Third Draft

Written Coursework: Analysis of Performance based on Act 4 Scene 1 from “Romeo and Juliet”














IB Literature & Performance SL
Title of the play: Romeo and Juliet
Word Count: 1959
“Romeo and Juliet” is one of the most famous drama works of William Shakespeare. In this lovely but tragic story,  Friar Lawrence is a character who stayed in the middle but he is one of the most important characters in the story to promote the plot. He was a combination of a friar and an alchemist, which his role of friar showed the positive aspect and the role of alchemist showed the negative aspect. Then, I chose the Act 4 Scene 1, when Juliet went into the basement of the church to find Friar Lawrence and used a knife to threat him. She was comforted by Friar Lawrence and then took a vial in order to escape the marriage. The change of atmosphere and the mood change between two characters in the play demonstrates the change of theme of the whole play. Because this scene is a transitional point in the story of Romeo and Juliet,  Shakespeare used foreshadowing to show the main style of story transits from love to death. Playing a role of Friar Lawrence, I learned that his patience, decisiveness and clam push the whole story development, therefore even though Friar Lawrence is not main character in the play but by using the emphasis and body language, which make his personality continually influence the main characters, which the Friar Lawrence changed their life from peaceful to chaos, and this fact made him be different with others characters in the play.


Our scene started inside the church and ended in the church. In this scene, Friar Lawrence used a lot of “ Hold Daughter! Hold, then go home. Hold, get you gone!”(4,1, 68—122) to indicate his worries. Friar used repetitions of Hold, because this word makes the people feel safety and wanted to trust the people in front of them. In the talking of Juliet, we chose the line “ Come weep with me, past hope, past cure, past help.”(4.1.45), we want to show that Juliet was upset and very helpless because of the marriage with Paris and also got “ betrayed” by her mother and nurse. The love between Romeo and she make her struggle between family and lover. In comparison, Friar Lawrence was very polite and calm due to the lines “ I do spy a kind of hope…As that is desperate which we could prevent.” (4.1.68—70) , Friar Lawrence in the story is more like a director for Juliet and Romeo, he had lots of life experience. So from Juliet’s perspective, when there was no Romeo to rely on, Friar Lawrence became the man who she could believe in by saying that “ Tell me not, friar, that thou hearest of this, unless thou tell me how I may prevent it.” (4.1.50—51) Then in the end of the play, Friar Lawrence said that: “ Hold, get you gone, be strong and prosperous in this resolve. Tomorrow I will send a friar with speed to Mantua, with my letters to thy lord.” (4,1,122—124) The first sentence: he comforted Juliet that she did not need to be afraid and she needed to face the difficulties resulted from her choice of marrying Romeo. The second sentence: he summarized what he would do the next day and let Juliet believe that everything would be resolved. During the conversation between Friar Lawrence and Juliet, Friar Lawrence never used negative words and attitude to Juliet. After the readers finished reading the whole play, they would have direct understanding of the positions of the two main characters. Friar Lawrence stood in the higher position. Also, there was one word that reflected their relationship: in the setting of the play, Juliet was the daughter of the Lord Capulet and Lady Capulet, and Friar Lawrence was only a friar who worked in the church. Whenever Friar Lawrence wanted to call Juliet, he needed to say Young Capulet rather than daughter. First time I analyzed this sentence I thought because of stress and thoughtlessness. Then after I analyzed the character of Friar Lawrence, I found out that because he watched Romeo growing up, he had already treated that boy as his own son. So when his son has a girlfriend and they were about to get married, he would not allow another person to destroy their happiness. Then due to the death threat from Juliet, he suddenly showed his worries and impatience in front of her, that was why he used daughter rather than Young Capulet. This analysis of Friar Lawrence helped me to understand his personality and know why he did his best to save Juliet without hesitation.


