Cheat Sheet to Romeo and Juliet

We all have had the play, Romeo and Juliet, to study, at one point of time. And we've all avoided the Shakespearean text. Not to forget summaries of each scene in each act (there are five acts). Well, here are my interpretations of this play.

But first, the characters.

Montagues:
Lord Montague: Father of Romeo, and head of the Montague house.
Lady Montague: Wife of Montague, mother of Romeo.
Romeo: Sole son of the Montague name.
Benvolio: Cousin of Romeo. Peacemaker, as his name suggests.
Balthasar: Romeo's servant.
Abraham: Servant.

Capulets:
Lord Capulet: Father of Juliet, and head of the Capulet house.
Lady Capulet: Wife of Capulet, mother of Juliet.
Juliet: Sole daughter of the Capulet household.
Nurse: Juliet's servant and Confidant. More of a mother than her real mother.
Tybalt: Cousin of Juliet. King of Cats.
Peter: Servant of the nurse.
Gregory and Sampson: Two servants.

Friar Lawrence: Stands the middle ground. He is the confidant of both Romeo and Juliet.
We can already see some parallelism.

Royalty:
Prince Escalus: Prince of Verona.
Paris: A wealthy relative of the Prince, to marry Juliet.
Mercutio: A relative of the prince, but best friends with Romeo.

Now, the summaries.

Act 1:

Scene 1: Sampson and Gregory (Capulet servants) are walking down an alley, run into some Montague servants (Abram and Balthasar). The Capulet's servants provoke the Montague's, and it leads to a fight. Benvolio, cousin of Romeo, tries to stop them, but in comes Tybalt (cousin of Juliet), who leads Benvolio into a fight. The Prince intervenes, and says that the next act of violence between the Capulets and Montagues will be punished by death. Romeo's parents confide in Benvolio on his weird behaviour of late. Benvolio finds that Romeo is pining about his love for Rosaline.

Scene 2: Paris wishes to marry Juliet, and Capulet agrees to the marriage. He holds a feast at his home, and sends Peter to deliver invitations. Peter who can't read, asks Romeo to help him distribute the letters. Benvolio notices it's a party at the Capulet household, and asks Romeo to go with him in order to compare the beauties and cure his lovesickness.

Scene 3: Lady Capulet tells Juliet and Nurse about the marriage proposal, and Juliet agrees to try to fall in love with Paris as much as she can.

Scene 4: Benvolio and Mercutio convince Romeo to go to the party. They dress up as masked dancers, and Romeo insists on being a torch bearer rather than a dancer.

Scene 5: Romeo sees Juliet, and is enchanted by her beauty. Tybalt notices Romeo, and wishes to fight; he tells Capulet, but Capulet notes how well-behaved Romeo is, and tells him not to, as Romeo was doing nothing to provoke a fight. Romeo and Juliet converse, and Romeo kisses her (twice) and leaves. As he does, Juliet asks Nurse about the 'unknown man' (Romeo), to which Nurse tells her that it is the son of Montague.

Act 2:

Scene 1: Romeo decides to hide from his friends, as they continue to joke about Romeo's hopeless love for Rosaline. They are completely oblivious as to what happened between him and Juliet.

Scene 2: Juliet, at the balcony, calls out her worries of love, not knowing Romeo is listening. He reveals himself, and they exchange words of love to each other. They arrange for Nurse to be their go-between.

Scene 3: Friar Lawrence is persuaded by Romeo to agree to their (Romeo and Juliet's) marriage. Frair Lawrence notes the impulsiveness, but yields at the end.

Scene 4: Opens up on Benvolio and Mercutio joking about the challenge that Tybalt had sent to Romeo. They also joke about what had occupied Romeo the night before. Romeo joins in with the comedy until Nurse walks in.

Scene 5: The Nurse meets with Romeo to know of the marriage arrangements. She then goes home to Juliet and tells her what she had learned from Romeo.

Scene 6: Romeo and Juliet get married, by Friar Lawrence, in a very short, private ceremony.

