R&J - Ang.

Anglais - Roméo and Juliet

(en vue du contrôle à venir ...)

          The ball scene : 

Ball is given at the Capulet's house/palace. 

Romeo sees Juliet for the first time and it is love at first sight. They immediately fall in love. 

During that scene, Tybalt (Juliet's cousin) spots Romeo among the guests. He flies into a temper and reports this to his uncle arguing that Romeo is not supposed to be there. 

Juliet's mother tells Tybalt to be quiet. Her father rodeos him to calm down as they don't want him to spoil the party. At the end of the scene, the two young people become aware of each others identities. 

They are both shattered by the news. They are in love with their enemies. 

           Vocabulary : 

s'emporter : to fly into a temper

repairer : to spot

argumenter, arguer / se disputer : to argue

se calmer : to calm down

crise : tantrum

colère : anger

un mariage arrangé :  a mariage of convenience

un mariage d'amour : a mariage of love

le/la bien aimée : the beloved 

être perplexe : to be puzzled

méditer : to pond on

au delà : beyond

lister, énumérer : to list, to enumerate

élogieux : laudatory

Analyse : 

Roméo :

- many "!" : impetuosity, rashness

He rashes head on into his new passion. 

- many assertions : he is confident, enthusiastic 

- more naive, uses metaphors, focuses on Juliet's beauty 

- his main concern is to describe Juliet in laudatory terms. 

He wants to praise his mistress's beauty. 

Romeo is playing with language, whereas Juliet is questioning. He uses Petrarchan poetry. (his conceits). 

Obviously, he loves to praise Juliet, he loves to play with words and images.

Romeo's speech is quite artificial.

He has a superficial approach to passion, to love. 

Romeo gives Juliet's body parts a cosmic dimension. (hyperboles) 

Juliet : 

- She addresses Romeo directly. 

- She is down to earth, pragmatic. She is thinking of the problem.

- She is tackling the problem directly. 

- She is wondering about her feelings (many questions marks). 

- She is more rational. She focuses on the deep nature of human beings. 

- Her speech is full of interrogative sentences. She is puzzled. 

- She is trying hard to understand. Her first observation of the problem : the heart of the problem is Romeo's name. 

- Her conclusion : a man cannot be defined by his name. Romeo will be Romeo, regardless of his name.

- Juliet then starts to pond on the meaning of words. (the rose). 

- She is questioning the value of language. Does language reflect reality ? No, it doesn't, reality is beyond language. 

- Juliet is anti Petrarchan poetry. 

- On the contrary, Juliet sounds anti-Petrarchan in so far as her language is simple. 

- Her language s very spontaneous. (she addresses Romeo directly).

- Her language is deep and sincere. 

- She is listing body parts.