Our performance started when Juliet went into the church to look for Friar Lawrence in order to seek a solution for the marriage.  In my part of performance, I tried to show the patience and calm of Friar Lawrence during the soliloquy and the conversation with Juliet. First, in the beginning of the play, Friar Lawrence was sitting on the chair on the left side of the stage because Juliet interrupted Friar Lawrence’s negotiation with Paris about the marriage. So I set up the stage with two chairs in order to clearly show that I, Friar Lawrence, was talking with someone in the church. Then Juliet stood on the stage right in order to show that she was not in the church and she went to church to find Friar Lawrence. Then she knocked on the door and said her first line, “ Are you at leisure, holy father, now;” (4,1,37—38) Then I turned around but did not stand up because even though Juliet was the daughter of the Capulet, Friar Lawrence was a friar and was older than her.  Then after I saw off Paris, I turned around and faced Juliet. Then my action showed Juliet that we would begin our conversation. During our conversation, I remained calm and smart, my voice was stable comforting, for example: After Juliet used a knife to threat me, I replied immediately” Hold daughter ! I do spy a kind of hope. And this shall free thy from this present shame.” (4,1,68) Because Juliet had a mind to death, which indicated by the line: “Be not so long to speak, I long to die.” (4.1.66)However, I also needed to apply Shakespeare’s foreshadowing into our performance, so when Juliet emphasis the words “kill” and “ death”, I would try to hold her and comfort her, but she rejected vigorously because it can let the audience know clearly about the foreshadowing part and also to remind audience that even Juliet seek for the solution, in her mind she already planned for death. At the same time, Juliet was helpless and not very calm, especially when I said that: “Hold, then, go home, be marry and give consent to marry County Paris.”(4,1,90—91) She acted angrily and did not understand my idea, she used much body language, like tugging hair and walking around to show her anxiety but what i did was only tapped her arm because through my analysis I knew that Friar Lawrence was only a friar, he can not do more things for her.  Then compared with disappointment of Lawrence, my partner and I consider the reaction and emotion of Juliet, she would hold more hope. During our rehearsal time, my partner Sam and I decided to use different colors, which underlined our lines to consider different emotions we need to use when we spoke the lines. As actors on the stage, we need to performance each liens with different emotions to help audience understanding our roles and the plot deeply.


On the stage, even though Friar Lawrence’s lines contained all of calm and smartness, but I can use the body language on the stage to show his stress and worries. When Friar Lawrence tapped her arm, at the same time he was looking down, which I wanted to show his unconfidence. After comforting Juliet, Friar Lawrence explained everything for her in details, which included the whole plan, vial’s effect and what they would do after she woke up. Especially when he talked in the part of the vial, he would express fanaticism towards the vial, so at this time, I moved from stage left to the center of the stage, not only to show my actions more obviously but also to show the change of the theme when following the change of my position. From the book the readers knew that after Juliet drunk the vial, she would be buried in the vault and Romeo would miss my letters and died in front of Juliet.The readers would know the change of the theme from love, marriage to death, however the audience may not know it, so the change of my position and Juliet’s emotion, which show clearly about the situation. Then after I finished talking everything about the plan and vial, Juliet quickly answered that:” Give me! Give me! O, tell not me of fear!” (4,1,121)So immediately I answered her that: “Hold, get you gone, be strong and prosperous in this resolve, I will send a friar with speed to Mantua, with my letters to thy lord.” (4,1,122—124) which indicated my worried. Then I would be silent for a moment, and then I went out. For the moment of silence, I wanted to create a feeling that Friar Lawrence wanted to remind Juliet something but he didn’t speak out. In the end, my last line was to say Farewell to Juliet, from the arrangement of staging , Juliet was on my back and  I will not face her and say Farewell, insteadI just waved my hands turning my back to her. I added this action which created feeling about resignation and helplessness, through the whole plot, even though Friar Lawrence always comforted Juliet and guided her what should she do in the future.  Sadly, he was just a friar, he did not have much power. In the end, I added this action to reinforce this feeling of disappointment. Furthermore, I also used Friar Lawrence’s movements to show his disappointment. On the stage as acting Friar Lawrence, I moved step-by-step, then finally slowly walked out.  Which I wanted to use my actions on the stage to illustrate his powerlessness and after I closed the door, the audience will find out that there was only Juliet on the stage, which she was alone and no one can help her.  I wanted to use this scene also as a foreshadowing scene to indicate that Juliet’s fate was changed, in the before, there was someone always accompanied with her, but now she was alone and only can depend on herself.


Performing an epic story was very challenging but also interesting. What was the most challenging was that I could hardly combine the speaking part with the action part. In the beginning, I could not do speaking and acting at the same time. Then I began to analyze the language use of Shakespeare, finally I found out a way of using lines to remind me the actions and using actions to remind me the lines. In the preparation of the performance, I considered a lot of analysis of Romeo and Juliet’s language and stage settings. That gave me a lot of ideas of how Shakespeare described characters’ movements, which on the stage I used body language and emphasis to demonstrate. Also, analyzing the language use in the scene helped me to understand each character deeply. In general, Friar Lawrence's patience and calm deeply influence Juliet and make him an unique character in the story. However, through the whole scene, even though Juliet and Friar Lawrence had different characteristics, their final goal was to let the couple of Romeo and Juliet out of the shame and be re-united.

Citation:  Shakespeare, William, and Richard Hosley. The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet. New Haven: Yale UP, 1954. Web.

History context of novel.

Discuss the following items. Post your research on your blog in your own words.