Act 3:

Scene 1: After the marriage, Romeo, while walking down the street, bumps into Tybalt. He tells Tybalt that he refuses the challenge, as he has a reason to love him now. Mercutio, impatient, draws his sword for Romeo in response to the challenge. Romeo steps between them to stop the fight, but Tybalt cunningly strikes under Romeo's arm, and kills Mercutio. Romeo and Benvolio take dying Mercutio to the doctor, but he dies upon arrival. Romeo crosses paths with Tybalt again, and in rage for retribution, challenges Tybalt and kills him. The Prince arrives, assesses the situation, grieves Mercutio's death, and banishes Romeo instead of killing him.

Scene 2: Juliet, waiting for a response from Romeo, receives instead the news of what occurred from Nurse. She wishes to cry for the demise of Tybalt, but cry with joy that Romeo was not killed, nor would he be executed. She sends her ring, and word, through Nurse to Romeo (who is hiding in Frair Lawrence's cell.

Scene 3: Friar Lawrence tries to make Romeo see the bright side of things, like the fact that he was not dead. Nurse walks in, gives Romeo Juliet's ring and word, and leaves. This cheers Romeo up, as Juliet is neither mad, nor disgusted by him.

Scene 4: During this time, Capulet meets with Paris, and they prepone the marriage, in order to make Juliet stop crying and grieving for Tybalt (that's what they think).

Scene 5: Romeo and Juliet consumate their marriage. Dawn approaches, and Romeo leaves Juliet. Nurse urges him to hurry, as Juliet's mother was approaching. Lady Capulet brings Juliet the news of the preponed arranged marriage. Juliet opposes, which makes her father mad. He disowns Juliet as his daughter for all the disobedience she has wrought. Juliet, after her parents leave, asks Nurse what to do. She is shocked that even Nurse turns on her. She decides to go to Friar Lawrence, and if that fails, she has the power to suicide.

Act 4:

Scene 1: Friar Lawrence devises a plan; he gives Juliet a vial of poison that would make her seem dead, and would only wake her after 42 hours. He sends another Friar to Romeo with details of their plan.

Scene 2: Under the pretense that she had gone to confess sins, Juliet returns and begs forgiveness (not really) of her father. Her father is pleased, and he shifts the wedding to the next day (even closer).

Scene 3: Before bed, Juliet dismisses Nurse, and takes the poison.

Scene 4: The Capulet household is almost done with the wedding preparations, and Capulet sends Nurse to wake Juliet up from her slumber.

Scene 5: The entire Capulet household and Paris are in dismay and utter shock by Juliet's demise. They use the wedding preparations for funeral preparations.

Act 5:

Scene 1: Since Friar Lawrence's letter did not reach Romeo, Romeo hears the news of Juliet's death (in Mantua). He goes to the nearest apothecary and purchases the strongest and fastest poison. He then heads to the Capulets' vault to confirm this news.

Scene 2: Friar Lawrence learns that Romeo never received the letter, and heads to the Capulets' vault himself.

Scene 3: Romeo reaches Juliet's tomb the moment that Paris is praying for her. Paris' page runs to find the Prince and the authorities. Romeo and Paris fight, and Paris dies. Romeo looks at Juliet's lifeless body, kisses her, and drinks the poison. Friar Lawrences appears after this, and Juliet subsequently wakes up. Juliet looks at Romeo's corpse, and tries to glean some poison from his lips. She fails, and takes his dagger, and stabs herself. The Prince, Capulet and Montague (alone, as her wife died due to Romeo's banishment) arrive to the scene. They are shocked, and Friar Lawrence tells them the whole story of what happened. Capulet and Montague feel cursed, and as said in the prologue;

"Whose misadventur'd piteous overthrows
Doth with their death bury their parents' strife.
The fearful passage of their death-mark'd love,
And the continuence of their parents' rage,
Which but their children's end nought could remove,"

That's the end of the summary, but if you want a one sentence summary:

Boy meets girl, forbidden love happens, they die.

