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Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare (Focal Text)

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Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare (Focal Text)

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Summary:

Romeo and Juliet is the story of two young lovers who are from rival families. Romeo is a Montague who is dragged to a party after having his heart broken by another woman. Juliet is a Capulet whose family is working toward marrying her off to a man she is not interested in. They meet at the party and fall in love at first sight. Over the course of the play, they meet, fall in love, get married, feel deeply about each other, have some miscommunications, commit some crimes, and ultimately both kill themselves out of grief over their "dead" partner. The play dives into important and relevant ideas like love-at-first-sight, love vs infatuation, age gaps, forbidden love, familial conflict, social norms, and passionate violence. The play wraps up on an optimistic note that the fate of the lovers will bring peace to the city and create lasting change in the community. There is a lot of content in this play that can be interacted with critically from the depictions of characters, to the problems with their society, to various questions about what love is.

Quotes:

1. “NURSE:

His name is Romeo, and a Montague, The only son of your great enemy.

JULIET:

My only love, sprung from my only hate!

Too early seen unknown, and known too late!

Prodigious birth of love it is to me

That I must love a loathèd enemy.”

2. “JULIET:

O Romeo, Romeo! wherefore art thou Romeo?

Deny thy father and refuse thy name;

Or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love,

And I’ll no longer be a Capulet.”

3. Romeo:

“How oft when men are at the point of death

Have they been merry! which their keepers call

A lightening before death. O, how may I

Call this a lightening? O my love! my wife!

Death, that hath sucked the honey of thy breath,

Hath had no power yet upon thy beauty.”

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Out of Darkness by Ashley Hope Perez (Companion Novel)

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Out of Darkness by Ashley Hope Perez (Companion Novel)

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Out of Darkness is a heavy book that should be handled very sensitively if used in schools (I won't be able to use it in Hilliard, but hope to at some point be able to use it as a focal text). It covers very relevant and hard subjects such as trauma, sexual assault, familial abuse, child deaths, disaster, racism, and lynchings. Despite the horror of the plot, it is woven together beautifully in a way that forces the reader to grapple the depth of evil in the world. This is a book that inspires social justice and reform, but is censored in schools because of its jarring content. It deals with history in a way that is precise and accurate, leaving out no details. It creates an empathic response like few other books. Students would be able to interact with some very tough questions in this book.

It is the story of an adolescent girl (Naomi), her love interest, her younger siblings, her "dad" and her environment. As the book progresses we learn more details about her situation, including that the father of her younger siblings is a racist and predatory person that has harmed her. Naomi takes care of her siblings as a motherly figure after her mother died giving birth to them. She holds a permanent distrust and bitterness toward her siblings' father because of his past actions. As the story goes on, Naomi gets some normalcy in her life as she meets a boy named Wash who treats her well and does all he can to help her. He is a Black student at a segregated school in early 1900s Texas. They grow closer together as a family unit (Naomi, Wash and Naomi's siblings Beto and Carrie) until a terrible tragedy leaves hundreds of children dead after their school explodes. Wash is blamed for the explosion and his family is lynched. As they attempt to leave the town, the plot becomes increasingly more tragic as the reader recognizes just how ruthlessly wicked racism and sexism were.

This text complements Romeo and Juliet well as it deals with the story of two star crossed lovers and their horrific fate. It raises many questions about social justice, identity, love, trauma, and plenty of other subjects that need to be discussed.

Quotes:

1. "A hand reached down, and for a second Wash saw that sweet face again. Also smooth arms and a long dark braid hanging down over one shoulder" (15)

1. When they first met, it was like love at first sight with Wash determined to know Naomi

2. "He did not say: I know why it happened. She did not say: Cari died hating me. He did not say: somewhere, there was a heater I did not check. She did not say: I sent them into that building. She reckoned up what a braid and a pair of shoes had cost her. He tried to recall the embrace he'd bought with his unfinished work"

1. After the tragedy of the school explosion, the narrator describes the tension and guilt that they both felt about their mistakes. Like Romeo and Juliet, they played some role in their own demise.

3. "They walked through that promise together, the Mexico they imagined. They would meet there. And it would be heaven. They were far enough into their dream that neither of them heard the next shot" (383)

1. Context: Wash has been shot and is bleeding out while Naomi is assaulted. Their fate is settled, but they dream of a better life together because that is all they can do.

