Hello and welcome to "Read it and (Don't) Weep," the podcast that will help you breeze through your high school literature classes. Are you tired of struggling to understand the themes and characters in classic works of literature? Well, I’ve got you covered! I am your host, Jackey Taggart, and I taught high school English for almost 20 years. 

Join me each episode as I dive into the world of high school literature and break down the essential elements of each work. From Shakespeare to Steinbeck, I'll cover it all. My goal is to give you valuable insights and analysis on some of the most popular high school literary texts, as well as tips and tricks for acing your tests and essays.  Let’s start reading!

Hello and welcome to this episode of Read It and (Don’t) Weep.  It’s time to get into Act 1 of The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet and start exploring the exposition of the play.  If you have not yet read the Prologue or listened to my episode on the structure of a Shakespearean play, I suggest you read those first and listen to those episodes before continuing.

Act 1, Scene 1

Act 1, Scene 1 opens with Samson and Gregory, two Capulet servants, talking about the feud between the Capulets and the Montagues. They have a conversation about colliers, choler, and collar.  While most students have no idea what they are talking about, these are all puns.  A pun is a funny play on words suggesting different meanings for similar words.  For example, here is a classic.  Make like a tree and leave.  The humor is in the double meaning of the word leave – it is part of a tree, and it means to go away. 

Essentially, Samson is looking for a fight. He's like, "Let's go," and Gregory tells him not to make trouble; it's not their fight. But Samson doesn't want to hear about it. He says they're going to cut off the heads of all the Montagues and take all of their women, and the women are going to love it. He keeps making comments about his "pretty piece of flesh" as he points to his genitals.  The conversation is filled with sexual innuendo and vulgar humor. They're also expressing their anger towards the Montagues and their allegiance to the Capulets, supporting the theme of family loyalties.

Samson and Gregory continue to talk and joke, and two Montague servants come in. Samson says, "Oh look, I'm going to start with them," and he bites his thumb. Now we look at that and say, "Well, that's kind of stupid," but what that means is essentially flipping someone off.  It's not very nice; it's actually a very rude thing to do to somebody. So, they start fighting. 

The Montague servant says, "Hey, did you bite your thumb at me?" and Samson is like "Yes, I bite my thumb, but not at you," and then they just start fighting. Benvolio comes in. Now he's Lord Montague's nephew and Romeo's BFF, and he's like, "Dude, what are you doing? Stop." He breaks up the fight, but then Tybalt comes in. Tybalt is Lord Capulet's nephew, and he's like, "Benvolio, look at you. You're such a coward. You're fighting servants." And Benvolio's like, "You talking to me? Are you really talking to me? Let's go now." So, the two of them start fighting.

Cops come in; there are fights going on; some people try to break it up, and then, of course, old Montague and old Capulet arrive on the scene, both accompanied by their wives. Old Montague and old Capulet are like, "Hey, I'm going to get you. I'm going to get involved in this fight," and both of their wives are like, "Stay out of it; you're just too old. Knock it off."

Now at this point, we've got two old guys trying to fight; we've got the young guys all fighting in the street, and Prince Escalus, the ruler of Verona, comes in. He is not a happy camper. He's like, "You have got to be kidding me. Fighting in my streets again? Sheathe your swords or put them away. Now, this is the third time this week this has happened. I am done. If that happens again, the person responsible is going to be executed. Done, killed. Everybody leave. Except for you, Lord Capulet, you come with me. Lord Montague, I'll see you later." Capulet, Prince Escalus, everybody leaves the stage except for the Montagues.

This would be a good point to pause and reflect.  If you are keeping a reading journal, Jot down some ideas.  What does Prince Escalus’ response to the public brawl reveal about his character and his role in Verona’s society? 

Back to the action. Benvolio tells Lord Montague how the fight started, and Lady Montague cries, "Oh my gosh, where's Romeo? Where is my son Romeo?" Benvolio's says, "Well, I saw him this morning, but he didn't really want to talk to me. I don't know what's going on." Lord Montague says, "Oh, my son, he's been so upset for so long. It seems like days or weeks that he's been so upset, and he won't talk to me." 

Now it is important to note the lines here Lord Montague uses describe his son. Lord Montague says:

“But to himself so secret and so close, / So far from sounding and discovery, / As is the bud bit with an envious worm / Ere can he spread his sweet leaves to the air / Or dedicate his beauty to the sun.”  This is a simile, and a simile is a comparison using “like” or “as.”  Based on these lines, “ As is the bud bit with an envious worm “ What the heck is Lord Montague saying?  Well, an envious worm is a harmful worm that lives inside a flower bud and eats its way out.  So, Montague is noting that something is eating at his son, and it might destroy him if we don’t figure out what it is soon.  

Benvolio's responds, "Alright, Uncle, I got this. As soon as I see him, we'll talk it out. I'll find out what's going on."

So, Lord and Lady Montague leave, and Romeo comes in, and as he starts to talk to Benvolio, oh my gosh, he starts whining, "Oh, I'm in love, but my love doesn't love me.’ Oh, boohoo me. Boohoo me.’” And Benvolio's like, "Well, okay, who are you in love with?" And Romeo's like, "A woman,” Benvolio is like, “Duh. Got that part already. Who is this woman? What's her name?" And Romeo doesn't give a name, but whoever this woman is, she has taken a vow of chastity, and therefore, Romeo says he cannot love her the way that he wants to love her because of this vow of chastity, meaning that she doesn't ever want to have sex. "Oh, boohoo, Romeo." Sorry, I tend to not like Romeo much.  Feel free to disagree with me, but I think he is a whiney wimp.

