In our last Literature classes, we’ve been working with the prologue of Romeo and Juliet. This is how we translated it from old english to modern english.

 

Two households, both alike in dignity,

Two families, both from the same social rank

In fair Verona, where we lay our scene,

in beautiful Verona, where our scene occurs

From ancient grudge break to new mutiny,

From old bitterness that breaks into violence

Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean.

Where normal people become murderers

From forth the fatal loins of these two foes

From the two families that brought death to their children

A pair of star-crossed lovers take their life,

a couple that fell in love and committed suicide

Whose misadventured piteous overthrows

Their unfortunate, pitiful death

Doth with their death bury their parents’ strife.

Bury their parents quarrel and anger.

The fearful passage of their death-mark’d love,

The sad/doomed story of their unfortunate love,

And the continuance of their parents’ rage,

And the persistence of their parents anger,

 

Which, but their children’s end, naught could remove,

which only their children’s death could remove,

Is now the two hours’ traffic of our stage.

will be presented in the following two hours in the stage

The which if you with patient ears attend

Which you have to listen very carefully

What here shall miss, our toil shall strive to mend.

What here is missed out, our hard work will make our mistakes right.

This are some questions we anwered:

1. How many lines does the prologue have? A piece of writing with this rhyme pattern and number of syllables and lines is called a Sonnet. Find more characteristics of sonnets.

• The prologue has 14 lines.
• Characteristics of sonnets:
  • they have 14 lines which are separated in 3 quatrains and a final couplet.
  • this is their structure: ABAB CDCD EFEF GG, meaning there’s a rhyme every two lines
  • The final message is in the couplet.

2. Which lines rhyme with each other? (Give the line numbers and the rhyming words, e.g line 1 rhymes with line 3; ‘dignity’ and ‘mutiny’)

• Line 1 rhymes with line 3, line 2 with 4, 5 with 7, 6 with 8, 9 with 11,  10  with 12 and 13 with 14 (couplet).

4. Use a coloured pen to highlight all the words to do with love.

The answer is in light-blue.

5. Use a different coloured pen to highlight all the words to do with violence.

The answer is in yellow.

6. Use another colour to highlight the words to do with family.

The answer is in red.

These are some questions we anwered on Act 1 Scene 1:

 

• Write a summary in your own words.

• What’s Romeo’s problem? Why can we say he is immature.

• Analyze Romeo’s problem?

 

Why can we say he’s immarure?

 

• Explain the dramatic Irony at the end of the scene.

 

1. The Montague’s and the Capulet’s servants met and started fighting in the streets. In the middle of the fight, Benvolio entered and tried to stop the fight but then Tybalt entered and everything gets more aggressive. Suddenly, prince Escalus entered and told both families to stop fighting, otherwise they would be killed. Then, the Montagues entered the scene and asked for Romeo as they had realized he had been really depressed and they told him to go talk to him. When he did so, Romeo told him he was depressed because Rosaline didn’t love him.

 

1. Romeo’s problem was that he was in love with a girl called Roselyn, but Rosalyn did not love Romeo, so he got depressed. We can say he is immature because he was obsessed with that girl, and he couldn’t think of other girls.
2. The oxymorons present in Romeo’s poetic language represented the confusion love causes. These are some examples present in  the book.

 

Loving v. Hate

Heavy v. Lightness

Serious v. Vanity

Misshapen chaos’ v. Well seeming forms

Feather v. Lead

Bright v smoke

Cold v fire

Sick v health

Still-walking v sleep

1. The dramatic Irony in the ending is that we know something that Romeo don’t, that he will find another love and that he will died