Abstract- Romeo teiluJ

               My paper will explore the way Shakespeare uses mirroring to portray true love.  It is evident that Romeo and Juliet have extreme love for each other.  In many scenes they are show with similar reactions and express similar feelings.  These similarities display true love to the audience.  This analysis will help me think about true love and Romeo and Juliet's relationship.  It may also give me insight into Shakespeare and why he chose to write what he did.  In addition the staging may make the love seem more or less realistic because of the way Shakespeare chose to write and display their love for one another.  Focusing on the mirroring may also reveal new aspects of the feud, specifically the fact that the families are not entirely different.  The feud may be put into a new prospective where not only the love seems impulsive and irrational but the feud is also irrational.   

               To explore Shakespeare's use of mirroring Act 2 Scene 2 (the balcony scene), Act 3 Scene 2 and Act 3 Scene 3 will be performed.  The monologues in the balcony scene show the way Romeo and Juliet feel about each other.  Their lines are similar because of Shakespeare's use of big pieces of uninterrupted dialogue (the monologues at the beginning). In addition, Romeo and Juliet show similarity in the way they describe each other.  For example, many times they reference the stars and sky.  In Act 3 Scene 2 and Act 3 Scene 3 Juliet is talking to the Nurse and Romeo is talking to Friar Lawrence about Romeo's banishment.  Both characters have the same response to the news: banishment is worse than exile.  The group will perform each of these scenes with few differences, focusing on Romeo and Juliet.  In addition, Romeo and Juliet will be played by two girls and the Nurse and Friar Lawrence by the same boy.  These roles will emphasize how Romeo and Juliet are very similar, while the Nurse and Friar Lawrence are much different.  The fact that the Nurse and Friar Lawrence are played by the same actor will represent the similarity of their role to Romeo/Juliet.  The idea of true love will be expressed in all scenes, but most clearly in the balcony scene.  The balcony scene will be restaged on the same level between a door.  This will add to the mirroring effect because Romeo and Juliet will be shown the same on each side.  This is similar to the idea of the fish tank at the feast in the 1996 version of Romeo and. Juliet.  In addition, love will be shown in the other scenes by the way each character talks about death and banishment.  

               Three people are required to play the four characters due to the overlap of Friar Lawrence and the Nurse.  Between the three actors, each actor will participate in two out of three scenes.  The group has decided that I will play Romeo, Maddy will play Juliet and Adler will play the Nurse/Friar Lawrence.  This is ideal to display the similarity in Romeo and Juliet and their differences from their counselors.  Each member of the group will be responsible for rewriting a script based off of a scene.  I will be responsible for the balcony scene.  Maddy will write the script for Act 3 Scene 2 and Adler will write the script for Act 3 Scene 3.  Furthermore, we will come up with ideas for our costumes together and how to acquire these items and ideas about staging, keeping in mind that ideas may be already written in the script.  All other ideas will be handled as a group as they come up and individual jobs assigned as needed.