Romeo and Juliet, one of the most popular plays written by William Shakespeare, is the universally-accepted representation of immutable love. However, tasting the artwork carefully, I doubt that Romeo and Juliet’s love is not really that invulnerable. Since both characters are young and impulsive, many incidents could dramatically alter their emotions as well as behaviors. In order to demonstrate the change of affection in our scenes that we perform for this project, I excerpt lines from Act II Scene 1, when Romeo and Juliet reveal their deep love to each other and Act III Scene 5, when they start to become desperate because of imminent separation. As these two scenes both happen at Juliet’s balcony before the two lovers separate, I emphasized the emotional differences by using changed vocal tones, exaggerated movements and contrasting colors. These techniques clearly show that their fervent love is eventually affected by desperation, which leads to their impetuous decisions and tragic ending.
The performance starts with a hint of strong love when Romeo confesses his admiration under the balcony in Act II Scene 1, a scene filled with exchanging of romance, passion and hope. Romeo expresses his deep affection to Juliet by saying “It is the East, and Juliet is the sun (2.1 3).” This metaphor vividly indicates how fascinating Juliet is for Romeo, since “the sun” is the most unique substance in the world. Knowing Juliet’s real mind when she says, “In truth, fair Montague, I am too fond (2.1 103)”, Romeo could not conceal his exhilaration and vows to the moon immediately. Despite the family feud, Romeo bravely pronounces his firm determination and urgent love. Similarly, young Juliet also has an intense desire for Romeo. She would like to discard her family and “no longer be a Capulet (2.1 39)” for Romeo; she also discards a girl’s reserved manner, straightforwardly pouring out her heart to the man she only met once: “Thy purpose marriage, send me word tomorrow, And all my fortunes at thy foot I’ll lay (2.1 151)”. The candidness of Juliet demonstrates her enthusiasm towards affections. Furthermore, Juliet is confident about their love; she wholeheartedly believes that they will meet again and prove it legally: “This bud of love, by summer’s ripening breath, May prove a beauteous flower when next we meet (2.1 128-129)”. During their conversation, Juliet shows her reluctance to leave Romeo when she is forced to go into her room by the Nurse. She immediately comes back to the balcony to meet Romeo again; she says multiple “goodbye” and “a thousand times good night” but just could not let Romeo leave. Romeo as well, grabs Juliet many times and waits for her patiently when she is in her room. In this scene, they feel loath to part from each other and gain plenty of hope for the future because of their fervent love.
In this first scene our group aimed at showing the beauty and brightness of strong love, and therefore constructed a cozy and romantic atmosphere. The entire scene was staged at the back of two windows, with a large table in front as fences of the balcony. I wore a crimson medieval dress, and my partner, acting as Romeo, was in orange to compare the ardor of our heart to gorgeous firework. In the beginning, I, as Juliet, was positioned on a little chair which was lower than the fence, and therefore I could only see and not hear anything outside of the “room”. After Romeo quietly presented his monologue, I suddenly stood up. With a sigh, I started my own monologue with a complaining tone: “O, Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo (2.1 36)”. Juliet’s eagerness for Romeo was extremely strong. Therefore, I showed the counter emotions of both disappointment and expectation by grumbling the sentence above. When I found out that Romeo had heard my murmur, I first became shocked and immediately started to smile with excitement. I talked with him as genteelly as possible while not able to hide the chuckle in my voice since the man I love was standing in front of me with his true heart. When Romeo vowed, I stopped him nervously with my hand trying to cover his lips: “O, swear not by the moon, th’ inconstant moon(2.1 114-115)”. I raised my voice and spoke faster when I felt ambivalent for his promise, demonstrating that I wanted him to seriously vow. I even touched his cheek to show how much I was attracted to him when I say, “swear by thy gracious self (2.1 119)”. The most significant part which I emphasized was how difficult it was for Juliet to separate from Romeo even for a second. When I “hear some noise within (2.1 143),” I asked Romeo urgently to wait for me, while I ran inside and ran back to him as soon as possible. I pretended I was in a hurry for that short distance to indicate I cared about Rome and longed to see him. The second time when I said “a thousand times good night (2.1 164)”, I still held his hand when turning back to the “room”. Suddenly, I rushed out again and spoke loudly to him: “hist Romeo hist (2.1 169),” and then asked him when I should meet him the next day. During the whole part of asking, I was looking at his eyes with a smile. In addition to admiration, I expressed my dismay of his leaving by rising my hand in the air, pretending that there was a “wonton’s bird (2.1 191)” on my hand that I wish to keep. I held Romeo’s hand for the last time and returned to my room with a satisfied smile. When our hands eventually had to separate, I still kept mine spread at my back and tried to touch him with the fingertips. The series of movements showed how reluctant I was to leave Romeo, and how much I wanted to meet him again although he was right in front of me. Ended with Romeo’s passionate monologue about his eagerness of marriage, this scene presented the enthusiasm between Romeo and Juliet by bright color, agile tone and lively gestures.