At this point, Benvolio's like, "Dude, we've got to get you another woman. There are plenty of other girls out there. Just look at another one, and it'll be fine." Romeo's like, "No, there are no other women in the world who are as beautiful as this woman that I love, who doesn't love me back." And Benvolio says, "Oh my God, if it's the last thing I do, I'm getting you a girl. Let's go." End Scene 1.   

As much as I don’t like Romeo, this is a good time to stop and reflect on his feelings.  In your reading journal, jot down some ideas on the following questions: Think about Romeo’s feelings of love and despair. How does Benvolio try to console him, and why do you think Romeo resists his advice?

Hey teachers! Hunting for some top-notch resources to go along with this podcast episode? You'll find them right in my store. A quick click on the link in the show notes gets you right there. What awaits? A stash of guided questions, note-taking aids, and assessments to use with your students. Go ahead, make the most of these resources today!

Act 1, Scene 2

Scene 2 opens up with Lord Capulet talking to Paris. Now, Paris is a young man from the Prince's Court, and they're going on about the prince’s new order to execute any of the Capulets or Montagues found fighting. Paris is listening, but he is not really interested in this topic of conversation, so then he changes the subject. He's says, "Yeah, yeah, uh-huh, but what about the other question I have for you? You know, can I marry your daughter Juliet?"

Lord Capulet stops. He says, "Well, she's barely 14. Can you wait two years?" Paris says, "Well, other girls her age are already married and having children." Capulet says, "I know, I know, but she's my only daughter that's still alive. All of the other children that we've had died young, so she's the only surviving child that I have. How about this, court her, you know, woo her and see if she falls in love with you. That reminds me, I'm having a party tonight, big party, you know, we're going to have food, wine, dancing. Come hang out with her, let's see how it goes."

Now it is important to note the lines here Lord Capulet uses to describe the invited guests.  It is from Act 1, Scene 2 lines 29 through 31: “Among fresh fennel buds shall you this night / Inherit at my house. Here all, all see / and like her most whose merit most shall be;” This is a metaphor.  A metaphor compares two things without using “like” or “as.”  It speaks of one as if it were the other.  In these lines, Lord Capulet is telling Paris to look at all the “fresh fennel buds” or young ladies who will be at my house tonight.  Make sure you really want to marry Juliet and not one of these other young ladies.  

Paris says, "Alright, sounds good." At this point, Capulet calls his servant over and says, "Oh, servant, come here. I have this list of people I need you to invite. So go around and knock on doors and invite all these people on the list. Anybody but a Montague, don't invite any Montagues." And the servant's like, "Okay." Can you say foreshadowing?  

Paris and Capulet go off, and the servant is standing there staring at the piece of paper, and he's like, "Boy, I wish I could read. I have no idea what this says. What am I going to do with this?" So, the servant walks up to these two gentlemen who are walking down the street and says to them, "Hey, guys, come here for a minute. Can you help me?"

Well, these two guys are none other than Romeo and Benvolio. They were still going on and on about Romeo's lost love, and Benvolio is still trying to convince him to look at other girls. The servant asks, "Hey, can you help me?" Now, the servant has no idea who these gentlemen are, and they have no idea who the servant is at this time.

So, the servant asks Romeo, "Can you read? Can you read this list? Can you help me out? I'd really appreciate it." Being such a nice guy, Romeo's says, "Alright, here we go." He starts reading off the names of all the people who are invited to the party tonight, with one very special name, Rosaline.  This peaks Romeo’s attention.

So, Romeo asks, "What is this list for? What's going on with these people who are on this list?" The servant says, "Oh, my master, Lord Capulet, is having a big party tonight, big to-do. We're going to have music, dancing, food, and wine. It's going to be awesome. Why don't you guys come? Wait, you’re not Montagues, are you? Because if you are, you're not invited. As long as you're not a Montague, you guys can come. At this point, the servant takes the list and leaves the scene. 

Benvolio starts poking fun at Romeo, "Oh, I saw your face. You said Rosaline. Rosaline's going to be at that party tonight. She's the love of your life. You know what? We need to go to this party. We really need to go to this party because, you know what? I'm going to show you, she's not that special. You can do so much better. There's going to be tons of single women at this party. Rosaline is just going to pale in comparison to all these other hot women. We're going to find you another girl."

Romeo says, "I'll go, but I'm still going to be miserable because I'm sad."

And that’s the end of Act 1, Scene 2. Before finishing up, I have one more question for your reading journal.  Based on these two scenes, I want you to make some predictions about the party.  What is going to happen?  Will Paris and Juliet hit it off? Will there be a fight?  Will Romeo meet up with Rosaline? Jot down your ideas and tune in to the next episode where we will explore Act 2, scenes 3 and 4.  

Thanks for listening to this episode of Read it and (Don’t) Weep. Be sure to subscribe to the show so you will be notified when new episodes are released. If you liked today’s show, please leave a review so others can discover my show.  If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions for future episodes, drop me an email at readitanddontweep@gmail.com, or reach out to me on social media. I would love to hear from you. The links are in the show notes.  

Thank you for listening.  I am Jackey Taggart and remember to Read It and Don’t Weep. 

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