Krik? Krak! Background Information

Written Coursework: Draft Three

          Over the course of Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet,” Juliet undergoes many aspects of an immense change. As a young girl falling in love, she experiences many emotions that previously have not been a part of her life. The Montagues and the Capulets are two noble families in a long-standing feud. When Juliet first sees Romeo, she immediately feels the connection between them. Despite coming from opposing families, their circumstances only seem to highlight their love for each other. Due to the pressure from Juliet’s parents about marrying Paris, Romeo and Juliet realize that their need to move forward in their relationship. The scene that I selected begins at this point. Through Shakespeare's language, Juliet matures from a young girl into a woman deeply in love. This development was very important to portray, specifically through facial expressions and body language.
          In the beginning of the play, Juliet can be seen as a young girl who depends on her parents to make decisions for her. This is portrayed when her mother and the Nurse come into her bedroom to talk to her about getting married to Paris. Despite knowing very little about courtship and marriage, she opens up to the idea because of the presenters. But once Juliet meets Romeo, her whole behavior changes. She begins to push back on her parents’ decisions and is willing to break more rules. When Juliet’s parents tell her that she must marry Paris, a Count, she is defiant. She goes to Friar Lawrence, the religious man who married the pair, to ask for his help. This in and of itself was a big step for Juliet. Previously, she always had everything handed to her from her family. She knows that, from now on, she will not have their support and must help herself. Friar Lawrence creates a potion to make Juliet seem dead. The Friar will then send for Romeo to come wake Juliet, and leave Verona forever.
          Our scene begins with Juliet in her bedroom, ready to take the potion. In the first monologue, Juliet goes through a range of emotions. She knows that this is an important decision, and therefore takes adequate time contemplating it beforehand. Deciding what she truly wants is key here because for the first time in her life, she is in charge of her own life. But when she is alone in her bedroom with the potion, her uncertainty shines through. The third line of the scene is the following: “I’ll call them back again to comfort me./ Nurse!—What should she do here?/ My dismal scene I needs must act alone” (4.3.17-9). This shows a lot about Juliet’s character. Her first instinct is to call her family back and ask for their help. This is what her life before meeting Romeo consisted of; relying on others to make her decisions. But she quickly realizes that they cannot help her and she is alone in this decision. This scares her. Juliet continues her monologue, worrying about the potion and the future. She says, “What if it be a poison which the friar/ Subtly hath minist’red to have me dead,/ Lest in this marriage he should be dishonor’d/ Because he married me before to Romeo?” (4.3.24-7). She wonders if the potion will do what the Friar said, or if it is a trap that will kill her. This quote shows that she is continuing to question everything. In the beginning of this monologue, Juliet’s adolescence is put on display in the beginning of this monologue.
          Juliet also wonders about the possibilities if the potion does work. She thinks about what would happen if she gets stuck in the tomb and suffocates, then moves on to what would happen if she went crazy whilst in the vault. Juliet thinks through all these different options because on the inside, she is still the young, inexperienced girl that we see in the beginning of the play. She is unsure about whether or not she should take the potion. Her monologue ends with these words; “Romeo, Romeo, Romeo!/ Here’s drink—I drink to thee” (4.3.59). Juliet calls for Romeo multiple times before she takes the potion. This shows that it is ultimately Romeo that makes her decision. She knows this potion is the way to get her future with Romeo. These dreams give her confidence and make her overlook her worries. For Juliet, just thinking about her love for Romeo is enough to risk her life.
          It is clear that Juliet goes through a range of emotions throughout this monologue, and I, as the actor, must portray these feelings through my expressions and delivery of the lines. The setting for the first monologue was in Juliet’s bedroom. We chose to use no set pieces and very few props. The main prop that we used for the scene was a glass vial that contained the potion. This forced the audience’s focus to be on the actors and their lines and emphasized the importance of the vial. To create intimateness needed for a bedroom, I chose to be sitting on the ground to start the scene. As I said the lines, “I’ll call them back again to comfort me./ Nurse!” (4.3.17-8), I quickly got up and moved toward exit stage left. This showed the how quickly Juliet’s thought process went to her family. In addition, when Juliet wanted the Nurse, I called to backstage stage left, implying the Nurse’s location. My voice got louder and more urgent as if someone was needed right now. My delivery of the next lines, on the other hand, was a large contrast. Juliet says, “What should she do here?/ My dismal scene I needs must act alone” (4.3.18-9). She realizes that her family will not help her, causing a drastic decrease in volume, which I reflected. She also understands that she must make the decisions. Because of this, I chose to sit back down on the floor for the remainder of the monologue. It shows Juliet’s acceptance of her situation and determination to find a solution.