Biographical info about the author

She was born in Jan.19 1969. In Port-an- Prince, Haiti. She was a writer and her genre was on novels and short stories.
She lived in her aunt and uncle because her parents moved to New York.
Her first short story was Breath, Eyes, Memory.
Her writing style was influenced buy racism, she wanted peace rather than conflict.

timeline for Haiti's history from Independence to present
1803.11.18 battle of Vetieres.
1803.12. 19 dessaline's army arrives in Cap France
1803.12.04 French forces surrender.
1804.01.01 Dessaline's decalres Haiti an independent nation.
1804.02 Haiti Massacre.
1805.05.20 Imperial Constitution of 1805
1805.12.27 Constituent Assembly.
1807.01.01 Battle of Sibert ends.
1802. The Henri Conde established.
1806.06.02 the republican constitution created.
1842.05.07 an earthquake strikes northern Haiti.
1843.12.31 the constitution of 1843 is released.
1860.03.28 Haiti and Vatican sign an agreement divides Haiti in 5.
1880. The Nation Bank of Haiti is founded.
1888. The constituent Assembly elects FDL to president.
1912.08.08 president and three hundred soldiers are killed in an explosion.
1950.1206 PM is sworn in as president.
1991.02.07 Aristide is sworn as president.
2004 HJ killed over 1900 people.
2010.01.12 earthquake kill 230000 people.

Haiti's fight for and gain of Independence
In 1971, Napoleon tried to use Haiti as place to collect Slaves but they began to rebel.

Toussaint L'Ouverture
He was a slave and got education before. 1971.08 when the Haiti fight began, he lead 1000 space to rebellion. Pushed the Spain out of Haiti, and banned slavery. The. British was also pushed out.
1801 United the Haiti.

Boukman
He was an African man, enslcaed I Haiti one of the most visible early leaders of Haitian Revolution.
Made the freedom covenant. Revolution.

1937, Dominican Massacre
Trujillo wanted to dominate the Haiti and made a massacre of 20000 Haitians on the massacre.

Rafael Trujillo
He was a politican and soldier, ruled the Dominican Republic during the chaos. Experienced the massacre of 1937.

Voodoo religion
 It is a syncretic religion practiced chiefly in Hairi and the Haitian diaspora. Practitioners are called vodouistis they believed in distant and unknowable supreme creator.

Duvalier (Papa Doc)
He is the president from 1907.04.14 to 1971.04.21 the president and dictator

Tonton Macoutes
It the secret police the Haitian president Duvalier created, very scary because use national terrorism.

Jean Claude Duvalier (Baby Doc)
He was the Haitian president, Haitian dictator longest time president in Haitian history, for 15 years and his father was president before.

Children of the Sea

Krik?Krak!

Children of the Sea

Man: Love the woman. 

I wanted you to to dig your fingernails into my skin and drain out all my blood. 

36 other deserting souls. White sheets with bright red spots float as out sail. 

Want, but also respect. You thought I was testing your will but all I wanted was to be near you. 

Do marry a soldier but they are almost not human. 

Woman: chaos, bullets and no daily life. I listened my father’s order to destroy some of you but I hide some. Papa did not hate you as much as you think. Regrets. I do not sketch my butterflies anymore because i do not even like seeing the sun. 

Man: There was a pregnant girl on board. Covered face with scars that look like razor marks. Short and speaks in a singsong that reminds me of the villagers in the north. Looking into young people’s empty faces remind me of the hopelessness of the future in our country. It is hard enough with me. Miami. Not religious, on boat no direction.  I am more comfortable now with the idea of dying. Not I have completely accepted it, but i know that it might happen. I ca not scream at it and tell it to go away. Video show was my whole life. Lots of protestants on this boat. A lot of them see themselves as Job or the children of Israel. 

Women: Army finally did give some bodies back, they told the families to go collect them at the rooms for indigents at the morgue. Mandan Roger, collect her son’s head. Port-au-prince, their live place. I can not sleep I count the bullets in the dark, I keep wondering if it is true, did you really get out. 

Man: First real day at sea. Everyone was vomiting with each small rocking of the boat. One lady fainted from sunstroke. Helped to revive her by rubbing some of the salt water. Day so hot night so cold. At night, I watch the sea, the sky and the sea are one. The stars look so huge and so close, they make for very bright reflections in the sea. At times I feel like I can just reach out and pull a star down from the sky as though it is a breadfruit or a calabash or something that could be of use to us on this journey. Beloved Haiti. Women start crying. Once you have been at sea for a couple of days, it smells like every fish you have ever eaten, i am so tired of the smell. I am also tired of the way the people on this boat are starting to stink. 

Woman: Papa found your tapes, he started yelling at me, asking if I was crazy keeping them, he just waiting for the gasoline ban to be lifted so we can get out of the city. Selfish. Crazy whores. Fight. Wishes one of the macoutes bullets would hit herself. 

Man: Finally an African, darker than your father, Want a lady hat but rejected. I dreamt that I died and went to heaven, this heaven was nothing like I expected. It was at the bottom of the sea. You were with me too. 

