Romeo and Juliet is the most widely read William Shakespeare play and it’s overwhelming themes of loyalty, family and love are no doubt reasons why. The characters in the play and the journeys they follow allow for an exemplary piece of art to learn about both literary topics and performance skills. When working with Shakespearean texts, the most important parts of the adaptation center around deciphering the intentions of the language. This scene comes at a pivotal point where Romeo must make the decision to live forever in agony without Juliet, or die to be with her. Romeo specifically is a character that stands out from others through his extensive development throughout each act. The adaptation centered around Romeo as a character, aiming to highlight the change he has undergone throughout the play leading up to this moment in act five, scene three. Therefore, while performing the final death scene, I focused on displaying the climax of Romeo’s change, as well as embodying Romeo’s love as his motivation. I used the text to find contrasting language showing Romeo’s growth, and in my body expressed the love that consumed him.
Romeo is a character with plenty of passion, loyalty and excitement for anything new. He is a warm-hearted, adventurous spirit whose new found love has dictated his every move. Romeo is introduced into the play as an innocent teenager, who’s sonnets and overly dramatic language display his adolescence. Shakespeare uses metaphors in Romeo’s text to symbolize Romeo’s eagerness to understand love. For example, when talking about his love for Rosaline, Romeo speaks in exaggerated and poetic language, presenting him as inexperienced with the concept of love.
“Love is a smoke raised with the fume of sighs;
Being purged, a fire sparkling in lovers' eyes;
Being vexed a sea nourish'd with loving tears:
What is it else? a madness most discreet,
A choking gall, and a preserving sweet.”
(1.1.197-201)
This quote shows the emphasis on “lovers’ eyes” a concept I interpreted during my character study as Shakespeare foreshadowing. I believed he was alluding to Romeo being blind of what love is until he falls for Juliet at first sight. Using literary features such as foreshadowing and symbolism to understand the person Romeo was, allowed for a greater understanding of his change. This was important to my scene because I had to show how Romeo grew from an innocent boy, to a man who has not only fallen in love, but also seen death and disownment from his family. Romeo upon meeting Juliet has seen the realistic conflict in his world, thus making his love even more cherishable. He has experienced monumental moments in his life such as marriage and murder, that have shifted his perspective on love.
In the final death scene, his language displays this change clearly. Romeo begins to speak in rhyme and blank verse as the play becomes increasingly serious. This enables an honesty in his words. Romeo’s text begins to exhibit conversation and truth, thus making his suicide more understandable. This contrast of Romeo in act one then act five displays the way Shakespeare uses language and style to show character development. “Death, that hath suck’d the honey of thy breath,/ Hath had no power yet upon thy beauty/ Thou art not conquer’d, beauty’s ensign yet/ Is crimson in thy lips and in thy cheeks,”(5.3.92-95) This line shows that while content is similar of beauty and love in act one and act five, the way Romeo speaks has changed to be much darker. Words such as ‘suck’d the honey’ and ‘crimson’ show variety in the tone of Romeo’s text.
Beyond showing Romeo’s change, I knew I needed to understand Romeo’s deep love for Juliet as something truly genuine to make his suicide authentic. Understanding Romeo and Juliet’s story beyond the romance and into the depth of Romeo’s inner conflict was of highest priority. I found that by honing in on the tone of the death scene and the climate leading up to the moment, I could grasp the true essence of Romeo’s intentions and motivations. Since the beginning of the play, Shakespeare has foreshadowed to the lover’s never finding peace together. For example, this foreshadowing can be found in act one; “My mind misgives/ Some consequence/ yet hanging in the stars/ Shall bitterly begin his fearful date” (1.4.106-107) Therefore, I knew from the text that this scene was the climax of the drama. Understanding the importance of this scene in relevance to the complete story was a focus of mine in preparing for the performance.
When beginning the process of putting literature to stage my main focus was taking the literary themes as well as style of the script and transforming it into a physical experience. I focused on using the insight I gained from analyzing the text to embody Romeo’s change and love. The scene begins with Romeo off stage and Juliet center stage. This immediately sets the tone of the scene as the pair being separated. Despite this, Juliet’s texts centers around Romeo, instilling an idea of their souls being together. This choice proves a theme of the two being the star-crossed lovers. I wanted to do this to show how even through death, the two believe their love is everlasting. I found this to be relevant of the character’s thoughts from the prologue which states “A pair of star-crossed lovers take their life, / Whose misadventured piteous overthrows / Doth with their death bury their parents' strife.” (Prologue, 6-9) This showed me Shakespeare’s emphasis on Romeo and Juliet’s inevitable physical distance, which I knew needed to be a theme of the adaption.