          The rest of the lines involved Juliet’s thought process about if she should take the potion. One choice that I made was to look around the room, then focus on the vial. This looks as if she is searching for someone or something that will give her the ‘right’ answer. Always coming back to the vial showed that she had not yet made a decision and emphasized her uncertainty. To express Juliet’s fear, I chose to have a fearful expression on my face. This combined with the glances around the room created an overall anxious feel. It shows that she knows that she must make the right decision. The first monologue ends with Juliet calling out for Romeo. This creates an effective climax because I chose to make my voice louder the first two times to imitate Juliet’s need to be with Romeo. By the third time she calls for him, she realizes that she is alone. I showed this by lowering my voice, and looking toward the upstage right as if Romeo will enter. This lets the audience know that it is the thought of Romeo that compels her to take the potion. The scene continues to Romeo entering the tomb to find Juliet. He sees her, believes that she is dead, and then kills himself to be with her. During his whole monologue, I am lying onstage, as if I am dead.
          After Romeo kills himself, Juliet wakes up very distressed. She says, “O churl, drunk all, and left no friendly drop/ To help me after?” (5.3.163-4). This is the third line of the monologue, and she is already thinking about killing herself. This is revealing a massive change in Juliet’s character. When she was taking the potion, she had a whole monologue to decide if she really wanted to take it. Here, it took her just a few lines to resort to suicide, due to her overwhelming desire to be with him. This justifies her decision to kill herself. Another large change was that she did not once mention her family, or even hesitate when making her choice. Her short period of independence causes her to only think of herself and Romeo. The only interruption is when she hears the noise outside which only causes her to move even faster, as shown here: “Yea, noise? Then I’ll be brief. O happy dagger. . .” (5.3.169). For a character like Juliet to make such a rushed decision highlights the change in her over the course of the play.
          As an actor, this scene was very interesting due to many underlying emotions. To build up emotion in the beginning of the scene, my partner and I decided that Romeo would die slightly behind where Juliet was lying. Therefore when Juliet woke up, Romeo was not immediately visible. So when she sees him dead, the effect is much greater because of change in her expression. When I got up, I chose to get up somewhat slowly, stretching to imitate grogginess. I also chose to look around, as if I did not know where I was. This was when I saw Romeo dead behind me. After I saw him, my actions changed completely: I immediately was wide awake, and aware of the situation. My eyes were wide open, and I quickly rushed to his side, disbelieving and concerned. I made sure to crouch very close to Romeo, and kept touching him throughout my lines to show Juliet’s affection. She says most of her lines to Romeo. To demonstrate this, I faced Romeo for most of my lines, only looking up to think about something or look at the vial. When Juliet dies, I made sure to end the scene with my arms lying over Romeo, in an embrace. This shows that she wants to be with him until the very end. The use of facial expression proved to be crucial to the effectiveness of the scene.
          Juliet Capulet was a very intriguing character to play in our adaptation. The changes that she undergoes throughout the scene makes her compelling. It forced me to fully understand the emotions behind every action, to portray her correctly. Our scene did not have any slow parts because we chose to take out any lines that were not relevant. This allowed the audience to focus on what parts were really important. The hardest part about this scene was the lack of interaction between Romeo and Juliet. Our whole scene consisted of monologues. This made it difficult to create interaction and emotion because there was not someone else to react to. We, as individuals, had to create the emotion that we needed. My partner and I worked on this through various acting techniques that familiarized with our characters so we could display them effectively. Overall, through our scene, I was able to learn a lot about the acting process and how Juliet changes as a character.