Yesterday telling stories. Someone says Krik? You answer Krak. Sometimes it feels like we have been at sea longer than the many years that I have been on this earth. The sun comes up and goes down, this is how you know it has been a whole day. A radio from Bahamas, they treat Haitians like dogs in the Bahamas, a woman says. To them, we are not human. Even though their music sounds like ours, their people look like ours, even though we had the same African fathers who probably crossed these same seas together. Maybe the sea is endless, like my love for you. (I love this line.)

Woman: The soldiers were looking for her son, MR was screaming, you killed him already, we buried his head, you can not kill him twice. She came out and shouted it, I hope your mothers will never rest in their cursed graves. You killed him once already. You want to kill me too? You want to kill me? i do not care anymore, i am dead already. You have already done the worst to me that you can do, you have killed my soul. 

Man: Celianne spent the night groaning, she looks like she has been ready for a while. but maybe the child is being stubborn. The only babies I have ever seen right after birth are baby mice. Veil thin skin, wanted to poke them to see if my finger would go all the way through the skin, move. I am scared to think of what would happen if we had to choose among ourselves who would stay on the boat and who would died. Vultures. Sun will set soon, Everyone will eat their last scraps of food today. 

Woman: Papa said that we are not going to stay in PAP to find out if this is true or if it is lie that president is coming back. Move to safe place. People are just too hopeful, and sometimes hope is the biggest weapon of all to use against us. People will believe anything, they will claim to see the christ return and march on the cross backwards if there is enough hope. 

Man: Celianne had a girl baby, the woman acting as a midwife is holding the baby to the moon and whispering prayers. The baby has not cried. We had to throw our extra things in the sea because the water is beginning to creep in slowly. The boat needs to be lighter. Celianne’s child is a beautiful child, they are calling her Swiss because the word swiss was written on the small knife they used to cut her umbilical cord. If she is my daughter, called her Soleil, Sun, Moon or Star, after the elements. She still hasn’t cried. She was pregnant with a married man, so her parents threw her out. It is only my misfortune that would lump me together with an indigent like you. Swiss is not crying, they keep slapping her behind but she is not crying. 

Woman: Old president did not come, they arrested a lot of people at the airport, shot a whole bunch of them down. I said I love you to my papa. I was capable of loving somebody. 

Man: Celianne is lying with her head against the side of the boat, the baby still will not cry, they both look very peaceful in all this chaos, Celianne is holding her baby tight against he chest. Story from her lips, brother lied down with sex with her mom by order from soldiers.  Mom said listen to soldiers because of afraid. Then soldiers took turn to raping Celianne. Then she cut her face with a razor. 

We got some relief from the seawater coming in, the captain used the last of his tar, and most of the water is staying out for a while. everyone wanted to throw C baby down to the boat but she rejected. C’s fingernails are buried deep in the child’s naked back. 

Woman: Butterflies, no news for him. Banyan tree is the most trusted friend. From the banyan tree, I see the mountains still, so many mountains that are bare like rocks, I feel like all those mountains are pushing me farther and farther away from you. 

Man: She threw the baby overboard. Sink and she jumped in too. She also sink. Sea has no mercy. Water rising again. I hope my parents are alive, i asked the old man to tell them what happened to me. He asked me to write his name in my book, JMANJFOM. Perhaps I was chosen from the beginning of time to live there with Agwe at the bottom of the sea. Maybe this is why I dreamed of the starfish and the mermaids having the Catholics Mass under the sea. Maybe this was my invitation to go. In any case, I know that my memory of you will live even there as I too become a child of the sea. 

Woman: Thank you papa, because you saved my life.he groaned. I began to run and run so it would not land on me. More killing in port. I heard that another boat sank off the coast of the bahamas, I can not think about you being in there in the waves. Behind these mountains are more mountains an more black butterflies still and a sea that is endless like my love for you. 

Second draft

“Romeo and Juliet” is one of the most famous drama works of William Shakespeare. In this lovely but tragic story,  Friar Lawrence is a character who stayed in the middle but he is one of the most important characters in the story to promote the plot. He was a combination of a friar and an alchemist, which showed the positive aspect and also the negative aspect. Then, I chose the Act 4 Scene 1, when Juliet went into the basement of the church to find Friar Lawrence and used a knife to threat him. She was comforted by Friar Lawrence and then took a vial in order to escape the marriage. The change of atmosphere and the mood change between two characters in the play demonstrates the change of theme of the whole play. Because this scene is a transitional point in the story of Romeo and Juliet,  Shakespeare used foreshadowing to show the main style of story transits from love to death. Playing a role of Friar Lawrence, I learned that his patience, decisiveness and clam push the whole story development, therefore even though Friar Lawrence is not main character in the play but by using the emphasis and body language, which make his personality continually influence the main characters and also be different with others characters in the play. 

