Act 2 Scenes 1 - 2• The Prologue: Shakespearean Sonnet

– Chorus gives a preview of the plot.– Shakespearean Sonnet

• Octave: How will they make this work?• Sestet: Passion is power and youth gives time.

• Mercutio: “Blind is his love and best befits the dark.”– Romeo is infatuated (blind passion) and so it makes sense that

he is seeking Juliet in the dark.• R’s Soliloquy: “But soft…that cheek!”• <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iyUptXZOG5w&feature=related>

– Celestial & Astronomical imagery and metaphors– Petrarchan: flatters lovers with exaggerated comparisons unlike

Shakespeare’s “Sonnet 130” • J: “What’s in a name?...take all myself.”

– A name is arbitrary. Romeo is “perfect” and a name should not be a reason to keep us apart.

• J: “I have no joy in this contract tonight…thy purpose marriage, send me word tomorrow.”– Tonight’s way too soon for marriage!!! Let’s try tomorrow.

Act 2 Scenes 3 - 4Scene 3• Fr: “Within the infant rind…that plant.”

– Smelling one particular herb revives the human body (“grace”) but eating it kills the body (“rude will”) Symbol & Foreshadowing

• Fr: “Holy Saint Francis!...in men.”– Your “love” is visual (infatuation), not sacrificial. Women will fall when men are

unstable.• Foils:

– Romeo is “hasty” and calls his feeling “love,” but the Friar is more cautious and calls Romeo’s love “doting” (infatuation).

• Lines 90-92: – The Friar will marry them because it might bring peace to their families.

Scene 4• Full of Elizabethan wordplay and allusions!• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ec8in0yCS1A• http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&NR=1&v=SUD2J5yeuVM• The Nurse speaks in prose with malapropisms (words that sound like the

intended ones but are completely wrong)– Characterization: She is foolish and lower class

Act 2 Scenes 5 - 6• Scene 5: The Nurse delays Romeo’s response

as Juliet grows more and more impatient. (They are also Literary Foils!)

• Foreshadowings in Scene 6:– Fr: “…afterhours with sorrow chide us not!”– R: “…love-devouring death do what he dare…”– Fr: “These violent delights have violent ends…”

• Friar’s Advice: Love moderately; proceed cautiously.

• Rising Action in Act 2!– R & J pledge their love to each other.– Tybalt sends the Montagues a letter.– Friar Lawrence marries R & J!