The second scene manifests the deteriorated process of Romeo and Juliet’s love which starts with Juliet humbly begging: “Wilt thou be gone? It was not yet near day. It was the nightingale, and not the lark (3.5 2)”. Knowing that Romeo is going to escape, Juliet struggles to convince herself that is not true, which is the only thing she can do to comfort her broken heart. However, Romeo does not have the patience to be romantic when facing the risk of death; he directly points out the truth: “It was the lark…I must be gone and live, or stay and die (3.5 6-11)”. Later, Romeo becomes extremely impatient and complains his discontent towards Juliet with an ending sentence of “Come death and welcome. Juliet wills it so (3.5 24)”. In this situation, Romeo only cares about himself rather than considering how sad Juliet is. His love is gradually depleted because of the horror of death. Juliet eventually gives up trying to hold on to Romeo: “O, now begone. More light and light it grows (3.5 35)”. Romeo states his pessimistic mind to respond this sentence: “More light and light, more dark and dark our woes (3.5 36)”. If Romeo still loves Juliet as strongly as before, he will absolutely encourage her and try to comfort her. However, he cannot even convince himself to be optimistic, how can he help Juliet get out of this mood? Juliet loses all her confidence which is extremely strong in the first scene that she even disrupts Romeo’s vow because she knows he would come for her again the next day. In the current situation, she could only ask him diffidently, “O, think’st thou we shall ever meet again (3.5 51)”. When Romeo finally pacifies her by answering “doubt it not; and all these woes shall serve, For sweet discourses in our times to come (3.5 52-53)”, Juliet has already been dropped into the gulf of despair. She says “now thou art so low, As one dead in the bottom of a tomb (3.5 56)”, which foreshadows the probable ending of their extreme love: death. Romeo as well, has the same feeling: “And trust me, love, in my eye so do you. Dry sorrow drinks our blood (3.5 59)”. Both of them have lost passion and hope because the monster of desperation has converted their love into a burden and fetter, only providing them with anguish.
Entirely opposite from the first scene, this scene was set to heighten pessimistic mood of the two characters, whose love and patience had been exploited by despair. Compared to the vivid color of costumes in last scene, my dress here was in cheerless white and Romeo’s outfit was totally black, indicating the agony and dismay of our minds caused by the oncoming farewell. I was leaning my head on Romeo’s shoulder when I realized that he might leave soon and asked him as soft as possible: “Wilt thou begone (5.3 1)” I slowly raised my head from his shoulder, looking at his eyes with affection to show that I was trying my best to keep him staying. As reply, Romeo pushed me away and shouted loudly, “It was the lark, the herald of the morn, No nightingale (5.3 6)”. Accompanied with his cruel statement, he gradually walked towards the window and got ready to escape since being alive became his only concern at that time. I followed him immediately and shrugged my shoulders, arguing that “It was some meteor that the sun (5.3 13)” with a deep exhale because I knew what I said was unconvincing. After Romeo yelled at me, I finally gave up and dropped my arms weakly beside my body. “It is, it is (3.5 26)” I murmured this sentence crestfallenly, and held my left hand in front of my heart to demonstrate how painful I felt when “[the lark] dividth us.” Romeo, whom did not care about my emotions, moved away a little and said, “Farewell, farewell. One kiss and I’ll descend (3.5 42)”. However, we did not make the kiss a real one on the lips like lovers usually do. He grabbed my hand quickly, slightly touched it with lips, and simultaneously moved out. This series of impatient movements strongly implied that the only concern in Romeo’s mind was escaping; our love was unconsciously defeated by our own minds and behaviors. When Romeo got away from my balcony, I went after him again, asking him with a really invocatory voice: “think’st thou we shall ever meet again (3.5 51)”. I talked to him without any happiness and vitality to show that my optimism attitude was depleted by the truth, and I fell into a mood of darksome. Eventually, I stared at and spoke to him torpidly when he left my balcony: “now thou art so low, As one dead in the bottom of a tomb (3.5 56)”. I did not express any passion. Even though I reached my hand out pretending to catch him, I retracted it quickly. To imply my callousness, I conveyed the notion that Romeo had become a dead person in my heart, just like our love which had been pulled away by despair. In total contrast to the first scene, where I spoke with him confidently and predicted our future positively, this scene expressed my desperation through those diffident tone, powerless movements and feeble faces.
Playing Juliet helped me understand deeply about Romeo and Juliet’s love, which is vigorous but brittle. From analyzing her language and acting her behaviors, I gradually realized that Juliet is the representation of every girl in the world, expecting liberty, passion and a profound relationship. Nevertheless, young love is never a stable factor. Desperation can always destroy irrational minds. Therefore, we should restore our patience, control our emotions and think deeply before making decisions in any situation.
