“The spring is wound up tight. It will uncoil of itself. That is what is so convenient in tragedy. The least little turn of the wrist will do the job . . . The rest is automatic. You don’t need to lift a finger. The machine is in perfect order; it has been oiled ever since time began, and it runs without friction . . . Tragedy is clean, it is restful, it is flawless . . . In a tragedy, nothing is in doubt and everyone’s destiny is known. That makes for tranquility . . . Tragedy is restful; and the reason is that hope, that foul, deceitful thing, has no part in it. There isn’t any hope. You’re trapped.”
— Jean Anouilh on TRAGEDY

WEEK 17

GREEN/WHITE 1 may 3, 4

4.2: Does Juliet’s deceit in this scene contribute to your reading of her character to this point? Is it possible that she’s not being deceptive at all (See top of page 150 for an explanation of what I’m implying)?

4.3: Juliet’s soliloquy is an extraordinary exploration of a person’s struggle to understand death. Do you think her speech develops what some of you have been calling strength of character, or is this an act of melodrama? What are some of the things she’s afraid might go wrong?

4.4-4.5: Are these scenes of mourning over the top to the point of being ridiculous? Do these scenes provoke catharsis?

flex wednesday may 5

Continue reading The Remains of the Day.

GREEN/WHITE 2 may 6, 7

Quiz on Acts 3 and 4. I’ll also provide you with a redacted version of your Shakespeare and Poetry Experiment.

We’ll move through Act 5, scenes 1 and 2.

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WEEK 16

GREEN/WHITE 1 april 26, 27

Today we’ll move through Act 3, scenes 2 and 3.

flex wednesday april 28

(1) The play is full of epithets for love. First go read them in context:

Page 57, 2.2.105: “And not impute this yielding to light love”

Page 69, 2.3.92: “To turn your households’ rancour to pure love”

Page 87, 2.6.14: “Therefore love moderately…”

Page 87, 2.6.14: “Therefore love moderately, long love doth so”

Page 103, 3.2.15: “With thy black mantle till strange love grow bold”

Page 103, 3.2.16: “Think true love acted simple modesty”

Light love, pure love, moderate love, long love, strange love, true love. Think about them. What does each mean? Which seem to go together? Which is the oddest? Which doesn’t make much sense? Which help you better understand what our main characters want? Have something to say about them at the beginning of our next class.

(2) Read the beginning of 3.5. Begin on page 125 with Romeo and Juliet’s duologue. Stop on the top of page 129 when Lady Capulet enters.

GREEN/WHITE 2 april 29, 30

Today we’ll finish Act 3 before moving through Act 4, scenes 1 and 2.

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WEEK 15

GREEN/WHITE 1 april 19, 20

Today we’re going to finish Act 2. You’ll read 2.3 with a partner; we’ll read parts of 2.4 together as a group; we’ll watch the RSC production of 2.5-2.6.

The problems of the play begin to take shape now that adults are involved. In what ways are the Nurse and the Friar similar? In what ways do they differ? If the Friar is so nervous about the union between Romeo and Juliet, then why does he marry them? It’s one of the great mysteries of the play.

flex wednesday april 21

You’ll have another quote quiz on the most important quotes from Act 2. You’ll also want to take time to study the figures of speech that we learned. Could you identify some examples from the first two Acts of the play? You’re going to find out on the quiz.

In addition to studying for the quiz at the end of the week, please continue your reading of The Remains of the Day. You should be through 141 by April 26. Don’t take the assignment lightly. It’ll mean the difference between your current grade in the class and potentially 5-10 points on either side. It’s an end-of-semester, make-or-break, culminating assignment intended to give you the opportunity to show me all you’ve learned about narrative throughout the year.

GREEN/WHITE 2 april 22, 23

We’ll begin with the Act 2 quiz.

Today, after the quiz, we’ll study Act 3, scenes 1 and 2, which mark the beginning of the play’s body count and include some of the play’s best speeches.

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WEEK 14

GREEN/WHITE 1 april 12, 14

Today we’ll start with what you discovered in 1.5 while I was away last week. Then I want to review all of Act 1 in preparation for a quote quiz during our next class.

Lesson: Figurative Language in Poetry

The bulk of today’s class will focus on 2.2, the famous balcony scene.

flex tuesday april 13

Use the time to catch up on or continue keeping up with your reading of The Remains of the Day.

GREEN/WHITE 2 april 15, 16

Quote Quiz on Act 1

We’ll spend most of today’s class attempting to finish Act 2.

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WEEK 13

GREEN/WHITE 1 april 6, 7

Today is a class to get to know our two main characters in this play. What can we learn about each based upon their opening lines? We’ll start with Romeo back in 1.1 before moving to Juliet in 1.3. They are very different characters, so let’s be sure to highlight their differences.

