Romeo and Juliet Act II

Scene Summaries II iii - The Friar is a really good gardener and worries about Romeo’s sleeping habits. Romeo gives him wedding planning as an alternate worry. The Friar thinks love is fickle but agrees to go ahead with it. II iv - Benvolio and Mercutio complain about being given the slip by Romeo. Mercutio wonders if Romeo’s man enough to answer the Prince of Cats’ challenge. The Nurse shows up and Mercutio taunts her. After being given the third degree Romeo clues the Nurse into the wedding plans. II v - Juliet waits impatiently for the Nurse to arrive. The Nurse thinks that Romeo’s not too bad but still manages to give Juliet a hard time before revealing the secret wedding plans. II vi - Juliet offers words of wisdom before the young lovers wed.

Text and Subtext One common problem in studying Shakespeare is distinguishing text (what’s written) from the subtext (what’s meant). For today’s work: Get into groups of 4 Write down your group’s scene number Decide which two will work on your scene text and subtext Subtext - review the given subtext for the scene and write a modernized short exchange Text - observe the subtext work while you decide which words to highlight during your scene reading

Text/Subtext example Text: the Friar’s speech in Act II scene iii “The grey-ey’d morn….” Subtext: he’s gardening and gathering plants Possible actions: moving about gathering plants, shifting the physical action to a different activity/plant as the end punctuation changes.

II iii Text: Start with the Friar’s lines of “Benedicite! What early…” and end with Romeo’s line “that thou consent to marry us to-day.” Subtext Scene: Come up with an exchange between a Son/daughter that’s stayed out too late who comes home and wants monetary help from the parent who sees them come home.

II iv Text: Start with the Nurse’s lines of “Now afore God…” and end with the Nurse’s line “This afternoon sir? Well, she shall be there.” Subtext Scene: Come up with an exchange between a Son/daughter that is trying to persuade the parent of their fiance who might not approve of the upcoming marriage.

II v Text: Start with the Juliet’s lines of “Now good sweet nurse…” and end with the Nurse’s speech starting “Then hie you hence…” Subtext Scene: Come up with an exchange between a Son/daughter that has been waiting impatiently for their parent to come home with news about something that they want badly.