Our scene started inside the church and ended in the church. In this scene, Friar Lawrence used a lot of “ Hold Daughter! Hold, then go home. Hold, get you gone!”(4,1, 68—122) to indicate his worries. In the talking of Juliet, we chose the line “ Come weep with me, past hope, past cure, past help.”(4.1.45), we want to show that Juliet was upset and very helpless because of the marriage with Paris and also got “ betrayed” by her mother and nurse. The love between Romeo and she make her struggle between family and lover. In comparison, Friar Lawrence was very polite and calm due to the lines “ I do spy a kind of hope…As that is desperate which we could prevent.” (4.1.68—70) , Friar Lawrence in the story is more like a director for Juliet and Romeo, he had lots of life experience. So from Juliet’s perspective, when there was no Romeo to rely on, Friar Lawrence became the man who she could believe in by saying that “ Tell me not, friar, that thou hearest of this, unless thou tell me how I may prevent it.” (4.1.50—51) Then in the end of the play, Friar Lawrence said that: “ Hold, get you gone, be strong and prosperous in this resolve. Tomorrow I will send a friar with speed to Mantua, with my letters to thy lord.” (4,1,122—124) The first sentence: he comforted Juliet that she did not need to be afraid and she needed to face the difficulties resulted from her choice of marrying Romeo. The second sentence: he summarized what he would do the next day and let Juliet believe that everything would be resolved. During the conversation between Friar Lawrence and Juliet, Friar Lawrence never used negative words and attitude to Juliet. After the readers finished reading the whole play, they would have direct understanding of the positions of the two main characters. Friar Lawrence stood in the higher position. Also, there was one word that reflected their relationship: in the setting of the play, Juliet was the daughter of the Lord Capulet and Lady Capulet, and Friar Lawrence was only a friar who worked in the church. Whenever Friar Lawrence wanted to call Juliet, he needed to say Young Capulet rather than daughter. However, in the show, Friar Lawrence called Juliet as “ daughter”, which revealed that under his mind, because he watched Romeo growing up, he had already treated that boy as his own son. So when his son has a girlfriend and they were about to get married, he would not allow another person to destroy their happiness. Then due to the death threat from Juliet, he suddenly showed his worries and impatience in front of her, that was why he used daughter rather than Young Capulet. 

Our performance started when Juliet went into the church to look for Friar Lawrence in order to seek a solution for the marriage. This play mainly focus on the interaction between Friar Lawrence and Juliet, including their speaking tones and their actions showed the mood of Juliet and also the characteristics of Friar Lawrence and Juliet. For my performance, I tried to show the patience and calm of Friar Lawrence during the soliloquy and the conversation with Juliet. First, in the beginning of the play, Friar Lawrence was sitting on the chair on the left side of the stage because Juliet interrupted Friar Lawrence’s negotiation with Paris about the marriage. So I set up the stage with two chairs in order to clearly show that I, Friar Lawrence, was talking with someone in the church. Then Juliet stood on the stage right in order to show that she was not in the church and she went to church to find Friar Lawrence. Then she knocked on the door and said her first line, “ Are you at leisure, holy father, now;” (4,1,37—38) Then I turned around but did not stand up because even though Juliet was the daughter of the Capulet, Friar Lawrence was a friar and was older than her.  Then after I saw off Paris, I turned around and faced Juliet. Then my action showed Juliet that we would begin our conversation. During our conversation, I remained calm and smart, my voice was stable comforting, for example: After Juliet used a knife to threat me, I replied immediately” Hold daughter ! I do spy a kind of hope. And this shall free thy from this present shame.” (4,1,68) Because Juliet had a mind to death, which indicated by the line: “Be not so long to speak, I long to die.” (4.1.66)However, I also needed to apply Shakespeare’s foreshadowing into our performance, so when Juliet emphasis the words “kill” and “ death”, I would try to hold her and comfort her, but she rejected vigorously because it can let the audience know clearly about the foreshadowing part and also to remind audience that even Juliet seek for the solution, in her mind she already planned for death. At the same time, Juliet was helpless and not very calm, especially when I said that: “Hold, then, go home, be marry and give consent to marry County Paris.”(4,1,90—91) She acted angrily and did not understand my idea, she used much body language, like tugging hair and walking around to show her anxiety but what i did was only tapped her arm because Lawrence was only a friar, he could not more things than comforting her.  Then we designed two different ways of performing for Juliet and Friar Lawrence through our actions and lines, so during our rehearsal time, Ms.Guarino taught us that we could use different colors underlined our lines to analysis different emotions when we spoke out the lines, we, as actors on the stage, need to performance each liens with different emotions to help audience understand ing our roles and the plot deeply. 