Happy Valentine's Day!

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Luurrrv

What is Love?

Now that's an important question. Lurrrv. It's February, and valentines, and all the single pringles. But not to worry, because I'm going to answer an important question. After a long hiatus, I'm back, and I'm going to bring you the true meaning of love.

Not to worry actually. 

You may think that love is an obsession over a person that you want, need, got to have. But honestly, I don't think so. That's quite possibly lust. Love requires intense commitment and understanding of the person, not just wanting. 

In my opinion, only a few people feel love. Love actually, à mon avis, (I just language of romanced here), is anything. It's something you can believe in strongly, trust in, and have faith in, and obviously, in some way, are obsessed in the sense that "it's yours". 

So what's you plan for Valentines? Have you found the one? Can you trust them?

If I was in love, 

Honestly, my plans for Valentines day:

Oops, guess I'm obsessed.

Well comment below, what are your plans for this Valentines?

slumberland

slumberland

Even the title of the fourth part hints at something happening. Slumber. Land. Someone is going to die. Or fall into endless sleep. And that someone is going to be Violet. This analysis will be short, but still quite descriptive, because I did not have much time to do this. I just shifted house (again) and had to help in the unloading and fixing process.

It starts off in the hospital where Violet has been fixed and Titus, I believe, has finally realized that he was in love with only one part of Violet, and he only wanted a perfect her. He didn’t want a broken and scarred Violet. He wasn’t in love at all. We also begin to see another form of degradation; the environment. They can turn on and off the climate, and sun.

Later, Violet expresses her life wishes to Titus, but we see Titus is reluctant. It feels as if he’s a jerk, who was only using Violet. Titus is beginning to distance himself from Violet. I find this quite sad, because we could see in the beginning to middle of the book that Violet was helping Titus, and Titus was quite dependent on her. She supported him, and showed him a new way around things. And when she needs him, he’s shying away and slowly becoming a jerk.

Then, I found something quite interesting. On pages 222-223, Quendy is acting quite mature and smart. She tries to understand what’s happening to Violet, and even searches things up on her feed. She also indirectly calls Titus an unemphatic person for not even caring to know what his happening ‘re: Violet’.  Also, it is pointed out that Quendy’s blood is blue. This is a possible reference to two things; one, that there is not enough oxygen in the atmosphere, and two, a possible hint that Quendy is quite “royal” in terms that she cares.

 Also, we see that Titus is scared and tries to shirk his responsibilities. He goes into mal, and winds up at Violet’s house. She takes care of him anyways, which is quite ironic, and goes on to stay with him outside, while the father silently judges from inside the house. Moreover, Violet, after that incident, sends all her important memories over to Titus. And makes a weekend plan with him. But he deletes everything. He can’t handle all his emotions.

When they do end up going to the mountain under the pseudonyms Mister and Missus Smith, Titus freaks out when Violet starts to get intimate. Her last words to him were, “Oh, shit.”

After that incident, Titus moves on; they have broken up. He doesn’t even look back at her. He starts dating Quendy, and goes on holidays with his mates. When his dad comes back from a whale expedition, he projects memories. And that’s when Violet’s dad’s message comes in, saying that Violet was gone.

Titus rushes over, only to meet a body, with barely any life signals, covered in discs. He doesn’t feel any grief. Violet’s dad attacks Titus and tells him to go play with the Eloi. This is a reference to the book, “The Time Machine” by H. G. Wells, where the Eloi are the superior race that live on the surface of the earth and don’t perform menial task; only play. What a wonderful reference.

When Titus gets home, I think he finally understands what Violet meant by resisting. He orders the same pants all the same colour until his credit is depleted. Completely. This is a different way of resistance. It makes the corps believe that Titus really likes those pants, and completely conforms him to a category that he is not. So, kudos to him to find a non-damaging way to fight the feed.

