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 back to Read it and (Don’t) Weep.  In this episode, we are going to the masked ball at the Capulet’s house.  If you were going to a masked ball, what would your mask look like?  Mine would be blue and purple because those are my favorite colors, and it would have lots of sparkles because who doesn’t love sparkles?  If you have not yet read up to this point in the play, it would be a good idea to get caught up with your reading and listen to my other episodes before continuing. 

Act 1, Scene 5

Alright, so in Act 1, Scene 5, Romeo and Juliet are finally going to meet. But first, we have to have a little bit of comic relief.  The purpose of comic relief is to provide some humor after a tense scene, and it did get a little stressful at the end of Scene 4. Mercutio was angry with Romeo, and Romeo was talking about fate, destiny, and death. So, the mood was a little heavy at the end of the last scene. In order to change the atmosphere for the audience, Shakespeare throws in a little bit of humor with the servants. They're in the kitchen, they're tossing things around, and the party's beginning. It's just a little something to break the tension and reset the mood for the party.

As the party begins, Lord and Lady Capulet enter, and Lord Capulet is welcoming his guests, saying, "Everybody, you know, ladies dance unless they are too shy, and then they lie about being shy, so they say their feet hurt, but don’t do that.  Dance and have fun. Enjoy yourselves." He continues to talk with a few of his cousins and we are reminded that he is old. He says, "Wow, remember when we were young, and we used to come to these parties? We would see all those young chicks, and we would be dancing with them, and we were the cool ones? Wasn't that like just a couple of years ago?" And his cousin replies, "That's been about 30 years now." "Wow, 30 years, we're really that old?" "Yep, we're old." Alright, moving on past the old dudes.

Romeo enters, he is wearing a mask, and immediately the first thing he sees is Juliet, and he's like, "Whoa, look at that girl. Who is she? Hold on, who was I here to meet? What was that other girl's name? Yeah, no, not even thinking about her anymore." So, all thoughts of Rosaline are gone as soon as he sees Juliet. He hasn't even met her yet; he just sees her, and he's like, "Whoa, I love her, I got to have her.” It is love at first sight for Romeo, and he falls head over heels with Juliet at first glance. So basically, Benvolio was right when he was saying, "Come to the party at the Capulet's house, you're going to see lots of beautiful women. I'm sure you are going to find one of them who's better than Rosaline." "Oh no, I couldn't possibly….Wow, look at that girl! That is the girl I'm going to marry," and off he goes. All that whining for nothing!

Before we continue, let’s look at Romeo’s lines here: 

“O, she doth teach the torches to burn bright! / It seems she hangs upon the cheek of the night / As a rich jewel in an Ethiope’s ear - / Beauty too rich for use, for earth too dear. / So show a snowy dove trooping with crows, as yonder lady o’er her fellows show.”

Shakespeare uses imagery to help the audience understand Romeo’s thoughts.  Imagery refers to figurative language that appeals to the sense – sight, sound, touch, taste, and smell – to make comparisons to things that may not be purely sensory.  In this excerpt, Romeo is seeing Juliet for the first time and is using sight – words related to light and dark – to express Juliet’s beauty. She is a bright torch against the dark night,  a white (snowy) dove surrounded by black crows. Since settings were minimal in Shakespeare’s theater, he needed to use words to convey the images for the audience.  As you read, continue to look for Shakespeare’s use of imagery. 

At this point, the scene shifts, and we see Tybalt. Remember that Tybalt is another cousin of the Capulets, and the one thing he hates more than anything else are Montagues, any Montagues for any reason. He recognizes Romeo, even with his mask, and says, "Wait a minute, that is a Montague? A Montague has come to our Capulet party! Nope, not going to have it. I am going to go beat him up and throw them out." At this point, his uncle, Lord Capulet, comes over and says, "Hey Tybalt, how's it going? Are you having fun at the party?" And Tybalt says, "Uncle, that's a Montague! (Pointing towards Romeo). We need to get rid of the Montague because we hate Montagues." Lord Capulet replies, "Oh, that? Yeah, it's a Montague. That's Romeo, but he's a pretty nice guy. He and his friends are not causing any trouble. They are just young men having some fun, meeting some girls. So, I don't want any fighting at my party, so just let him go. Let's see how things play out." Tybalt freaks out. He says, "No, we need to fight him, I need to beat him up, I need to get him out of here. We just can't have a Montague here. It is disrespectful showing up uninvited." Capulet replies, "Wait a minute, this is my house. I decide who stays, and I decide who leaves. I'm telling you, nobody's leaving. You are going to leave him alone, and that's the end of it. I don't want to hear another word about it.  Leave him alone and go enjoy the rest of the party." So, despite being completely annoyed, Tybalt leaves. We will come back to this in Act 2. 