To display the change occurring in Romeo while putting the scene to stage, I focused on being as unafraid of emotional vulnerability as possible and embracing the passion or Romeo’s love. This showed his change by contrasting the character Romeo was first introduced as completely. I began my lines standing completely still, facing towards the audience. I thought this was important because it displayed Romeo’s fear and disbelief of Juliet’s death. I tried to stand so still it seemed that Romeo was incapable of moving because of the pain he felt. I started my lines soft, reiterating Romeo’s disbelief. On the lines, “Or did I dream it so?/ Or am I mad, hearing him talk of Juliet,/ To think it was so?” (5.3.87-89) I grew louder and more frustrated in my tone. On these lines I broke my stillness and sharply reached out as if I was grasping for answers. After line 94, I slowly turned towards Juliet and began to breathe heavily. I did so by assumed Romeo would be very cautious to finally see Juliet’s body. I theorized that once Romeo saw her, he knew he would finally have to accept her death. This acceptance would drive the following emotion of the scene. When I did see Juliet, I ran over and yelled the line “O my love, my wife!” (5.3.100) with obvious heartbreak and tragedy in my voice.
I trembled the next few lines as Romeo’s text centered on his confusion of Juliet’s incomprehensible beauty. I imagined tearing up in complete despair to see his love dead. This is where I began to focus on Romeo’s intense love for Juliet. I slowly started to move Romeo towards suicide himself by exaggerating the lines with dramatic pauses and kept visual focus right on Juliet’s face. This reiterated the theme of Romeo’s pain and allowed me to bring more emotion to the scene. I also focused on allowing Romeo to live in his last moments with Juliet. Although I eventually showed a strong confidence in Romeo’s decision to kill himself, I believed it was important to still display Romeo’s grief. I also wanted to reveal Romeo second guessing what afterlife will entail for him. Having Romeo second guess his faith was an intentional decision I made to add layers to Romeo’s death. I did this by taking moments to hold Juliet close as well as look away from her to show the contrast of Romeo’s inner conflict.
By kneeling down next to Juliet for a majority of the lines, I was able to hold her physically close. I wanted Romeo to embrace his last moments with Juliet on Earth before taking his life to join her spirit. “O here/ Will I set up my everlasting rest/ And shake the yoke of inauspicious stars/ From this world wearied flesh.” (5.3.109-112) This line was where I showed Romeo’s final decision to die. I said the line with conviction and strength to exemplify Romeo’s sacrifice. “The yoke of inauspicious stars” (5.3.111) was a line I explained as Romeo’s decision to forget his past and forgive the darkness of his life. Thus, I delivered this line strong and compassionately. Knowing Romeo’s past with violence and feud, I understood that this forgiveness was a convincing factor to Romeo’s suicide, both for the audience and the character himself. By displaying this love for all those in his life, and immense passion for Juliet, I believe I allowed his death to make sense in the play. I did not over dramatize it, but seeked empathy and humanity from the audience to evoke a sense of authenticity.
Body language and movements were a large part of the scene. I focused on how to move with a strong, relevant presence on stage. I decided where I felt Romeo had no choice but to move and committed to the motions. I strived to always move with purpose, and whenever I touched Juliet I made sure to devote energy to the movement. I believe this showed the passion and extremity of the moment which caused Romeo to move initially. When holding Juliet I always was soft but simultaneously intense in my need to be as close as I could to Juliet’s body. My face was constantly changing depending upon the content of my lines. When speaking of Juliet’s beauty, for example, “And, lips, O you/ The doors of breath, seal with a righteous kiss” (5.3.122-123) I smiled and showed a sense of nostalgia in my face, as if Romeo was reminiscing of the joy he had with Juliet. Although when speaking of Romeo’s hate for death on lines 111-114, “Why art thou yet so fair?/ Shall I believe/ That unsubstantial death is amorous,/ And that the lean abhorrèd monster keeps/ Thee here in dark to be his paramour?” (5.3.111-114) I strived to show the hate in my face and disgust of Romeo’s unfortunate situation.
Romeo and Juliet is interesting to perform because it is a tragedy that focuses on change. Love is a strong theme of the play, although I would argue, when performing change is more important to observe. Understanding how Romeo grows up and learns to love in a way that leads to suicide, is valuable for any actor striving to develop their script interpretation. The literary aspects of the text allow for the characters to be so extraordinary in their depth. Therefore, while focusing on love and change to portray Romeo, I believe I grew as both an actress able to embody themes as well as characters, and a reader of literature holistically.
I need more on the process (how it was portraying a boy and how I progressed) and a better conclusion of some sort.. I am stuck here as of now.
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