Krik? Krak! Chapter One Notes

Written Coursework: Second Draft

Over the course of the play “Romeo and Juliet,” Juliet is a character that undergoes an immense amount of change in many different aspects. As a young girl falling in love, she experiences many emotions that previously have not been a part of her life. The Montagues and the Capulets are two noble families who are in a long-standing feud. When Juliet first sees Romeo, she immediately feels the connection between them. Despite coming from opposing families, their circumstances only seem to highlight their love for each other. Due to the pressure from Juliet’s parents about marrying Paris, Romeo and Juliet realize that their need to move forward in their relationship despite their situation. The scene that I selected begins at this point. Throughout Shakespeare's' language in the play, Juliet changes as a young girl maturing into a woman deeply in love. This development was very important to portray as an actor through facial expressions and movements.

 In the beginning of the play, Juliet can be seen as a young girl who depends on her parents to make decisions for her. This portrayed in the beginning of the play when her mother, and her handmaid,  come into her bedroom to talk to her about getting married to Paris. Despite knowing very little about courtship, and marriage, she opens up to the idea of it because of who is presenting the idea. Once Juliet meets Romeo, her whole behavior changes. She starts to push back on her parents’ decisions and is willing to break more rules. When Juliet’s parents tell her that she must marry Paris, a noble Count, she is defiant. She goes to Friar Lawrence, the religious man who had married the pair, to ask for his help. This in and of itself was a big step for Juliet. Previously, she has always had everything handed to her from the Nurse or her parents. Because from now on, she knows that she must be the one to help herself. Friar Lawrence creates a potion that will put Juliet to sleep as if she is dead, so her family will place her in the tomb. Then the Friar will send for Romeo who will come get Juliet, wake her up, and bring them away from Verona. This is where our scene begins.

Our scene starts when Juliet is in her bedroom and she has to take the potion to start the plan. In this first monologue, Juliet goes through a range of emotions. She knows that she is making an important decision, and that is why she takes so much time contemplating it. Deciding what she truly wants is key in this section because, for the first time in her life, she is in charge of her own life. The potion that could change her life forever is in her hand. But when she is alone in her bedroom with the potion, her uncertainty really shines through. The third line of our scene is the following: “I’ll call them back again to comfort me./ Nurse!—What should she do here?/ My dismal scene I needs must act alone.” (4.3.17-9). This shows a lot about Juliet’s character. It shows that her first instinct is to call back her family and ask for help. This is what her life before Romeo consisted of; relying on others to make her decisions. But she realizes that they cannot help her and that she is truly alone in this decision. And that scares her. She goes on to worry a lot about the potion and what will happen next. She says, “What if it be a poison which the friar/ Subtly hath minist’red to have me dead,/ Lest in this marriage he should be dishonor’d/ Because he married me before to Romeo?” (4.3.24-7). This quote shows that she is continuing to question everything. She wonders if the potion will do what the Friar said, or if it is a trap that will kill her.

Juliet also wonders about all the possibilities if the potion does work. She first thinks about what would happen if she gets stuck in the tomb and suffocates, then moves on to pondering what would happen if she went crazy whilst in the vault. Juliet thinks through all these different options because on the inside she is still the young, inexperienced girl that we see in the beginning of the play. She is very much unsure about whether or not she should take the potion. Her monologue ends with these words; “Romeo, Romeo, Romeo!/ Here’s drink—I drink to thee” (4.3.58). Juliet calls out for Romeo multiple times before she takes the drink. This shows that it is ultimately Romeo that makes her decision. She longs for a future with him and she knows that this is the path to that. It gives her confidence and makes her overlook everything else. For Juliet, just thinking about her love for Romeo is enough to risk her life.

