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!

Welcome back!  In this episode, we are going to discuss Act 1, Scenes 3 & 4.  If you have not read up to this point in the play, you may want to go back and read up to this point and listen to my previous episodes before continuing. 

Act 1, Scene 3

Alright, so Act 1, Scene 3  takes play in the Capulet’s home and the audience sees Lady Capulet asking the Nurse, "Where's Juliet? Where is she? Can somebody find her for me?" So, the Nurse calls for Juliet. Once Juliet is there, Lady Capulet requests, "Juliet, let me just talk to you alone." At first, Lady Capulet wants to talk to Juliet alone, but she knows Juliet will tell her Nurse everything, so she tells the Nurse to stay. 

Lady Capulet and the Nurse then start discussing Juliet's age, and Lady Capulet says, "Yeah, she's about two weeks shy of her 14th birthday." At this point, the Nurse goes off on a long speech, called a monologue. A monologue is a long speech by a single character expressing their thoughts out loud. Other characters may be present, but they do not speak. Do not confuse this with a soliloquy which is a speech by one character onstage alone expressing their innermost thoughts to the audience.  Kind of like thinking out loud.  We will talk more about soliloquies later in the play.

Now, the Nurse and Lady Capulet are as opposites as opposites can be. Think of Lady Capulet as very prim, what a proper Lady of Verona would be, and the Nurse is not. She is bold, she is brash, she says whatever she wants, whatever comes to her mind at the time.

The Nurse’s monologue is about Juliet’s childhood. She is going, "Oh my gosh, I remember baby Juliet. She was so cute. She has the same birthday as my Susan. God rest her soul," because Susan had passed away in childhood. We don't hear how Susan passed away, just that the two are of the same age, and the Nurse was caring for her daughter and Juliet.

The Nurse continues to ramble on and on and on about baby Juliet and all of her memories, and then she talks about her husband, God rest his soul, because he is also deceased. She talks about one time when Juliet was learning how to walk, and she fell, smashing her face on the floor. The purpose of this monologue is to show that the Nurse has been with Juliet since her birth, and the two share a bond that is arguably closer than Juliet's relationship with her own mother, Lady Capulet.

Lady Capulet tries to get a word in, but the Nurse just continues on and on. Juliet is embarrassed by the Nurse’s rambling, which makes sense.  How do you feel when your parents or grandparents start reminiscing about silly things you did when you were a baby?  But the Nurse still doesn't listen and goes on and says, "Oh, I just hope to live to see the day when my little Juliet gets married."

Lady Capulet jumps in, "Oh, finally, the topic I want to talk about!” She turns to Juliet and says, "Juliet, what do you think of getting married?" Juliet looks at her mother and basically says, "Yeah, no, I don't think so. Never dreamed of being married, really don't want to be married. So next topic, go on."

Lady Capulet is a bit taken back and says, "Uh, you might want to think about that because there's a lot of girls your age who are already married, and Paris, you know him, we see him down in Center Square, he's asking for your hand in marriage."

Juliet thinks about this, and the Nurse jumps back in, "Oh, oh my gosh, Paris has asked to marry you? Oh, what a man of wax," which really means, "What a hunk, really great looking guy. Oh, he's a catch." The Nurse and Lady Capulet both go on, "Oh, he's the best-looking flower that ever bloomed in the summer. He's so good looking. He's awesome. He's hot. He'd make a great husband. He's so sweet. He's good on the inside as well as the outside. Come on, Juliet, what isn't there to like? Let's just get married."

So, Lady Capulet begins telling Juliet, "Paris is going to be at the party tonight. Go have some fun, meet him, see if you could see yourself falling in love with him and getting married. Wait, you see how gorgeous he is, his eyes, his face. Oh, he's so good on the inside too. Oddly enough, he is just as good looking as a book because isn't that what every girl dreams of, a man who looks like a book?’  Think about that for a minute. Lady Capulet just compared Paris to a book.  What the heck does she mean?  Well, it is a metaphor.  Paris is a book that just needs a cover, or a wife, to make a complete story.  Probably not a comparison we would make today, but Shakespeare’s audiences would have understood the comparison. 

Lady Capulet ends her monologue asking Juliet,  "Do you think you can love him?" Juliet is very respectful, and she's very obedient to her mom. She is actually very well-spoken here and says, "Alright, Mother, here's the deal. I'll meet him, and we'll see how it goes. If I like him, I'll let you know, but I'm not going to do anything too rash." Very mature for a girl of almost fourteen. 

The Nurse is already celebrating, “Go, girl, seek happy nights to happy days.” And that  is the end of Act 1, Scene 3.

At this point, let’s pause for a moment. What is your overall impression of the Nurse?  Jot down your thoughts in your Reading Journal so you can come back to your initial ideas as you continue reading. 

