Much to do with Hate, but more with Love

[Richard Stone]

Richard Stone walked around his classroom, placed a piece of paper on each desk that the students would need for that day's lesson. He then returned to the front of the room and wrote Much to do with hate, but more with love across the whiteboard.

Once the students had arrived and the final bell sounded he walked to the front of the room. "Welcome back. If you haven't already, please look at the sheet of paper on your desk. This is a prologue from Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. Just like elementary school, we're going to read through it, each of you are going to read one line. I'm not going to tell who is going to read next, so it will be the first person to speak that get's to read that line. I'll start. Two households, both alike in dignity." He arched his eyebrows as he waited for a student to pick up the next line.

Once they finished reading, he asked the students to work in pairs. "I would like one person to underline any words that have to do with love while the other underlines words that refer to fighting. It would probably be a good idea if you use two different coloured pens. Once you have completed that you discuss between the two of you theses thoughts; Are there more words about love or fighting? Why do they think that is?"

He finally called the students back to their own tables and brought a copy of the prologue up on his powerpoint so that it screened on the wall:

Two households, both alike in dignity
(In fair Verona, where we lay our scene),
From ancient grudge break to new mutiny,
Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean.
From forth the fatal loins of these two foes
A pair of star-crossed lovers take their life;
Whose misadventured piteous overthrows
Doth with their death bury their parents’ strife.
The fearful passage of their death-marked love
And the continuance of their parents’ rage,
Which, but their children’s end, naught could remove,
Is now the two hours’ traffic of our stage;
The which, if you with patient ears attend,
What here shall miss, our toil shall strive to mend.

And with the guidance of the students, he highlighted the words that they had underlined.

He looked up, eyebrows arched. "What do you make of the emphasis on violence? I know that you must all know the play, but now that we have dissected the prolague, does this alter your expectations for the play?" Then, with a third colour, he highlighted every example of the word two. "Why is this word--the very first word of the play--so important here?"

[Athena Achilles]

Athena tightened her grip on the handle of her satchel and entered the room where her English class was held. She saw the teacher sitting behind his test and panic gripped her when she saw that she was the first one in the room, alone with the male sitting at the front of the room. She kept to the wall as she walked down the rows of tables, until she finally found herself a seat at a desk in the middle of the room.

She pulled the brand new folder out of her bag, along with her pens and placed them in the desk before she looked at the paper on the table. She arched her eyebrows as she read through the prologue of Romeo and Juliet.

She didn't have to wait long for the rest of the students to arrive and the class began. She sunk down in her seat as Mr Stone said that they were going to read the prologue out loud, but took comfort in the fact that he wasn't going to nominate people to read and she remained silent.

When they were asked to pair up, Athena now wanted the ground to open up and eat her. Not knowing anyone in the room, she remained where she sat, allowing someone else to come to her. She then worked her way through the sonnet and with one colour underlined one topic and another colour was used to underline the other.

She opened her folder and wrote out the answer for the teacher's final words.

The Prologue reminds us that this is not a love story - it is a story about two families who hate each other, not about two teenage lovebirds. 

The biggest theme in the play is Fate.

During the time that Shakespeare wrote this, it was the era of a shift. A cultural shift from the Medieval era to the Renaissance. During the Medieval time, people believed that everything happened because of Fate. For example, you were a servant because you were meant to be, you were going to die at (whatever) age because you were meant to be or you were felt like eating an apple because you were meant to by Fate.

However, during the Renaissance, people began to question whether there really was Fate. Were you really meant to be a servant, die at (whatever) age or feel like eating an apple?

Shakespeare takes this idea and incorporates it into the play Romeo & Juliet. In the prologue it states that they were 'star-crossed' lovers (meant to be together by Fate), but yet, they have rival families..?

Outfit

[Deleted]

Luka entered the English classroom for the first time in a few months, which was nice, because he was looking forward to seeing what book they would be reading next. He chose a seat off to the side of the classroom and looked down at the paper in front of him, his eyes flying over the prologue as he waited for the class to start.