On the stage, even though Friar Lawrence’s lines contained all of calm and smartness, but I can use the body language on the stage to show his stress and worries. When Friar Lawrence tapped her arm, at the same time he was looking down, which I wanted to show his unconfidence. After comforting Juliet, Friar Lawrence explained everything for her in details, which included the whole plan, vial’s effect and what they would do after she woke up. Especially when he talked in the part of the vial, he would express fanaticism towards the vial, so at this time, I moved from stage left to the center of the stage, not only to show my actions more obviously but also to show the change of the theme when following the change of my position. From the book the readers knew that after Juliet drunk the vial, she would be buried in the vault and Romeo would miss my letters and died in front of Juliet.The readers would know the change of the theme from love, marriage to death, however the audience may not know it, so the change of my position and Juliet’s emotion, which show clearly about the situation. Then after I finished talking everything about the plan and vial, Juliet quickly answered that:” Give me! Give me! O, tell not me of fear!” (4,1,121)So immediately I answered her that: “Hold, get you gone, be strong and prosperous in this resolve, I will send a friar with speed to Mantua, with my letters to thy lord.” (4,1,122—124) which indicated my worried. Then I would be silent for a moment, and then I went out. For the moment of silence, I wanted to create a feeling that Friar Lawrence wanted to remind Juliet something but he didn’t speak out.  In the end, my last line was to say Farewell to Juliet, so at this time, I did not face her and say Farewell, insteadI just waved my hands turning my back to her. I think this action had a feeling about resignation and helplessness, even though Friar Lawrence always comforted Juliet and guided her what should she do throughout the play. Sadly, he was just a friar, he did not have much power. So after he went out, he may had a feelings about powerlessness, In the end, I added this action to reinforce this feeling. Furthermore,Friar Lawrence’s movements also showed his feeling, his movement was not fast, but step-by-step, and then I closed the door. 

Performing an epic story was very challenging but also interesting. What was the most challenging was that I could hardly combine the speaking part with the action part. In the beginning, I could not do speaking and acting at the same time. Then I watched a lot movie versions about church scene, and I found out a way of using lines to remind me the actions and using actions to remind me the lines. In the preparation of the performance, I did a lot of analysis of Romeo and Juliet’s language and stage settings. That gave me a lot of ideas of how Shakespeare described characters’ movements. Also, analyzing the language use in the scene helped me to understand each character deeply. Through the whole scene, even though Juliet and Friar Lawrence had different characteristics, their final goal was to let the couple of Romeo and Juliet out of the shame and be re-united.

Sample Grading

Written Coursework

Criterion A:  3/5

Criterion B : 7/10

Criterion C:  4/5

The author shortly explain the introduction of the play and then offers detailed literary analysis of the Richard III and then talked about the plot. However, the author payed a lot of attention on both the analysis of characteristic and on the whole plot. However, it makes me confused on the  whole part, author did not have a good thesis statement to show readers what is his understanding on the play.  The second paragraph is a transitional point in the whole paper,  the author used this paragraph to explain the plot, but there are little analysis on it, which also lack of analysis and understand from author. From paragraph 3 to 11, the author used a lot of quotations from Richard III， which includes the idea of staging and customs on the stage. In my own opinion, it seems too much quotations, I can feel the author wants to explain each quotation specifically but used too many quotations makes me feel not interested on his analysis. After paragraph 13, there is a picture that clearly shows me that where did everyone on the stage stand and how will they arrange the place on the stage so where I give additional one point because it clearly shows me the stage arrangement. Then next paragraph the author began to talk about how could he relates his understanding of the play and the character to be used on his performance, but one shortage is that she did not talk about the interactions between he and his partners, the author only talked about his own feeling and actions on the stage., the play is a group work. The last paragraph the author concluded his performance but the last paragraph is more like an analysis of the play rather than a conclusion, he needs to think about his use of language and structure influencing the whole play rather than focusing on small details. 

Written Coursework 2

Criterion A  4/5

Criterion B   8/10

Criterion C  4/5

In this coursework, the author did not start from telling background information about the Hamlet, the author chose to explain her motivation that why she chose acting Ophella and to make some literary analysis on the character Ophella through her playing, especially on the lines and actions. Then author began to write the literary analysis, the author did a great job on using the quotations to back up her analysis, from paragraph 3—10, the author used these paragraphs to explain how her actions on the stage influenced by her thinking toward the character of Ophella. But one thing the author needed to improve is the connections between paragraph to paragraph. From paragraph three to ten, the author wanted to analyze her action on the stage, maybe the author thought in this way of writing that writes the whole analysis in one paragraph would make readers understand her thinking clearly but she needed to consider she put the her actions in one paragraph, like the paragraph 9, the author in the beginning wrote about the analysis of the lines, but suddenly changes the main topic to analysis of the movement, which in my opinion, she can finish analyzing all the lines then started analyzing movements, which would be more clearly and better. The last paragraph is good as a conclusion paragraph, her language use was good because she talked detailedly and used lots of literary term to analyze, however for the structure of the whole essay I think she should rearrange each paragraph in a good place and find how to make stronger connections between the lines and her action. 