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Act 1, Scene 4

Act 1, Scene 4 takes place outside of Capulet’s house.  We see Romeo coming in with Benvolio; however, he is also joined by his other good buddy Mercutio. So important details to note.  First, Benvolio is the peacekeeper in the group.  Remember back to Act 1, Scene 1 when he was trying to break up the servants’ fight? Benvolio tries to keep everyone out of trouble.  Mercutio is a bit of a wild child. He likes to have fun, he likes to enjoy himself, and that's what he is trying to get Romeo to do at this point.

So, Romeo starts out by saying, "Okay, should we announce ourselves? Should we let them know that we're here, that we are going to be attending the party? Should we apologize for intruding? Because, hey, we are Montagues, and we're really not supposed to be here. So, is there some way that we should announce ourselves?” Benvolio says no.  If they want to judge us, then let them.  We are going to meet some ladies, dance with them, and have a good time. It's not that big of a deal.

So, Romeo, who is  still miserable, says, "You know what, guys? I'm going to go with you, but I'm just going to carry the torch. I don't really want to dance, I don't really want to party, I don't really want to do anything. So, I'll be the light holder, and you guys have fun." That is when Mercutio jumps in and says, "No way, come on! You have got to dance, and some fun with us." Romeo responds, "You know my dance shoes are filled with lead. I am so sad, I can't move, and I just can't dance when I'm this miserable."

Quick note about Romeo and Mercutio, just like the Nurse and Lady Capulet, they are polar opposites. Mercutio is all about having fun. If one lady doesn't want to come hang out with me? I'm going to go and hang out with another lady, no big deal. Romeo is still just heartbroken over the fact that Rosaline doesn't even know that he exists. So, he just pines for her. Despite all of his sadness, he still jokes around with Mercutio. Romeo tells Mercutio, "I'm sad, and it's powerless to fight my feelings." Mercutio replies, "If love's rough, well then just be rough with love. If you think you're getting beat up by love, just beat it up right back, no big deal."

Mercutio is trying to get Romeo out of his depression by joking around with him here. Keeps saying, "Romeo, you're bringing the mood down. This really sucks; you are such a downer. You have to knock this off; we need to make it a little bit more fun." Mercutio and Benvolio put their masks on for the party because they needed to hide their identities. Romeo just continues to say he will just hold the torch, he is too sad to have fun. 

At this point, Mercutio is starting to get a little annoyed with Romeo, and he calls him a stick in the mud, which means that he's dull, he's unadventurous, he's being a bore, and he needs to knock it off now. So come on, we're wasting time hanging out here, talking about all this boring stuff. Romeo says, "Actually, I had a dream, and fate is telling me not to go, but I'm going to ignore what fate's telling me and go anyway. Because I really think I have to go, something's telling me I need to go, but something's also telling me I shouldn't go." This reflects the theme of ‘star-crossed lovers’ we discussed when we read the Prologue.  His dreams are telling him not to go, but fate, a power beyond his control, is pulling Romeo to the party.

This sets Mercutio up for his Queen Mab Monologue, which is one of Shakespeare’s most famous speeches. 

Queen Mab is a fairy from English folklore. She's supposed to be really teeny-tiny, rides in a chariot made from a hazelnut shell, and floats in and out of your dreams making mischief. She makes you dream of whatever it is that you desire. She makes lawyers dream of money, ladies dream of kisses, courtiers dream of making money, priests dream of large donations to the church, soldiers dream of slitting their enemies' throats, but then they wake up and say some prayers and go back to sleep. A little dark, but this gives the audience insight into Mercutio’s character. 

So, Queen Mab is floating in and out of Romeo's dreams, making him desire Rosaline, but it's not really true. Just because you are dreaming of it doesn’t mean you should or shouldn’t have it; it is just something you desire. And in this case, Romeo wants or desires Rosaline. 

The whole point of the speech is that Mercutio thinks that Romeo is being ridiculous, and he is mocking Romeo for being a romantic fool. Ultimately, quit all this lovesick crazy talk about this girl and get over it.

This monologue also emphasizes the differences between Romeo and Mercutio. While Romeo is a romantic who believes in fate and dreams, Mercutio is more skeptical, sarcastic, and grounded. What do these differences tell the audience about each of their personalities? How might their different ways of seeing the world affect what happens later in the story? Take a few minutes and jot down your responses to these questions in your reading journal so you can come back to your ideas as you continue reading.

As the scene ends, Romeo yet again expresses that he still feels something in his gut telling him not to go to the party. He says, “I fear too early, for my mind misgives /  Some consequence yet hanging in the stars / Shall bitterly begin his fearful date / With this night's revels, and expire the term / Of a despisèd life closed in my breast / By some vile forfeit of untimely death.” In other words, “I have a really bad feeling that something's going to happen tonight. I'm worried that I might make a mistake tonight that leads to my early death.”  This is foreshadowing his death at the end of the play and shows how fate is steering him on this path despite his gut telling him otherwise – referring back to “star-crossed” or destined to fail.  Despite his concerns, Romeo decides to attend the party anyway. And that is where we end Act 1, Scene 4. Tune in to the next episode where I will discuss Act 1, Scene 5. 

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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