R&J Paper Draft 2

Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare is a play that has shaped and made the basis for the way people think about love and rebellion. It is one of the most famous examples of tragedy because of it’s obvious examples of forbidden love all throughout the play. Romeo and Juliet are the two main characters because of the intense love they share upon first glance at each other. While in the scene chosen, I had to keep in mind all of my experiences with Romeo as Juliet and let them influence how I reacted to certain things. We ended up choosing Act 2 Scene 5 where Juliet and the Nurse talk about Romeo. My experience playing Juliet and doing research on not only the time period but reading more in-depth into the play itself has changed my outlook on Juliet from what my first impression was.

When I first started reading Romeo and Juliet, I saw Juliet as an obedient teenager. She seemed so innocent and caring that when I found out she was going to die, I felt bad for her. As I read, I took notes on her and her family and picked up on some details that gave me some background on her life and family. The quote “Two households, both alike in dignity…” (I.I.2) suggests that not only Romeo, but also Juliet comes from a wealthy family. Juliet is also extremely obedient to her parents. She isn’t very close with her mother or father, however she has a very close knit relationship with the nurse, which is the secondary character in the scene I performed. Juliet is extremely impressionable, I think this is why she had always been so obedient to her parents. Then when Romeo came along he brought excitement and a new experience and it gave Juliet a new way to look at love without her parents telling her one thing or the other.

The other main character in the play was Romeo, a boy that I later learned was much older than Juliet at the time. The nurse flat out tells us her age: "She hath not seen the change of fourteen years" (I.II.9), which means Juliet is 13 at the time. It is not certain what Romeo’s actual age is but using the time period as a guide we can assume he is around 20. The nurse is a character that is very close to Juliet. She is really more of a mother figure and a confidante than anyone else in the play for Juliet. While Juliet has the nurse as someone she trusts, Romeo has Friar Lawrence. Her parents weren't a big part of Juliet's life other than restraining her from doing anything they disapproved of.

Keeping all of this in mind while trying to figure out how I should perform as Juliet was probably the hardest part. I tried to keep her young but at the same time mature. To do this, I made my voice higher but softer, not so much as a whisper but low enough so that the audience would understand that she has control and she is slightly mature. I also did this by changing my normal walking pattern to something with a little more of a jump or skip to show youth.