It is clear that Juliet goes through a variety of emotions throughout this monologue, and I, as the actor have to portray all these feelings through my expressions and delivery of the lines. The setting for the first monologue was in Juliet’s bedroom. We chose to use no set pieces and very little props. The main prop that we used for the scene was a glass vial that contained the potion. This allowed for audience’s focus to be solely on the actors and their lines. To create a sense of intimateness onstage, necessary for this setting, I chose to be sitting on the ground to start the scene. As I said the lines, ““I’ll call them back again to comfort me./ Nurse!” (4.3.17-8), I quickly got up and moved toward exit stage left. This showed the how quickly Juliet’s thought process went to her family. In addition, when Juliet calls for the Nurse, I called toward backstage stage left, to imply that the Nurse would be in that direction. My voice got louder and more urgent as if calling for someone needed now. My delivery of the next lines, on the other, was a large contrast. Juliet says, “What should she do here?/ My dismal scene I needs must act alone.” (4.3.18-9). She realizes that they will be any help to her and this causes a drastic decrease in volume, which I reflected. She also understands that she must make the decisions. Due to this, I chose to sit back down on the floor for the remainder of the monologue. It shows Juliet’s acceptance of her situation and determination to find a solution.

The rest of the lines involved Juliet’s thought process about if she should take the potion. One choice that I made was to look around the room, then focus on the vial. It looks as if she is searching for someone or something that will give her the ‘right’ answer. Always coming back to the vial showed that she had not yet made a decision and emphasizes her uncertainty. To express Juliet’s fear, I chose to have a fearful expression on my face. This combined with the glances around the room created an overall anxious feel. It shows that she knows that she must make the right decision. The first monologue ends with Juliet calling out for Romeo. This creates an effective climax because I chose to make my voice louder the first two times to imitate Juliet’s need to be with Romeo. By the third time she calls for him, she realizes that she is alone. I showed this by lowering my voice the third time, and looking toward the upstage right as if Romeo will enter. This lets the audience know that it is the thought of Romeo that compels her to finally take the potion.

 Then, the scene cuts to Romeo entering the tomb to find Juliet. He sees her, believes that she is dead, and then kills himself to be with her. During his whole monologue, I am lying onstage, as if I am dead. Juliet wakes up after Romeo kills himself and she is very distressed. She says, “O churl, drunk all, and left no friendly drop/ To help me after?” (5.3.163-4). This is the third line of that monologue, and she is immediately thinking about killing herself. This is revealing a massive change in Juliet’s character. When she was taking the potion, she had a whole monologue to decide if she really wanted to take it. Now, it took her a few lines to resort to suicide, due to her overwhelming desire to be with him. It causes her to justify her decision to kill herself. Another large change was that she did not once mention her family, or even hesitate in making her choice. Her short time being independent caused her to think only of herself and Romeo. The only interruption is when she hears the noise outside which causes her to move even faster, as shown here: “Yea, noise? Then I’ll be brief. O happy dagger. . .” (5.3.169). For a character like Juliet to make such a rushed decision highlights the change in her over the course of the play.

As an actor, this scene was very interesting due to the various underlying feelings involved. To create the most emotion in the beginning of the scene, my partner and I blocked the scene so that Romeo would die slightly behind where Juliet was lying. Therefore, when Juliet woke up, she could not see Romeo at first. So when she wakes up and sees him dead, the emotion involved is much greater because the audience can see a change in her expression. When I got up, I chose to get up somewhat slowly, stretching as I went to imitate the grogginess that came with waking up. I also chose to look around, as if I did not know where I was. This was when I saw Romeo dead behind me. After I saw him, my actions changed completely: I immediately was wide awake, and aware of the situation. My eyes were wide open, and I quickly rushed to his side, concerned and disbelieving. I made sure to crouch very close to Romeo, and kept touching him throughout my lines to show Juliet’s affection. She says most of her lines to Romeo himself. To demonstrate this, I faced Romeo most of my lines, only looking up to think about something or look at the vial. When Juliet dies, I made sure to end the scene with my arms lying over Romeo, in an embrace. This shows that she wants to be with him until the very end.

Juliet Capulet was a very intriguing character to play in our adaptation of the scenes. The changes that she undergoes throughout the scene makes her compelling. It forced me to fully understand the emotions behind every action, in order to portray her correctly. Our scene as a whole did not have any slow parts because we chose to take out any lines that were not directly relevant. This allowed the audience to focus on what parts were really important. The hardest part about this scene was the lack of interaction between Romeo and Juliet. Our whole scene consisted of monologue. This made it difficult to create interaction and emotion because there was not someone else to react to. That meant we, as individuals, had to create the emotion that we needed from inside ourselves. My partner worked on this through various acting techniques that familiarized with our characters so we could display them effectively. Overall, through our scene, I was able to learn a lot about the acting process and how Juliet changes as a character.  