For 1.3, we’ll watch Baz Luhrmann’s film and the 2009 Globe production.

Then we’ll move to 1.4. Here we meet Romeo and Benvolio again, but this time they’re with Romeo’s other friend Mercutio. Mercutio has a famous speech in this scene often referred to as the “Queen Mab” speech. Sometimes it’s cut from production because it seems to get in the way of the main action, but it’s one we’ll certainly read together. Shakespeare loves dreams. He brings them into so many of his plays, and Mercutio’s insight about how dreams come about adds to that lore. What advice does Mercutio give Romeo when it comes to his unrequited love with Rosaline? And lastly, we need to look closely at Romeo’s final speech in 1.4. It’s at the top of page 37 and is yet another foreboding moment. What does Romeo anticipate? Why do you think Shakespeare includes this right before the party where he meets Juliet?

GREEN/WHITE 2 april 8, 9

On Thursday and Friday I’ll be with a group of juniors on a Kairos retreat. Please remember that you’ll work on the assignment below. Respect the time of your sub by working sedulously. This is my way of walking you through the scene without being there. If I have spoken with your class earlier in the week and have given you permission, one student will lead a 20-minute discussion at the end of class.

(1) Open to page 37. Let me first help you break the scene into manageable sections. First, skip the first exchange between the servingmen. Who cares, really? Move to page 39. Draw a line to break the scene just before Romeo’s first line. Page 43: Draw a line to break the scene just as Tybalt exits. Page 45: Draw a line to break the scene just before Juliet and the Nurse begin to speak.

(2) Move back to page 39. You’re now going to watch one version of the scene all the way through—the 2009 Globe production (Begins 28:05, ends 36:16). Remember the log in details (strakejesuit; crusaders) if you forgot. Follow along in your text if it helps, but watch as much as possible without looking in your book.

(3) There’s a great deal going on in this scene, so let me take you back to the text and have you examine it more closely. On the top of page 41, Romeo speaks of just how overcome he is by Juliet in a speech that begins, “O she doth teach the torches to burn bright!” Read that speech carefully. What kind of language does he use to characterize Juliet’s beauty? Now turn back to page 15, and read Romeo’s speech about Rosaline that begins, “Well, in that hit you miss: she’ll not be hit with Cupid’s arrow.” What kind of language does Romeo use here, and how is it different from what he says about Juliet? HINT: Notice the words in the speech about Rosaline: “hit”, “arrow”, “well armed”, “seige”, “assailing”, “seducing”. It’s not the same for Juliet.

WRITE IN YOUR NOTES: If you’re the playwright, you have to make it ABSOLUTELY clear to the audience that Juliet is not just some other infatuation on the part of the hormonal Romeo. The playwright must convince us that the love between R&J—even though it’s sudden—is the absolute, real deal. Based on the differences in these two speeches, does Shakespeare accomplish it?

(4) Let’s use the sonnet Romeo and Juliet share on page 43 to continue exploring the same idea. Let me reiterate: We just saw Romeo wildly infatuated with Rosaline, and now we’re supposed to believe that he’s suddenly in love with this other girl Juliet. If this play is going to work at all, then the playwright must make convince us that R&J have a real, almost holy attraction that transcends what he felt for Rosaline; otherwise, Romeo has no credibility. Keeping that word “holy” in mind, read lines 92-107. How does Shakespeare set out to distinguish Romeo’s two loves in this exchange?

(5) Read and think about but don’t respond to the light purple section on page 44, “Language in the play”.

(6) Shakespeare is my favorite dramatist for a number of reasons, not the least of which is that he understands how to prey upon his audience with dramatic irony. DRAMATIC IRONY occurs when the audience knows something about the characters on stage that those characters don’t know about themselves, creating an uneasy feeling in the pit of the stomach of that audience member. Go back and watch these two versions of the first encounter between Romeo and Juliet, comparing them: How does the dramatic irony of knowing these two die at the end affect your ability to be happy for these two kids falling in love? Think hard about why Shakespeare does this to us.

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week 12

green/white 1 march 29, 30

Quiz

The principles of tragedy

1.1.

Set outside reading.

green/white 2 march 31, April 1

(1) Before moving into 1.2, turn to page 14. Read “Language in the Play” and respond to “b”, which asks you to complete a task about oxymorons and antithesis.

(2) Open to 1.2 on page 19. The scene begins with a conversation between Capulet, Juliet’s father, and Paris, who is in the process of asking for Juliet’s hand in marriage. Read the first 37 lines and respond to my questions: Does Capulet seem to you to be hyper-controlling and dismissive of his daughter, or does he seem human and decent as a father? How do you know? What does he say that makes you think that?

