Act 3, Scene 4: Juliet's Judgment

How could this have happened? It was all too sudden. Tybalt slaughtered Mercutio, then Romeo killed Tybalt, and now my Romeo, my husband, my love, is banished! Out of all the men in Verona, it had to be my husband to be exiled. And now, my parents are oppressing me, and forcing me to marry someone I know nothing about! It's terrible! Whatever happened to "Juliet's too young Paris", and "Wait until she's fourteen Paris"? I had everything, and now I have nothing and no one to turn to. My father came barging in earlier today. He threw me to the ground and threatened to disown me if I wouldn't agree to have Paris as my husband in three days. Even my mother, my "oh so gentle" mother, decided to push me into this mess. Yet the worst of all, is my betraying, unloyal nurse. At first, she supported me when I married Romeo, and spoke such great words of him. But now, she suddenly tells me that I should clear my mind of my husband, and marry Paris. "Oh, he's a lovely gentleman!" Well I don't agree! She's a horrible person that nurse, pretending to be so confident, yet so afraid of my father that she completely betrays me. How dare she? How dare my parents? How dare the Montagues and how dare the Capulets who cannot end this conflict? If I were not a Capulet, or if Romeo were not a Montague, perhaps this chaos could have been avoided. They took away my husband and they took away my happiness. They think they have pushed me into a corner, where I can do nothing but agree to their commands. But what they don't know, and what they haven't yet taken, is my power to erase all that's happened, and take my own life.

Act 2, Scene 3: Family Tropes

In Act 2, Scene 3, we are introduced to Friar Laurence, who is spending his time searching for plants and flowers while describing them. The Friar states, "Within the infant rind of this weak flower poison hath residence, and medicine power. For this, being smelt with that part cheers each part; being tasted, stays all senses with the heart. Two such opposite kings encamp them still in man as well as herbs- grace and rude will; and where the worser is predominant, full soon the canker death eats up that plant." In this quote, Friar Laurence is describing how the flower has curative and medical properties, however, if one would eat it, it would be deadly. In his quote, the Friar presents a comparison between people and the flower. He's saying that the capacities to do good and to do evil exist in everyone, similar to two warring kings. This quote about the flower is very much a metaphor for the situation in Verona. The flower itself represents the town, and its two "warring" qualities represent the Montagues and the Capulets. Both are at a conflict with each other, while existing in the same place, just as the medical and fatal qualities both exist inside the flower.

Act 1, Scene 1: Rosaline's Rejection

Host: So Benvolio, we spotted you and Romeo talking yesterday, what's up with that?

Benvolio: Romeo's just been upset recently, shutting himself out and all.

Host: And why is that? if I may ask.

Benvolio: Well, he fell in love with this girl, Rosaline- a CAPULET. Can you believe it?

Host: And?

Benvolio: Well she obviously rejected him- any Capulet would. Nobody wants to get in the middle of the struggle between the Montagues and the Capulets like that- it's a death wish.

Host: But it seems as though Romeo doesn't care. Why is that?

Benvolio: Romeo just follows his heart wherever it leads him, and doesn't care whether his parents don't approve. If Rosaline would have accepted him, I don't even want to imagine the mess THAT would make.

Host: And now? Why doesn't Romeo move on?

Benvolio: That's what I told him: "to examine other beauties", but he's completely lovesick and still hung up on Rosaline. He keeps making these crazy metaphors, "love is a smoke made with the fume of sighs"- it's terrible, I'm genuinely worried about him. Rosaline isn't the only woman in the world, and Romeo's still so young! He has the opportunity to meet someone who ACTUALLY loves him back, and who ISN'T a Capulet. But Romeo is so blinded by love, that he can't even understand what I've been trying to tell him.

Host: And, what do you think Romeo is doing now?

Benvolio: He's probably at home, locking his doors and blinding his windows, shutting himself out again. Speaking of which, I should go check on him...

Memory

Memory
Danielle Vansover

Whatever the season

I’d watch the roses bloom

Without any reason

I’d decide to leave my room

It was a beautiful place

In the house I lived before

I had all the space

And would never wish for more

Deep in the yard

Past the tree and the swings

I would play with and guard

All of nature’s things

It was the place to play

Where the lavender grew

Pretending all day

Underneath the sky’s blue

Nobody knew

Of this place that I found

Where the wind calmly blew

In a soft and kind sound

But soon came the end

The day we moved away

All the time I would spend

Soon became grey

These are the memories

The small ones

The ones from our youth

The ones we oddly remember

And this, this one’s mine