Two days later, he goes back to Violet. And he tells her short stories. You can see he is very aware now, and no longer obsessed over small irrelevant things. He knows what’s happening in the world now. And he starts to cry. Which is very unusual for that future. He understands finally what his love for Violet was, he starts to feel bad.

Everything must go. 

Everything must go.

Everything must go.

My favorite quote though was: “There’s an ancient saying in Japan, that life is like walking from one side of infinite darkness to another, on a bridge of dreams. They way that we’re all crossing the bridge of dreams together. That there’s nothing more than that. Just us, on the bridge of dreams.”

I liked the ending. It was quite intense. I would, though, give this book a 7/10. It’s not really my favorite book, but the ending was just my style. So it got bumped up. Anyways. Thank you. Bye. 

utopia

Part three is entitled utopia. It was quite surprising, and the ending especially was quite shocking, although expected. Below are five quotes that I found interesting, or appalling.

1.       question of moral        

“Intercrural or oral! Ain’t a question of moral!” (pg. 127)

Smell Factor is watching a kids broadcast during dinner. What surprised me was the language usage in the world of the future, and the message being sent to the kids. It is affirming that either of those sexual orientations are alright and perfectly fine to be carried out. Honestly, perhaps for a late teen that would be a fine program, but a child?!

2.       observe the remarkable verdure

“’He says the language is dying and that words are being debased. So he tries to speak entirely in weird words and irony, so no one can simplify anything he says.’” (pg. 137)

                At least a few people in the world realize that the world is dying, and language is going with it. Slowly the world is declining through the constant usage of the “feed”. Words and speech are being used less and less in the future which is probably less vocabulary and less parts of speech are utilised.

3.       a day in the country

“But we have entered a new age. We are a new people. It is now the age of oneiric culture, the culture of dreams.” (pg. 149)

                This is basically an elaboration of the previous point. We finally understand that the people don’t really talk at all in the feed. Communication, advertisements are all done as a flow of images and videos; not previous speech usage and writing. DECLINE OF HUMAN CIVILISATION.

4.       fight and flight

“She whispered, ‘Talk to me. In the air.’” (pg. 169)

                Possibly, Violet and her father are one of the few people who realize what is really happening in the world. She realizes that she is dying and would prefer to discuss the issue in the open, using speech, as she wants to rebel till her last breath. Also, perhaps she doesn’t wish to document her emotions on this topic on the feed.

5.       our duty to the party

“She had broken somehow, and she was broken, and, oh fuck, she was sagging and I grabbed her to help her, and she was shaking, and her eyes were all white and rolling around, and she couldn’t talk anymore-

-she was choking- “(pg. 202)

                We finally understand what is happening with Violet completely. The feed is really controlling every part of you. It takes all of your movements and actions. It also takes the brain, and all possible control. We already knew that Violet really believed those things that she said as true, but all control was wrenched from her, so she couldn’t stop herself from saying it out loud.

eden

Finally, here’s the second blogpost on the book Feed. Actually, it was supposed to be posted earlier, but perhaps you can see why I had to get it done today (what a hectic weekend) So here’s the second part:

6. awake

“It felt like I was in a little room.” (pg. 43)

                The feed plays such a big role in the lives of the future people. Without the feed, they feel emotionally unreliant on themselves. They don’t know what to do, or say, and are so confused as to what is actually happening. Truly, this sentence proves how oppressed they are. Once oppressed for a long time, and then released, one is in confusion and feels small, scared, and even stressed.

7. college try

“Everything in my head was quiet. It was fucked.” (pg. 44)

                Reaffirms on the point stated above. The feed was a constant thing, that played a constant role in their lives. They used it as a crutch, and find it disconcerting to live without the constant talk and information stream in their head.

8. boring

“I couldn’t figure out even the littlest reason to paint a picture like that.” (pg. 45)

                The lack of creativity is quite astounding. Since they are dependent on technology to do most of their work, they cannot think for themselves. They don’t even understand the purpose of the painting; they don’t interpret it as ‘art’ or even ‘expression’. It also shows confusion, or an introduction to foreign ideas, lack of understanding, and even uncertainty. As my earlier post had touched on, this may be a recurring symbol or theme.

