"For I Ne'er Saw True Beauty Til This Night"

How can Romeo help himself when sees a true beauty like this? Although Romeo may go to the Capulet ball to prove that Rosaline is by far the most beautiful woman in Verona, one look at Juliet, and he forgets all about his former love. Seeing Katie dressed as Juliet might help you understand this further.







Today's classroom rendition of So You Think You Can Dance was a joy; you caught on quickly to the Renaissance dance. Just like when Lord Capulet tells all the shy ladies "She who makes dainty must have corns," most of us had healthy feet! Katie is only sorry she wasn't invited so that the show could have been called Dancing with the Stars. She's been practicing up!




Tomorrow you will have a chance to retest your vocabulary from last week's quiz. This is not mandatory, but some of you may wish to have a chance to average in a higher grade along with last week's! The next reading from the play is Act II, scenes one and two, which includes the famous balcony scene. Please read over this, and look over the study questions and footnotes before class on Wednesday.






After the quiz at the beginning of class tomorrow, we'll take some time to review Act I on both the Baz Luhrman film (Leonardo DiCaprio) and the Franco Zeffirelli film as well. Our focus will be interpretation of the text and the visual images included on each film.




Some things you may consider as you critique the film today:

• How are visual images used? (i.e. water...what else?) What kind of impact do images have on the message of the film or the mood of the scene?
• What were the costumes worn at the Capulet ball, and how did they help (or not) illustrate the character?
• How did Luhrman's (the director) set, scenery, and props add to the message of Act I, scene 5? (For example, Mercutio's use of the heart shaped pill.) Was this effective?
• How do you think Shakespeare would have felt about this film version so far?

Remember when you post to the blog, that everything must be framed in decency!

As you are reading, don't forget to make note of lines you are interested in for your Photo Story. We may be ready to work on them in class on Friday.

Happy reading! Adieu!