Common Core Standards: RL.9-10.1, RL 9-10.3, RL9-10.4, RL 9-10.5, Thursday, March 21st, 2019 Aim: How can we analyze the significance of Romeo attending the Capulet party as well as his first encounter with Juliet in Act 1, Scene 5? Objective: Students will be able to analyze the text to further their comprehension of the themes, plot, and characters in Romeo and Juliet. Do Now: Answer one of the following questions. 1.) What do you think will happen if a Capulet (like Tybalt) finds out Romeo is at the party? OR 2.) How important are first impressions? What do they tell us?

Common Core Standards: RL.9-10.1, RL 9-10.3, RL9-10.4, RL 9-10.5, Thursday, March 21st, 2019 Aim: How can we analyze the significance of Romeo attending a Capulet party as well as his first encounter with Juliet in Act 1, Scene 5? Objective: Students will be able to analyze the text to further their comprehension of the themes, plot, and characters in Romeo and Juliet. Agenda 1.) Do Now: Answer one or both questions, and turn and talk with your tablemates. Captains will share with the class. 2.) Mini-Lesson: Together we will finish the first act of Romeo and Juliet. We will be stopping occasionally to decipher important passages, character choices, and events that take place in order to get a better understanding of the complex text. 4.) Reflection: That is how the first act of our play ends. Now that both of the lovers have learned that they are from enemy families, what do you think they will do? How will this affect their relationship? How will other characters react? Make some predictions!

The Day of the Party! Capulet welcomes Romeo and his friends to the party, obviously he doesn’t know who he is. He begins the celebration asking the musicians to play but how does he encourage the people to dance? He states that if any girl turns down a dance he'll tell everyone that she "hath corns" on her feet. Yikes...! This is the moment we’ve all been waiting for! Romeo and Juliet finally together in the same place. What happens? As soon as Romeo lays eyes on Juliet he thinks she is the most beautiful thing he has ever laid his eyes on. Rosaline who? “Did my heart love till now? Forswear it, sight! / For I ne’er saw true beauty till this night.”

Why are you so angry? Tybalt notices that one of the guests at the party (Romeo) is a Montague. What is his immediate reaction? “Fetch me my rapier, boy.” He asks his page (servant/assistant) to get him his sword. Tybalt wants to fight Romeo and kill him for having the nerve to attend a Capulet party. He is consumed with rage instantly. Capulet notices that Tybalt is angry and asks him what is wrong. Tybalt explains to him that there is a Montague at the party. How does Lord Capulet respond? Tybalt is more bothered by Romeo’s presence than Lord Capulet. He insists that Tybalt let this matter go, even going as far as throwing in some praise for Romeo. “He bears him like a porty gentleman, and to say truth, Verona brags of him.” Capulet doesn’t want any problems ruining the party and tells Tybalt to calm down. Is this surprising? Why or why not?

You need to calm down! Tybalt is still angry and continues to try and convince his uncle that “villains” such as Romeo should pay for intruding on a Capulet celebration saying it is disrespectful and makes them look bad. Is his argument successful? Nope and this just makes matters worse for Tybalt. Lord Capulet is angered: “Am I the master here, or you?” This scene is similar to a parent scolding a child. He insults him and calls him a brat while continuing to greet the guests and directing the party. What predictions can we make as to why Lord Capulet isn’t bothered by Romeo’s presence? What happened in the first scene? Since he says Romeo carries himself like a gentleman he might not cause any trouble and he doesn’t want Tybalt to start problems at his house after the Prince Escalus’ warning. What is foreshadowed by Tybalt’s reaction to his uncle forbidding him from hurting Romeo? “I will withdraw; but this intrusion shall,/ now seeming sweet, convert to bitter gall.” He’ll listen to his uncle for now... but he’ll be waiting for an opportunity to hurt him. Will we see conflict between the two later?

Rosaline who? Romeo comes out with the smoothest 16th century pick up line and a great metaphor. What does he say and compare her to? Romeo plays himself down while complimenting Juliet. He says her hand is like a holy shrine and that his hand is unworthy to hold it. How is this metaphor expanded? “My lips, two blushing pilgrims, ready stand/ to smooth things out that rough touch with a tender kiss”.” If she is offended by his unworthy hands touching hers, he is ready to make things better with a kiss. Is he smooth or what? Juliet plays along with the metaphor referring to him as a pilgrim who doesn’t give himself enough credit. Juliet even rhyming her words with his. How cute and how smooth! What does this extended metaphor reveal about the two characters and their relationship? If you pray to something like a shrine, you revere it, you idolize it. This shows the immediate intensity that develops between the two.

Some bad news! The nurse enters the scene and says that Juliet’s mother is calling for her. Romeo asks her who Juliet’s mom is and she informs him that it is Lady Capulet! How does Romeo react? Romeo doesn’t seem too happy about that news. He feels that his life is now in the hands of his enemy (the Capulets) because Juliet is a Capulet. Benvolio informs him it is time to go as the party has reached a climax and they depart. Juliet is dying to know who her mystery man is and ask the nurse to inquire about who he is. The one who wouldn’t dance! The nurse tells Juliet that his name is Romeo, the son of Lord Montague, and naturally an enemy to his family. Oh no! How does she react? She almost condemns love for the cruel prank it has played on her. She saw him and fell before she know who he was and discovered his identity once it was too late. “Prodigious birth of love it is to me, / That I must love a loathed enemy”

Reflection! That is how the first act of our play ends. Now that both of the lovers have learned that they are from enemy families, what do you think they will do? How will this affect their relationship? How will other characters react? Make some predictions!