IB Rubric Sample Grading

Sample 1

Criteria A. 5/5

Criteria B. 8/10

Criteria C. 3/5

Total: 15/20

The sample that we read today about Richard III, in my opinion, the best example that we have read so far, apart from the ones on the portal page. This author started by introducing the play as well as giving some background on the plot of play before her scene. I felt that she does not have a very strong thesis, as my first thought was that she was analyzing Richard III, not Margaret. This is because she ends her first paragraph with, “This scene shows clearly these aspects of Richard’s personality and the pain he causes people” (1 Sample 1). She jumps into the analysis of the scene in the next paragraph, so there was not a clear thesis. Her literary analysis of her scene is her strongest section, as reflected in my grading. The writer goes into depth, analyzing many lines in her monologue. In addition to including the quote, she includes the emotions involved with the lines and identifies and explains literary features such as syntactical parallelism, paradox, and assonance. It shows that she clearly understood the writing and was able to dig out the importance of several features. After the analysis, she moves on to the performance analysis. At the beginning of this, I felt that she spent a little too much time explaining the group aspect of the project. She uses a long paragraph to introduce others members’ roles in the performance, as well the stage and its layout. Personally, I felt that there only need to be a sentence or two about this. Apart from that, I felt that her analysis of her performance was pretty good. She wrote about where on the stage she spoke her lines, as well as where she chose to interact with the frozen actors on stage as well. She spoke a lot about the delivery of the lines, and I felt that she could add something about the way she held her body or some other aspect of the acting. She mentioned the effect of her acting on the audience multiple times which I thought was very good. Her conclusion (and introduction, for that matter) was a little weak and did not restate her main ideas or thesis effectively.

Sample 2

Criteria A. 4/5

Criteria B. 9/10

Criteria C. 4/5  

Total: 17/20

I think that I take back my previous statement about the best sample. I think that this was the most thorough and direct writing so far. This writing had a very clear structure when writing this paper. She chose to analyze the literary components of each scene first, then move on to the performance aspects of it. I felt that this helped readers because her explanation of scene was still in our minds and that helped us understand her choices for the performance. It is clear through her writing that she understands Shakespeare’s writing and why he chose to do what he did. I think that her analysis of Ophelia in Act II, Scene I was particularly striking. The way that she interpreted the way Ophelia’s description of Hamlet in a previous scene and why Ophelia said what she said in the matter that she did was very interesting to me, having read the play. I felt that her explanation of her performance was pretty good as well. She focused on the lines and how she delivered those a lot. She showed to the readers how she used the punctuation given, and adapted it to her own performance. But, I felt that she could have written a little bit more on the effect that her delivery had on the audience. Another important aspect that she only touched upon was the way she held her body and used it in her performance. While her introduction had a clear thesis, I did not feel that it was reiterated enough in the conclusion, possibly due to the word count limit. Overall, I felt that it was a very effective essay that talked about many important features of her scene.        

Written Coursework First Draft (incomplete)

Over the course of the play “Romeo and Juliet,” Juliet is a character that undergoes an immense amount of change in many different aspects. As a young girl falling in love, she experiences many emotions that previously have not been a part of her life. When she first sees Romeo, she immediately feels the connection between them. But she only realizes after that Romeo is, in fact, from the Montague family. The Montagues and the Capulets are two noble families who are in a long-standing feud. Despite coming from opposing families, their circumstances only seem to highlight their love for each other. Due to the pressure from Juliet’s parents about marrying Paris, Romeo and Juliet realize that their need to move forward in their relationship despite their situation. The scene that I selected begins at this point. Throughout Shakespeare's' language in the play, Juliet changes as a young girl maturing into a woman deeply in love. This development was very important to portray as an actor through facial expressions and movements.

