Extra Credit

Romeo and Juliet

 

Write a soliloquy focussing on some aspect of a main character’s self-deception. Choose one of the following:

 

Romeo’s delusions about love

Tybalt’s argument for revenge

Mercutio’s ideas about manhood

Friar Laurence’s ideas about virtue

 

OR

 

Write a five-paragraph essay in which you tell why Romeo and Juliet’s love affair is like that of today’s teenage romance.

 

 

Examples of soliloquy

Romeo’s delusions about love

 

 

O’ sweet love

Just saying your name brings me much joy

Sweet love, you are my dreams

You are the center of my universe

And yet you do not know that you hold the stars

In the palm of your hand

Yes, sweet love

I see them now

Dancing in your hands

Shining their light and smiling up at you

Because even the stars know that you

Are superior even to them

No, don’t look down here where I stand

For the moment must carry on even longer

O’ sweet love

The happiness that you have yet to bring to me

Already fills my soul with many wondrous thoughts

The warm and tender smile on your face

Will begin each of my mornings here after

Love will heal the scars inflicted by our family’s hatred

It will send Prince Escalus back home with no fury to patrol

Love will enable your father to see that 13 is the marrying age

It will draw the sun up from over the hills

To spread its rays across your face as you awaken each morning

O’ sweet love

Come to me

 

Soliloquy

Tybalt’s argument for revenge

 

  1. Romeo you challenge my honor
  2. You come into the home of my family
  3. And you flaunt your name
  4. Spit on the Montogue name
  5. Romeo you will know the pain
  6. That is felt when you suffer a blow from me
  7. A man’s honor is his badge
  8. Of pride for his family
  9. You, Romeo, hide behind a mask
  10. Enter at the invitation of an unreading servant
  11. To a place where your name is dirt
  12. To steal kisses from my sweet cousin
  13. In her own home
  14. Bravery will not afford you a life
  15. You shall soon say goodbye to this world
  16. A fond farewell to your life
  17. Your life which I value so little
  18. You, Romeo, will know soon
  19. That a honorable man can do but one thing
  20. Revenge, Romeo, Revenge