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Sonnet 130 by William Shakespeare (Poem)

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Sonnet 130 by William Shakespeare (Poem)

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(Read by Sir Patrick Stewart)

This poem is a love sonnet directed toward a woman that is not remarkable in the same ways that women are typically depicted in love sonnets. Shakespeare clashes back agains societal norms of beauty and makes a case for his "mistress" that is plain in appearance, but has inner beauty. This fits in well with the theme of love against the grain by its opposition to the cultural norms and expectations. Despite not being the exact picture of love that other poems had painted, the love described here by Shakespeare stands out as more beautiful.

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Sonnet 130 by William Shakespeare (read by Sir Patrick Stewart) | 2020.09.08 | #ASonnetADay

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Eraser Tattoo by Jason Reynolds (Short Story)

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Eraser Tattoo by Jason Reynolds (Short Story)

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Rationale

This short story covers the last interaction between a young, high-school-aged couple before one of them moves away to a different state. It covers the origin of their love for each other and the heartbreak and awkwardness that comes with their looming separation. They seem ready to fight for their relationship, but the audience is left wondering if it will actually last. This fits with the theme of love going against the grain because their circumstances are forcing them apart while they try to hold on by all means.

This text is great for this unit because it tells a story of a relatable experience, with characters of a similar age, and is written by a Black author with Black characters. The theme is relatable to all students, but it is uniquely from a non-White perspective. Lorena Escoto German mentions, "For students of color, it is important to experience stories that open their eyes and mind outside of the often narrow narrative presented about themselves" (TT 73). This is a great story that presents a common experience in a personal and realistic way. Most texts (like Shakespeare) are written by White authors with a White audience in mind. The themes are still relevant universally, so Shakespeare can still be valuable, but this text would be a good complement because it offers a more contemporary and relatable experience.

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Jamie by Zach Bryan and Charles Wesley Godwin (Song)

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Jamie by Zach Bryan and Charles Wesley Godwin (Song)

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Zach Bryan and Charles Wesley Godwin sing a story about a man who has his mind set on being reunited with the woman he loves. It describes very problematic behavior, namely driving drunk and fleeing from police. At the end of the song, it is implied that "Jamie" is killed by the police in the cemetery that his love was buried at, and he is now reunited with his love "in the stars."

This retelling of a tragic story of love and loss in a modern setting using music will fit in nicely with Romeo and Juliet. Students will be excited to get to listen to a popular artist in class (especially since my students are in Hilliard where country music is more popular).

Because of the problematic actions of the protagonist "Jamie" in this song, it will be a good text to critique and use to question if pursuing love to the point of death is worth it.

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This clip fits into the broader story of West Side Story, a film based heavily on Romeo and Juliet. They seem to have the whole world against them, so they passionately sing about how they will run away and preserve their love. This fits in nicely with the theme, as they make every effort to hold on while their circumstances tear them apart.

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West Side Story (8/10) Movie CLIP - Somewhere (1961) HD

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When researching this image, I found that Magritte intentionally does not explain his art. He is quoted by the Museum of Modern Art saying, “My painting is visible images which conceal nothing. They evoke mystery and, indeed, when one sees one of my pictures, one asks oneself this simple question, ‘What does it mean?’ It does not mean anything, because mystery means nothing either, it is unknowable.” This makes this an excellent painting to unpack, because he created it with an intent for his audience to respond to it personally. This will be excellent for discussion and hearing student interpretations.

It fits well with this theme, as it depicts two people kissing with a lot of other questions being left on the table. They both wear masks concealing their entire face and head. Could this be because their love is forbidden? Can they only be together if their identity is concealed? What parallels can be drawn between this and the masquerade in Romeo and Juliet?

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The Brain in Love TedTalk by Helen Fisher (TedTalk)

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The Brain in Love TedTalk by Helen Fisher (TedTalk)

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In this TedTalk, Fisher goes into detail about how the brain functions when people are in love. She compares the chemical reaction that occurs in the brain when people romantically love each other to the reactions that occur when on cocaine, but with longer highs and lows. Fisher examines how dopamine is released from a section of the brain that is involved with lower-order thinking (more reactive, less thoughtful).

This video attempts to answer the question of "what is love?" and will appeal to students who have interests in science (great interdisciplinary video). It will be a good text for students to grapple with to see if they agree with everything being presented. It could be a good source to critique or argue for/against. Additionally, Fisher regularly quotes poets and authors who write about love, demonstrating her own interdisciplinary research and its impact.

It also attempts to answer some of the questions about why humans often seek out love over other needs, what about love makes it so chemically addictive, and why some humans are willing to go against all reasoning and societal pressures to pursue love.