 In the beginning of the play, Juliet can be seen as a young girl who depends on her parents to make decisions for her. This portrayed in the beginning of the play when her mother, Lady Capulet, and her handmaid, the Nurse, come into her bedroom to talk to her about getting married to Paris. At first, she is unsure of the idea, as she has never thought about her future in this way. But it is clear that she warms up to the idea because it is her mother, and oldest friend talking to her. In the first act, Lady Capulet says, “How stands your disposition to be married?” to which Juliet replies, “It is an honor that I dream not of” (1.3.65-6). She knows that she can trust them, and she also knows that they want the best of her as well. Despite knowing very little about courtship, and marriage, she opens up to the idea of it because of who is presenting the idea.

Once Juliet meets Romeo, her whole behavior changes. She starts to push back on her parents’ decisions and is a lot more willing to break the rules. When Juliet’s parents tell her that she must marry Paris, a noble Count, she is devastated. She knows that if she does not do anything, she will be stuck in her fate without Romeo at her side. Her decision is to go to Friar Lawrence, the religious man who had married the pair and ask for his help. This in and of itself was a big step for Juliet. Previously, she has always had everything handed to her from the Nurse or her parents. Because they would approve of her actions, she knows that she must be the one who must help herself. Friar Lawrence understands how important being with Romeo is to Juliet so he devises a plan to get them together. He creates a potion that will put Juliet to sleep as if she is dead, so her family will place her in the tomb. Then the Friar will send for Romeo who will come get Juliet, wake her up, and bring them away from Verona. This is where the scenes that my partner and I chose pick up the story.

Our scene starts when Juliet is in her bedroom and she has to take the potion to start the plan. In this first monologue, Juliet goes through a range of emotions. She knows that this is a very important decision, and that is why she takes so much time thinking about what she wants to do. Deciding what she truly wants is key in this section, because for the first time in her life, she is the one in charge of her own life. She has the potion in her hand that could change her life forever. But when she is alone in her bedroom with the potion, her uncertainty really shines through. The third line of our scene is the following: “I’ll call them back again to comfort me./ Nurse!—What should she do here?/ My dismal scene I needs must act alone.” (4.3.17-9). This shows a lot about Juliet’s character. It shows that her first instinct is to call back her family and ask them what they think about the situation. This is what her life before Romeo consisted of; relying on others to make her decisions. But she realizes that they cannot help her here, and that she is truly alone in this decision. And that scares her. She goes on to worry a lot about the potion and what will happen next. She says, “What if it be a poison which the friar/ Subtly hath minist’red to have me dead,/ Lest in this marriage he should be dishonor’d/ Because he married me before to Romeo?” (4.3.24-7). This quote shows that she is continuing to question everything. She wonders if the potion will do what the Friar said, or if it is trap that will cause her death. She realizes that she has no way of knowing what will happen until she makes a decision. 
Juliet continues to wonder about all the possibilities that might happen if the potion does work. She first thinks about what would happen if she gets stuck in the tomb and suffocated, then moves on to pondering what would happen if she went crazy whilst in the vault. Juliet thinks about all these different options because on the inside she is still the young, inexperienced girl that we see in the beginning of the play. She is very much unsure about whether or not she should take the potion. Her monologue ends with these words; “Romeo, Romeo, Romeo!/ Here’s drink—I drink to thee” (4.3.58). Juliet calls out for Romeo multiple times before she takes the drink. This shows that it is ultimately Romeo that makes her decision. She longs for a future with him and she knows that this is path to that. It shows that this possibility of the future gives her confidence and makes her overlook all the other things that might be affecting her. For Juliet, just thinking about her love for Romeo is enough to risk her life.

In-Class Sample Grading

A. Analysis of literacy features: 3/5
- Some analysis of certain parts of play
B. Exploration of choices/performances: 3/10
- Very little info. given about performance at all that related to the student (given more details about class performance than herself)
C. Use of language and structure: 4/5
- Okay writing, not great
Total: 10/20

My Thesis So Far. . .

Throughout Shakespeare' language in the play, Juliet changes as a young girl maturing into a woman deeply in love. This development was very important to portray as an actor through facial expressions and movements.