9. still boring

“Suddenly, our heads felt real empty. At least in the hospital they had better gravity than the hotel.” (pg. 46)

Oh, no. How will they survive without the feed? They feel as If they are missing something extremely important in their life, in their heads. Since they are so uncomfortable, they look for a point of solace, another recurring symbol; better gravity. It had been mentioned before, and they always comment on how gravity is very important, since all gravity on the moon is artificial. Gravity makes things fall back down, a centrifugal force. Therefore, it enhances the theme that all things must fall, or will fall eventually.

10. missing the feed

“Everything we think and feel is taken in by the corporations mainly by data ones like Feedlink and OnFeed and American Feedware, and they make a special profile, one that’s keyed just to you, and then they give it to their branch companies, or other companies buy them, and they can get to know what it is we need, so all you have to do is want something, and here’s a chance it will be yours.”  (pg. 48)

I don’t think that much needs to be said about this one. It’s quite self-explanatory; everything you do is noted. The corporations and the governments know your every move, step, all that you do. It is all noted, confirming my earlier suspicion that everyone is under control, their every step is tailored for them. They are controlled completely.

11. cache & carry

“I flipped through them sadly. I went back and forth between them.” (pg. 50)

                Although he may be talking about cached pages that he had saved earlier, it also represents his uncertainty, and furthermore proves that he may be a dynamic character. He is unsure and doesn’t know what to do. He goes ‘back and forth’ showing that he has a lot of choices and he doesn’t know what to choose. This may be a point later on in the story where he won’t know what to do.

12. night. and boring

“I hoped she could see my smile in the light of my brain.” (pg. 54)

                Violet is slowly changing Titus, and he really can see that. Both his heart and brain, not the Feedware, agree that she is someone important, and without bias wants to have her as a someone important in his life. 

13. father

“’Oh. Shit. Yeah, I forgot. No m-chat. Just talking.’” (pg. 55)

                People are so reliant on the Feedware for all their information and daily requirements. People even talk through the Feedware even though the person is right in front of them. This is quite saddening, as it shows that human civilisation is dying slowly, and once again, the species is going to die, although this is actually quite pathetic.

14. salad days, w/sneeze guard

“…and her eyes were vacant like she was seeing some other world, which I guess she was.” (pg. 58)

                The feed represents another mystic world, a world of want, rather than need, where everything one wants is right at their feet, or in their hands. It also represents that the feed takes you somewhere else, and controls you in a way that would not seem intrusive, but rather mystifying. At least that’s my opinion of it.

15. garden

“But a long time ago the glass ceiling over the terrarium had cracked, and so everything was dead, and there was moon dust all over everything out there. Everything was gray.” (pg. 62)

                Everything that is dead is grey. Sorry, I like the British spelling for things. Anyways. This terrarium could represent earth. The atmosphere may have stopped working, the ozone layer just dissipated, and the world is dying. That is why, probably, there is so much pollution, lesions, people aren’t really aware of the world dying. Perhaps, this is a symbol for death, and perhaps, we may see this symbol recur later on in the novel.

16. dead language

“She looked me in the eye. ‘No,” she said, ‘but that’s what I told you.’” (pg. 67)

                Deception is a great device. Also, Violet is portrayed as a slightly vague and mysterious person. She has lied, but is now telling the truth. It also symbolised uncertainty. Should we trust her or not? I predict she will cause great changes in Titus and make the book very exciting.

17. release

“It came down like frickin’ spring rains, and we were dancing in it.” (pg. 70)

                Water represents life, freedom and running free. All the friends found freedom and solace in the feed. Refer to above analysis.

What a weekend...

Heyo guys...

Yeah. I'm sleepy. It's morning, and I'm writing a blogpost. About my weekend in general. It was really fun, and productive, but really, I need some rest right about now.