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After Tybalt leaves, the audience’s focus comes back to Romeo. He approaches Juliet and they talk.  What is interesting about their  conversation is it is a sonnet.  If you remember back to episode 1 when we discussed the Prologue, I explained that a sonnet is 14 lines of rhymed, iambic pentameter. Most sonnets relate to the theme of love, so it is not surprising that Shakespeare would use a sonnet for Romeo and Juliet’s first conversation. By embedding the sonnet within the dialogue, Shakespeare skillfully interlinks poetic form and content to highlight the depth and immediacy of Romeo and Juliet's love. Let’s explore this sonnet in detail. 

In the first quatrain, Romeo says:  “If I profane with my unworthiest hand / This holy shrine, the gentle sin is this: / My lips, two blushing pilgrims, ready stand / To smooth that rough touch with a tender kiss.”

The sonnet contains a lot of religious imagery.  Romeo is apologizing for being rude and letting his unworthy hand take hers as she is a holy shrine, but he takes her hand anyway. He continues with the metaphor that his lips are two pilgrims ready to make it better with a gentle kiss.   A pilgrim is a person who goes on a religious journey to a holy place. So, Romeo walks up to Juliet, takes her hand in his, apologizes for being rude, and offers to have his lips make a pilgrimage to her lips for a kiss to repent for his sins. Seriously, what a pickup line! 

Juliet responds in the second quatrain: “ Good pilgrim, you do wrong your hand too much, / Which mannerly devotion shows in this; / For saints have hands that pilgrims' hands do touch, / And palm to palm is holy palmers' kiss.”

Basically, she is saying, “Kind sir, you are being too hard on yourself. Your mannerly devotion or polite behavior shows respect.  Saints have hands that touch, and if we place our hands palm to palm, it is just like kissing.”

Quatrain three has the two sharing the lines:

Romeo starts, “Have not saints lips and holy palmers, too?”

To which Juliet replies, “Ay, pilgrim, lips that they must use in prayer.”

To which Romeo replies, “O, then, dear saint, let lips do what hands do!” / They pray; grant thou lest faith turn to despair.”

Romeo is flirting with Juliet and responds to her that saints have hands and lips. To which Juliet replies, “Yes, but their lips are for prayers, not kisses.” But Romeo pushes on, “If we can hold our palms together in prayer, why can’t we do the same with our lips? Please say yes, or my hopes will turn to sadness.”    

The two share the concluding couplet with Juliet saying, “Saints do not move, though grant for prayers’ sake.” To which Romeo responds, “Then move not while my prayer’s effect I take.”

Basically, Juliet tells Romeo that saints do not move, but they do answer prayers.  So Romeo takes this opportunity to say, “Then don’t move while I have my prayers answered with a kiss.” And then he kisses her.  

Shakespeare had some great pickup lines! The flirtatious banter here is very powerful, and Juliet is completely swept off her feet and asks Romeo to kiss her again, which he happily obliges.  

At this point, the Nurse interrupts, and she doesn't even realize what's going on because, of course, she's crazy. She just tells Juliet that her mother wants her. Juliet goes to leave, and Romeo asks who is her mother? To which the Nurse replies, "Oh, her mother is Lady Capulet, the lady of the house; it's her party." 

The spell between Romeo and Juliet is broken, and Romeo is in shock. He says, "Oh my gosh, I just kissed a Capulet, can you believe I just kissed a Capulet? I'm in trouble now. My father's going to be mad, her father's going to be mad, oh no. What do I do now?" 

Benvolio enters and hasn’t seen anything that has taken place between Romeo and Juliet.  He says, "Romeo, we're leaving, let's go, we're out of here,”  But Lord Capulet approaches them and says, "Hey guys, you're not causing any problems.  You can stay for the feast if you want to." He obviously did not see his daughter kiss Romeo. But Romeo and Benvolio chose to leave.  

After they depart, Juliet asks the Nurse "Who's that guy walking out the door?" 

It takes the Nurse a couple of times to identify the correct gentleman Juliet is referring to, but the Nurse finally says, "Oh, that's Romeo. He is a Montague.”  Juliet says to herself, “Great, the man that I fell in love with is the son of the man my family hates. I'm in trouble now." 

So, both Romeo and Juliet realize that after they have fallen madly in love, after the corny pickup lines and two quick kisses. One is a Montague, one is a Capulet, and they're in trouble because they are not meant to even associate with each other, let alone fall in love. Lady Capulet starts calling off-stage for Juliet, and the Nurse and Juliet exit. 

Before ending, take a minute to reflect on the following questions in your reading journal. 

Romeo and Juliet, arguably the world’s most famous couple, were only teenagers. 

·       How seriously do you take your relationships?

·       What about your parents and the media? Do they take teenage relationships seriously?

·       Overall, do you feel young love is treated with seriousness or simply as a passing phase?

That is the end of Act One. The audience has met all of the important characters but one, and we have experienced the complication – Romeo and Juliet had fallen in love, but their families will never permit them to be together. In Act Two, the rising acting will begin. 

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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