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Why do we crave love so much, even to the point that we would die for it? To learn more about our very real, very physical need for romantic love, Helen Fisher and her research team took MRIs of people in love -- and people who had just been dumped.

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Adolescence and the Teenage Crush by Dr. Carl Pichhardt (Informational Text)

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Adolescence and the Teenage Crush by Dr. Carl Pichhardt (Informational Text)

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This text explores what a "crush" is and how they typically play out in adolescence. It is a very revealing and compelling text to use to critique the age gap in Romeo and Juliet. It describes how in adolescence, children are likely to make decisions and idolize people based on little evidence. For example, someone like Juliet may think Romeo is the perfect match for her because he is brave and she is looking for stability and strength due to her situation. For this reason, she makes Romeo out to be a hero figure that she falls deeply in love with. Dr. Pickhardt would say that she simply has a crush on Romeo and is obsessed with his traits that she has idealized. Pickhardt does mention that crushes are nothing to be taken lightly, however, as he goes on to explain the intensity of the emotions adolescents feel with crushes. This would explain a lot of Juliet's behavior and may call into question whether they were truly in love, or if Romeo was a predator.

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CommonLit | Adolescence and the Teenage Crush Article by Dr. Carl Pickhardt

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Adolescence and the Teenage Crush is an article by Dr. Carl Pickhardt that discusses various types of romantic crushes. Read the text at CommonLit.

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1. Love: The focal point of the whole unit, but what is it? A feeling? A choice? What importance does it have in our society?

2. Fate: Across many of these texts, the love seemed to be determined to fail. Many relationships end prematurely. Is fate real? What control do we have?

3. Sexuality: What really is sexuality? Should it be discussed ever in school? How do authors use sexuality in their writing?

4. Forbidden Love: How can a society impact someone's choices on their partner? Where do we see this happen today? How can people act against the powers that control them?

5. Race/Racism: How does race/racism play into the other topics like love, fate, sexuality, and forbidden love? How can love be used to fight systematic issues?

6. Patriarchy: What is patriarchy? How does it affect free choice and love?

7. Social Norms: What are social norms? How do they impact people? What are social norms about love in the US?

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Contextual Research Topics and Interdisciplinary Areas

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Contextual Research Topics and Interdisciplinary Areas

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1. Interdisciplinary: The science behind love

1. Students can explore what causes humans to be attracted to one another. This could be an interesting course of study for a psychology, biology, or chemistry class. Students could use what they learned in those classes to create arguments about Romeo and Juliet's love.

2. The history of love in different cultures

1. Students could explore common traditions and practices that different cultures around the world and throughout history have had. This might shed light on why Romeo and Juliet acted like they did, and would give a lot of cultural context for Out of Darkness as well. This would be a good topic for a history class.

3. Love in music

1. Students taking a band class could create pieces of music or study/perform pieces of music about love. This would allow students a change to express themselves and how they feel about love. Additionally, this could be a mini-unit in an English course that unpacked the structure and theme of love songs. This would be a fun project if it involved the creation of music.

4. Love in art

1. Students could study and then create artwork that represents love. They could look at a variety of representations of love from different movements in art. This would be another fun way for students to express themselves.

5. History of fate

1. This could be an interesting study in history or philosophy classes. Students could unpack what traditions and beliefs the idea of fate comes from and create an argument for whether the universe is determined or not.

6. Film adaptations of literature

1. Students can analyze how literature is adapted into film. Film and literature are closely connected, so this topic would have a lot of content that could be analyzed. Students could create a project comparing written texts with their film adaptations.

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All of these text connect under the umbrella of love, particularly love that defies expectations. Out of Darkness, Romeo and Juliet, and Jamie all end in the death of the lovers after tragic plots. Eraser Tattoo ends with the moving away of one of the lovers. Sonnet 130 concludes that just because the subject of the poem is not traditionally beautiful does not mean she is any less worthy of love. The Lovers adds a hint of mystery to the nature of love and West Side Story adds a visual and auditory example of the optimistic impulsivity of forbidden love. The informational texts offer explanations for why love often works in this mysterious, radical, and impulsive way. Each text adds something new, whether that be a different perspective on love, giving a different set of cultural norms, incorporating marginalized voices, or defying norms in a different way. All in all, a unit using these texts would stand out to students as relevant to their lives and intellectually challenging as they grapple with reading against many of these texts or discussing uncomfortable subject matter.