Draft 1

Yichen.Li

IB Literature & Performance

Jennifer Guarino

Dec. 2rd. 2016

Written Course Work Assignment On Romeo and Juliet Act 4 Scene 1

“Romeo and Juliet”, one of the most famous drama works from William Shakespeare. The story, mainly talked about two main characters who were born in two noble families, Capulet and Montague, which were opposite to each other. However, main characters, Romeo and Juliet, fell in love with each other. But because of their families contradictions, they chose to secretly get married and eventually died in front of each other. This result surprisingly made two families be reconciled. Shakespeare used a lot of poems in “Romeo and Juliet”, especially in the structure of the story, he switched the story between tragedy and comedy, so the readers could relax during the comedy part but get the sense of tragedy. At the same time, William Shakespeare increased the importance of the supporting roles, in his play, not only main characters can advance the story, but also supporting roles can also do the same job which readers will naturally feel the development of the story. Moreover, he believed that drama needs to reflect different styles because of different roles, the importance of the drama is to let everyone believe that the stage is a lively world, actors live on it rather than acting on it. 

In this lovely but also tragic story, I played the role of Friar Lawrence who stayed in the middle but he is one of the most important characters in the story to promote the plot. He was a combination between a friar and an alchemist, which showed the position aspect and also the negative aspect. Then I chose the Act 4 Scene 1, when Juliet went into the basement of the church to find Friar Lawrence then used a knife to threat him then being comforted by Friar Lawrence and then took a vial in order to escape the marriage. It is a transitional point in the play of Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare used foreshadowing to show the main style of story transits from love to the death. Therefore acting a role of Friar Lawrence, I learned that his patience and calm push the whole story development. Moreover, I showed these characteristics in my play by using body languages, changing in speaking tones and accentuation, which created Friar Lawrence an unique character in the play. 

Because my performance is not a full soliloquy so I have a partner called Sam, who plays the role of Juliet on the stage.  So our performance starts in the Romeo and Juliet Act Four Scene One when Juliet went into the church to find Friar Lawrence in order to seek a solution for the marriage. The scene starts inside the church and ends in the church. In this scene, Friar Lawrence used a lot of “ Hold Daughter! Hold, then go home. Hold, get you gone!” (Act 4, Scene 1, 68—122) to illustrate his worries. During the interactions between Friar Lawrence and Juliet, readers hardly knows that who is pushing the development of the story because two main characters both talk very aggressively and show strong theme. Which in the talking of Juliet, she’s upset and very helpless because of the marriage with Paris and also got “ betrayed” by her mom and nurse, so her actions on the stage will be very drastically. Compared with Friar Lawrence, who is very polite and calm on the stage, because he is older than Juliet so in Juliet’s version, when there’s no Romeo to rely on, Friar Lawrence becomes the man who she finally can believe on. Then in the end of the play, the Friar Lawrence speaks that: “ Hold, get you gone, be strong and prosperous in this resolve. Tomorrow I will send a friar with speed to Mantua, with my letters to thy lord.” (Act 4, Scene 1, 122—124)These two sentences, first one he comforts Juliet do not be afraid and she needs to face the difficulties because she chooses to marry with Romeo. The second sentence he summarizes what will he do tomorrow which at the same time let Juliet believe that everything will be ok and everything will be resolved. During the conversation between Friar Lawrence and Juliet, Friar Lawrence never shows impatience and flurried in front of Juliet. After readers finishes reading the whole play, they will have direct understand the position of two main characters, obviously, Friar Lawrence stands in the higher position. Also, there’s one word reflects their relations, in the setting of the play, Juliet is the daughter of the Lord Capulet and Lady Capulet, and the Friar Lawrence is only a friar who works in the church. When Friar Lawrence want to call Juliet, he may need to say Young Capulet rather than a daughter. However, in the show, Friar Lawrence calls Juliet as “ daughter”, which reveals that under his mind, because he watched Romeo grow and develop day by day, so he already treated that boy as his own son. So when his son has a girlfriend and then they got marriage, but now there’ s another person wanted to destroy this happiness, from a father’s perspective, he can not let this thing happen. Then due to the death threat from Juliet, he suddenly shows his worries and impatience in front of that girl, so he used daughter rather than Young Capulet showed his side on this farce. 