When Mr. Stone introduced the topic, he listened, intrigued, and read down through the first line, preparing to read the second one, almost as soon as Mr. Stone had stopped with his line, "In fair Verona, where we lay our scene." He continued reading along as the rest of the class read. As they got most of the way down the prologue and no one read again, Luka glanced around, then read, "Which, but their children’s end, naught could remove," hoping that he was right in doing so, since their class number was smaller than the number of lines.

As they were asked to pair up, Luka looked around before approaching the girl that had been in the room before him, "Would you mind if I worked with you?" He didn't really have a preference as to whom he worked with, just yet, seeing as he didn't know most of the students, and her table was pretty close to his own. After recieving assent, he sat down and started underlining the topic that the girl hadn't started on in a green pen that he had grabbed for the work, since statistically most people used blue or black.

As they were asked to return to their seats, he did so, listening to the ideas that the class threw out, and adding some of his own, from his work with the younger girl. When Mr. Stone set them off on another response, individually, he pulled out his notebook and started writing down his thoughts.

[Becca Walsh]

    Becca walked through the hall, her long strides making the clack of her boot heels even more enjoyable to hear. This was her senior year, and she was going to make the best of her last year at Blue Ridge. Her confidence was bigger than ever, and she could just feel that this was going to be her best year she'd had yet. Finding her way easily to her English class, Becca found a seat at the front of the room, but towards the side. Sliding her bag under her desk after taking out her supplies, she opened her notebook and crossed her legs, ready for class to begin. 

    When class began, she sat up a little straighter and listened carefully, jotting down a couple notes here and there. She liked the idea of reading the prologue aloud, and when Luka finished the second line, she spoke up with the third, "From ancient grudge break to new mutiny." She followed the rest of the way down the prologue, speaking up with another line whenever it came time to do so.

    After being asked to pair up, Becca looked around and caught the glance of Rose, a girl she sort of knew. "Would you like to be partners?" When the girl agreed, Becca moved back to sit next to her and they worked out who would underline what. Becca worked through the prologue, underlining all of the fighting related words in red, and watching while Rose did the same to the love related words. They finished in time for the lesson to start again, and Becca listened to the discussion, scrawling out notes in her notebook in between adding her own thoughts to the discussion.

[Rose Hoff]

Rose clutched her fingers around the straps of the leather tote bag she carried her books in, knuckles turning white. She was nervous for her first Cambridge English class, as the class was supposed to be very trying. Once she arrived, she hurried to a seat in the second row and pulled out her supplies, hoping that she had everything she needed for the class. There was already a sheet of paper on her desk, and she glanced over it, immediately recognizing the words. It was the prologue of Romeo and Juliet. At least it was something that she had a solid background in, which would make it easier to build upon and analyze.

When the class started, Rose clicked her pen and began her notes for the year, her elegant script looping across the page. She didn't have many notes yet, but she wanted to be thorough, and coped down the words on the board. She wasn't too happy about reading aloud, but it wasn't bad since she could just read it easily off the paper, and the class wasn't big, so she didn't have to speak very loudly. She read a line clearly whenever it came her turn in the pattern the students naturally established.

She was relieved when Becca turned to her when it came time to choose partners, and Rose followed the older girl's lead, agreeing to work with her. She was happy that she was to underline the love related words, and did so, scanning the paper over a couple times afterwards to make sure that she hadn't missed any. 

When Mr. Stone began to ask discussion questions, Rose turned back to her notes, getting down the important details of everything, and answering the questions herself in her notes a little bit.

The word and number "two" that begins the play reflects the pairing that happens so frequently throughout the play. There are many contrasts: love and hate, the Montague and Capulet families, Romeo and Juliet, the friar and the nun, and on, but also many pairs. Things appear together in the play, and the first word reflects this.

