this act and how does that also contrast from how the gendered "normal" world was presented earlier in the play?
In act 4, a lot happens to Juliet. Before she met Romeo, she was a sweet, innocent girl who always obeyed her parents' rules; but she turned into a girl who defies her parents, and sneaks around with Romeo. She starts making her own decisions and comes across new experiences that she didn't know of before. This act reveals a lot about Juliet through her actions. I think that it mostly shows us how she can easily be persuaded by someone. Before she met Romeo, she never really could think for herself because her parents were always telling her what to do, but then when she got to know Romeo, she automatically was persuaded to do anything in her power to keep them together. I think that is because Romeo showed her how much he loved her and it made her believe that she loved him more than she actually did and they were meant to be together no matter what, even if it means death. I think that Romeo and Juliet contrast because he is so strong willed and Juliet is more of a "go with the flow" type. I think that when Shakespeare was writing Romeo and Juliet, it was a time when women were inferior and weren't supposed to think for themselves, so he wrote Juliet in that exact way. In a way, I think he was kind of showing women (very subtly) what would happen if they decided to rebel and make their own path in society at the time, which ultimately was that they would fail and in some cases die.
F) Choose either Romeo or Juliet and analyze their portrayal in the film. What characteristics are highlighted and how? Be specific? Is this faithful to the original play? Why or why not?
I think in the film, Juliet's innocence was highlighted, and as a result, she was portrayed as a younger girl who didn't really care about much of what she could/couldn't do until she met Romeo. I also think that it was made very obvious that her parents have more power over her. I think that Juliet was portrayed that way because they wanted to make it seem like she was very influenced by not only her parents but Romeo and the nurse as well. I think that it is faithful in most ways because in the play her innocence was always highlighted. I also think that her defiance was highlighted in the movie more so than the play. In the movie, her and Romeo's scenes were very private especially in the "balcony scene" when Romeo shows up and they fall in the pool. In that scene, it is very obvious that she is excited to see Romeo and wants to spend time with him but she keeps bringing up how she has to go and she doesn't want her parents to see him, but even as she says those things, she stays with Romeo and hides him and tries to spend as much time with him as possible. In the play, I think that it isn't shown as much that she wants to be with Romeo and is willing to defy her parents as much.
D) Is the ending believable? Do you think R and J would really kill themselves over their thwarted love? Why or why not? Go deep into this analysis and don't just explore the surface.
I think that the ending isn't as believable as it could have been. I don't think that they would really kill themselves over love unless there was more chemistry shown between them. I know that the ending would be more believable to me if there was more background to either of their mental history. I understand that Romeo's parents had subtly mentioned before that they were worried about Romeo, but to me, that meant that he had never acted the way he had been acting before. I think that for them to actually kill themselves, Romeo would have had to have more of an obvious mental illness for him to kill himself if he was that much older than Juliet and I think that it would need to be shown exactly how much of an influence Romeo had on Juliet. I also think that he would have had to spend more time with her and have much more of an influence on her. Branching off of the influence idea, it reminds me of Charles Manson. I think that Romeo needs to be portrayed more like him and show how convincing he can be and how much of an impression he can have on Juliet, especially when she is so much younger than he is.
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