Romeo and Juliet

I'll take the lack of questions about Romeo and Juliette to mean that a few of you are pretty certain that you're in good shape for the final, but that others may not be certain just what questions might be framed. Since we missed some important discussion when I missed class last Friday, here are a few common points about the play and the production.

First, a correction -- I thought more was shot around L.A. than was. I recognize a few scenes for certain, but much of it was apparently shot in Veracruz, Mexico.

Some themes you might think about include the following

1. Love, particularly love-at-first-sight. Is it possible? Is it reasonable? How does it relate to conditions we might consider opposite, like a marriage of convenience? For instance, if love-at-first-sight is not valid or wise because one does not consider the inconveniences of life with a potential spouse, does that mean that a marriage of convenience, where these are taken into consideration, is true love? Or what about Romeo's condition with Roselyn at the start of the movie? We're tempted to say that he's "enamored" or "in puppy love" or "thinks he's in love" or use any of a large number of similar expressions to describe him. But how are these different than love itself?


2. What is the role of reason in love? Is unreasonable love really love? For that matter, can reasonable love really be love, and what does this mean? People say "Love is blind," but Mercutio says it must then "miss its mark."


3. What kind of control should parents have in kids' romantic lives?


4. What responsibility for Romeo and Juliet's problems do the different characters have? (Try the heads-of-houshold, the prince (chief of police here), the priest, evern apparent innocents like Mercutio or Juliet's maid.

A very good exercise might be this. Go through the plot of the play in your mind or look at a synopsis. Note what the motivations were for the different characters, and how the characters were wise and unwise.