Reference no: EM133679379

One of the brilliant choices Shakespeare made when writing his plays is to not give too many stage directions, set dressing descriptions, or set it firmly in a place or time period. This gives actors and directors the opportunity to interpret each of his plays in wildly different ways. For this assignment, you will be looking at the same scene from two different directors, and you will compare and contrast those scenes.

Act 2 Scene 2 Answer the following questions.

In Franco Zeffirelli's Romeo and Juliet what are some of the major differences from the play? Is the tone any different? Does the set or the actors' costumes change the way you perceive the scene? 2 paragraphs.

In Baz Luhrmann's Romeo + Juliet what are some of the major differences from the play? Is the tone any different? Does the set or the actors' costumes change the way you perceive the scene? 6 to 8 sentences.

Now compare the two. How does Zeffirelli's and Luhrmann's interpretation of the scene differ from each other? How are they the same? Who do you think was better? 5 to 6 sentences.

As a part of our unit on Shakespeare and our continuing mastering of skill to determine "the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in the text, including figurative and connotative meanings" we are going to engage with the most traditional way of understanding Shakespeare: acting it.

Students are going to be expect to:

Annotate a full monologue from Romeo and Juliet
Recite at least 15 lines from that monologue from memory.
Using tone words as cues, attempt to convey the emotion of the scene from the meaning of words and phrases in the text.
To fully annotate the monologue, you will need to do the following:

Read through the monologue and circle any vocabulary words you do not know. After you finish reading, go back to these words and look them up in the dictionary. Include the definitions for these words either in the margins or on the back of the monologue.
Paraphrase each section of the play in the margins by putting it into your own words. This step will help to clarify the play's message
Identify the speaker and audience, if possible. Who is the narrator? Who is the narrator talking to or talking about? Deciphering this information can be helpful to analyzing a text. Include this information at the top or bottom of the monologue.
Highlight or circle TONE WORDS in the play. These are words that show a specific attitude that can vary from neutral and objective to angry and outraged.
Go back through the play and underline + label any literary devices that you see (i.e. metaphor, simile, personification, alliteration, allusions, etc.). Decipher them on the margins of the play.
What is the overall theme of the monologue? Include a theme statement for the monologue. What is the monologues central message? What does the monologue say about love, the nature of life, time, beauty, etc.?