So basically, this weekend, I had this MUN (Model United Nations) conference at my school, or JoMUN. I was apprehensive, since I was the only 9th grader in my committee, ECOSOC, and I thought I was going to do bad. Actually, what 9th grader joins the Economic and Social Council. (*points to me*).

Actually, I had so much fun, I don't even know what to do anymore. I was representing Sierra Leone, a country in West Africa. And my issue was the creation of a free trade zone in Africa. So basically, we have to write a resolution, actually, lemme just attach it for you so that you can see what we do.

Then we have to debate and make amendments. 

A few people made amendments, that really made no sense. I was like, "The delegate wishes to say that the delegate at the podium is very wrong....." Yeah, so basically, my resolution passed with no amendments. Congrats me. 

Actually, I really enjoyed my experience over the weekend, and I hope to have many more conferences as such. Anyways, guess I'll just go over to my bed and call it a day.... (even though it's morning XD)

moon

So this is going to be my first blogpost about the novel “Feed” by Matthew Tobin Anderson. It contains dialectical journals of the first part of the book. Without further ado:

1.       your face is not an organ

“The thing that I hate about space is that you can feel how old and empty it is. I don’t know if the others felt like I felt, about space?” (pg. 4)

I really liked this quote from chapter one. It was quite thought provoking, and if you search for it, it has sort of a foreshadow and/or symbolises a bigger concept. It foreshadows the possibility that Titus, our main character, is going to go through some dynamic changes, due to the fact that he questions whether others feel the same way as he does. Also, this quote symbolises the old, empty and mysterious ways of the world. It shows that the main character is very uncomfortable with silence and the thought of how things were before.

2.       impact

“It was at least good to get out of the hotel, because the rest of the city had pretty good artificial gravity, so if you dropped things, at least they fuckin’ fell.” (pg. 10)

                This statement was ironically contradictory. Titus and his friends are on the moon to enjoy. They do not like their hotel, as it is very “crummy”. They are new to the moon, and wish to explore what is the unknown, to them. They find comfort in the uncomfortable. They do not know the place, therefore it is a slightly uncomfortable experience, but the fact that the artificial gravity is decent, and lets things fall is their sole solace after coming to moon. Also, it shows that eventually everything falls, and everything ends up going after all. This may also be a major concept in this book; of sacrifices and letting things go.

3.       juice

“When she thought no one was looking, she opened her mouth. Something trembled there. Juice. She had filled her mouth with juice… I shifted. I watched the juice. For her own amusement, she was letting it go, gentle and sexy.” (pg. 18)

                This quote was quite interesting. It reaffirms the innocence and gayness that young people possess, and also how oblivious they are to their surroundings. It also may show a theme, perhaps, of breaking the rules. The girl (Violet) waits for the workers of the club to be preoccupied by another issue, and makes sure that nobody is looking at her when she does this. And the concept of ‘letting it go’ is mentioned once again.

4.       the nose grid

“Wrappers were turning through space like birds.” (pg. 21)

                This simile is very powerful. This shows that not only is civilisation failing through communicating problems, but it is also suffering through pollution. The world is slowly crumbling, and there is nothing that is being done to stop it.

“’There are times when you just want to sink through the floor,’ she said, ‘but then you realize there’s no air out there.” (pg. 23)

                I did a second one for this chapter as it did not seem fair to leave out this quote. This quote perfectly captures how one feels in a society of uniform order, when he or she is different. Violet is also a very logical person and her thought process is quite mature; similar aged people are quite confused, or amazed by her sophistication.

5.       the moon is in the house of boring

“I felt like a kind of kicking in my face and I discovered it was my mouth, which was saying the time of calamity thing, but at the top of my lungs.” (pg. 39)

                This is a very important quote representing how it feels to be oppressed and out of control. Titus cannot control his body, his thoughts, his broadcasting, his words. It is all out of his control. I believe that this will be another important theme in this book; not being able to be you.  I believe that everyone is being controlled, and their just not realizing.