[Richard Stone]

Richard closed his eyes and shook his head - with mirth - at the silence he got back from his class. He had forgotten how silent these students were, so very unlike his other English classes where everyone was happy to voice their opinions. He was just pleased that the majority of the students had read for him.

"Since none of you are so forthcoming with the answers, I guess I'll need to do the talking." He said, a smile on his face and in his words to let the students know that he wasn't grumpy about the fact. "The play starts with the number two because it tells us right there that it's about two families. And, contrary to popular belief, the play actually isn't about two lovebirds, but rather the fighting households." He wrote this on the board as he spoke.

The teacher glanced up at the clock and raised his eyebrows. "Believe it or not, class is almost over. For the remainder of the lesson, I would like you to think of something you have read, or watched, recently and write your own prologue for that, in sonnet form. Because each will be based off different things, I'll also need you to write me a little background about your choice." He smiled around at each of them. "You have two days to have it completed."

[Athena Achilles]

Athena's eyes were already going over the sonnet when a the voice of a male made her jump. She cautiously looked over her shoulder and up at the boy through her lashes. She nodded her head in response and then wasn't sure if she had given the correct head movement since the affirmative answer to his question should have been a shake of her head, but as he sat down she knew that he had understood her.

She worked through the sonnet until she had all of the words underlined that she needed to underline, and once they were told to return to their own seats, she picked up another coloured pen and underlined the other words.

As they were given their next task, Athena tried to think of a book she had recently that she could write a prologue for, as she didn't have time to watch movies, but there was the odd time in the middle of the night when she couldn't sleep that she selected a book out of her selection and read it while waiting for either sleep to overcome her or for it to be time to get up for training... not that she had to worry about that anymore though, as there was no ice skating rink here in Blue Ridge, Kentucky. Her main problem, was that most of the books she read were part of a series, maybe she could write a prologue for a series of books?

She planed a few things out in the notebook and then the bell sounded. Packing her things back into her bag, she rose from her seat and exited the room, heading to her next class.

[Deleted]

Luka listened to the teacher, feeling bad that he hadn't spoken up, but then, no one else had, and Mr. Stone didn't seem too worried about it. He wrote down the answer that the teacher gave when he heard it, paraphrasing it so that he would remember what it meant, just in case it was on the test, but not writing the entire sentence down.

As he heard that class was almost over, his eyes flew to the clock over the door, surprised to see that, in fact, Mr. Stone was right. It had been an interesting class, then, to cause the time to fly so quickly. He listened to the instructions for their assignment, jotting down the info, then stared at it, his pen tapping against his chin as he thought about something he could write about. Finally, an answer came to him, and he smiled, at how easy it should have been to decide.

All too soon, the bell rang, and Luka gathered up his notes and plans for the project. He circled the due date at the top of his paper a few times, then stuffed his notebook into his backpack and slung it over his shoulder, leaving the room to head to his next class.

[Deleted]

Luka had realised much too late that he was late for his English class. Bruno had managed to hurt himself the day before, and for obvious reasons he had missed the bell. Once he had realised what time it was, he had hurried to the class, taking a deep breath before he went inside and sat down by the door, trying to avoid as many people as possible. He had no idea what was going on, and it wasn't like he was able to catch up by listening.

He felt angry and frustrated with himself that he had been so tardy, and it wasn't the first time he felt as if he didn't belong in this place. It was actually just pointless to have come to the class in the first place. He had just managed to catch what their homework was, and he jotted down a note for it.

He had been reading some of H.P Lovecraft's stories for the last while, but he doubted that he would be able to write a sonnet about any one of them. Maybe if something about The Raven from Poe would work, or even Tell Tale Heart, but he was drawing up blanks. Luka felt frustrated with himself, now more than anything.

Once the rest of the class had left, he hung back, he approached the teachers desk. Sorry that I was late, sir. I didn't hear the bell, he apologised, still feeling like an idiot in the first place.