(3) Continue to read through the rest of the scene, stopping at the bottom of page 23. Simply observe the shifting from prose to verse. Remember that characters of a lower status (like SERVANT) speaks in prose; characters like Benvolio and Romeo speak in blank and rhyming verse, depending upon what they’re discussing.

When you get to Romeo and Benvolio’s final exchange, your eyes are going to cross. It’s very hard because Shakespeare uses some really elaborate and obscure extended metaphors—We call them conceits—like one of Romeo’s that compare eyeballs to religious heretics. It’s ridiculously difficult to get the references without some help. Suffice it to say that Benvolio encourages Romeo to attend the party at Capulet’s to take his mind off of Rosaline, whom Romeo seems to love. Gee, I wonder who he’s going to meet at the party to take his mind off of Rosaline?!

(4) Watch two versions of the scene you just read. Click each link below to take you to them. SJ’s log-in credentials are:

Username: strakejesuit

Password: crusaders

First, watch the 2009 Globe production (Begins 10:54, ends 15:30).

Next, watch the 2018 Royal Shakespeare Company production (Begins 11:09, ends 15:35).

Write to compare the two productions’ interpretations of Capulet and the two productions’ interpretations of Romeo in their respective versions of this scene.

HOMEWORK FOR OUR NEXT MEETING:

Over the long weekend, make a point to purchase your copy of the outside novel, which is due in May. Note that my recommendation is to have read the first 20 pages by April 6. Stay on top of it now to be in a much better place later. I wish you and your families a very Happy Easter!

week 11 - working with shakespeare’s challenging language

green/white 1 march 22, 23

Welcome back. I hope you had a great week off.

Introduction to Shakespeare Day 1: Who and what is Shakespeare?

What makes drama unique as an art form? How did it start?

Shakespeare’s Language 1: The Poet Playwright

Introduction to Romeo and Juliet: What kind of a play is it? What will our focus be?

Then we’ll move to the play’s PROLOGUE. Look at the quote above: What does it have to teach us about why Shakespeare gives us the end of the story up front? If the story is spoiled from the beginning, why are we still reading it?

HOMEWORK FOR OUR NEXT MEETING:

Finish page two of my primer on Shakespeare as a poet-playwright. Bring to class next time.

FLEX WEDNESDAY march 24

During our last class, I hinted at the fact that Shakespeare uses different forms of language—PROSE, BLANK VERSE, RHYMED VERSE, and SONG—to tell his stories. Knowing which form you’re reading or speaking can tell you a great deal about what a character is thinking in a given moment. Shakespeare’s plays are different, in part, because he plays with these forms more than other playwrights.

We’ll look more closely at these during our next class, but jumpstart your knowledge with

(1) this short Ted-Ed introduction to why Shakespeare writes in iambic pentameter.

and (2) this Shakespearean Language primer from the Royal Shakespeare Company. Read and study pages 1-3 only. I will teach this to you in my own way next time, but I’d like you to come prepared with at least this much.

green/white 2 march 25, 26

Introduction to Shakespeare Day 2:

Shakespeare’s Language 1: Prose and Verse; Scansion

Roses are Red

Sonnet 18

Lear on the Heath

Juliet: “Gallop apace..”

Shakespeare’s Theatre: The Globe

Comedy and Tragedy: Genre is in the eye of the beholder

We’ll begin 1.1 toward the end of class today.

HOMEWORK FOR OUR NEXT MEETING:

(1) Read this excerpt from Professor Ian Johnston’s lecture on the differences between Comedy and Tragedy. Stop at the end of this paragraph: “Tragic heroes and heroines, in other words, do not answer to community morality; they do not accept the conventional vision of things which reassures most of us by providing a group sense of what is most important in life. For that reason (as I shall mention in a moment) the tragic vision is potentially very disturbing, because we are dealing with a character who is not satisfied with traditional group explanations, with the socially reassuring rules and habits, and whose life therefore tears aside momentarily the comforting illusions which serve to justify life to us as a meaningful moral experience.”

what's due?

May 6/7 - Acts 3/4 Quote Quiz

May 13/14 - Shakespeare and Poetry Experiment

May 17/18 - The Remains of the Day Reading Test

May 17/18 - May 26/27 - The Remains of the Day Graded Discussion

The Remains of the Day Suggested Reading Schedule

current text to have daily

outside reading

Why should we spend our time reading novels and poems when, out there, big things are going on?
“In the realm of narrative psychology, a person’s life story is not a Wikipedia biography of the facts and events of a life, but rather the way a person integrates those facts and events internally—picks them apart and weaves them back together to make meaning. This narrative becomes a form of identity, in which the things someone chooses to include in the story, and the way she tells it, can both reflect and shape who she is. A life story doesn’t just say what happened, it says why it was important, what it means for who the person is, for who they’ll become, and for what happens next.”
— Julie Beck, The Atlantic

word of the day