During the performance, I tried to show the patience and calm of Friar Lawrence during the soliloquy and the conversation with Juliet. First, in the beginning of the play, Friar Lawrence sat on the chair in the left stage because Juliet interrupted Friar Lawrence negotiation with Paris about the marriage, so I set up the stage with two chairs in order to clearly show the situation, which I, Friar Lawrence, was talking with someone in the church. Then Juliet stood on the stage right in order to show that she was not in the church and she went to church to find Friar Lawrence. Then she knocked the door and said the first line, “ Are you at leisure, holy father, now;” (Act 4, Scene 1, 37—38)Then I turned around but did not stand up because even though Juliet was the daughter of the Capulet, but Friar Lawrence was a friar and was older than her, so I did not show any reaction in order to show their equal status. Then after I saw off Paris, I turned around and faced Juliet. Then my action showed Juliet that we will begin our conversation. During our communication, I played the role of calm and smart, my voice was stable and always comforted Juliet, for example:” I do spy a kind of hope. And this shall free thy from this present shame.” (Act 4, Scene 1, 68)For playing the role of Friar Lawrence, except the part the part when Juliet used the knife to threat me, all the time I needed to act as calm because Juliet needed my support. In the contrast, Juliet was helpless and not very calm, especially when I said that: “Hold, then, go home, be marry and give consent to marry County Paris.” (4,1,89—90) She acted vey angry and did not understand my idea, she used so many body actions, like tugging hair and walking around to show her feeling. So because we designed two different characteristics of Juliet and Friar Lawrence, though our body actions and our speaking part, we hope to use that to increase the understanding of our roles and the plot deeply. 

Friar Lawrence did not only comfort Juliet but also at the same time he was thinking about the solution. Such as when he said, “ I do spy a kind of hope.” (4,1,68)Then he immediately said that “ Which craves as desperate an execution, as that is desperate which we could prevent. (4,1,69)“ In his talking, Juliet will follow with Lawrence’s mind to find the solution. After Juliet wanted to know the solution, Friar Lawrence detailedly explained everything for her, which included the whole plan, vial’s effect and what will they do after she awake. Especially when he talked in the part of the vial, he will express fanaticism towards the vial, so at this time, Friar Lawrence would begin to move and not pay attention on Juliet until “ And then awake as from a pleasant sleep.” (4,1,106)After I finished a long talking about the effect of the vial, I moved from stage left to the center of the stage, not only help everyone understanding our actions but also at the same time, my position changed means that the theme of the story changed, obviously from the book the readers knew that after Juliet drunk the vial, she will be buried in the vault and Romeo will miss my letters then died in front of Juliet, the readers will totally know the change of the theme from love, marriage to death, however the audience may not know it, so I change my position and Juliet’s emotion will help to know the situation and they may know that my position changes meaning foreshadowing something.  Then after I finished talking all things about the plan and vial, Juliet quickly answered that:” Give me! Give me! O, tell not me of fear!” (4,1,121)So immediately I answered her that: “Hold, get you gone, be strong and prosperous in this resolve, I will send a friar with speed to Mantua, with my letters to thy lord.” (4,1,122—124)Then I will be silence a moment, and then I went out, at that moment silence I wanted to create a feeling that Friar Lawrence wanted to remind Juliet something but he didn’t speak out.  In the end, my last line was to say Farewell to Juliet, so at this time, I did not face her and say Farewell, in the contrast I just waved my hands on my back, so I think this action had a feeling about resignation and helplessness, even though through the play Friar Lawrence always comforted Juliet and guided her what should she do. However he was only a friar, he did not have much power so after he went out, he may had a feeling about powerlessness, so, in the end, I added this action to reinforce this feeling. Then Friar Lawrence’s movement also showed his feeling, his movement was not fast, but was step by step, then I closed the door. 

Performing an epic story was very challenging but also interesting. For the challenging part, I could hardly combine the speaking part with the action part, in the beginning, I can not do speaking and acting at the same time. Then I watched a lot movie version about church scene, so I find out a way to use lines reminding me about the actions and also use actions to help me remind the lines. In the preparation of the performance, I did a lot of analysis of Romeo and Juliet language and stage setting. Which gave me a lot of discovering on how did Shakespeare describe characters’ movements, also analysis the language use in the scene helped me to understand each character deeply. Through the whole scene, even Juliet and Friar Lawrence had different characteristics, but their final goal was to let this couple out of this shame and be re-together.

Citerion

A. Analysis of literature feature. (4/5)
Too much analysis, too much introduction. Almost. But has quotation to support.
B. (5/10)
Less information. Lack Of Supporting.
C. (3/5)

Thesis

Act 4 Scene 1 is a transitional point in the play of Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare used foreshadowing to show the main style of story transits from love to death. Therefore playing a role of Friar Lawrence, I learned that his patience and calm push the whole story development, which these characteristics I used body language, change in speaking speed and emphasis to illustrate.