Act 3 Scene 1: Benvolio Left Behind

Questions for Romeo and Juliet, Act 3, Scene 1: Interview with Benvolio

Host: Hello, Benvolio. It is good to see you... well, alive, especially at this time when citizens of Verona are dying.
Benvolio: Mercution and Tybalt did not just die. They were killed, Mercutio by Tybalt and Tybalt by my kinsman, Romeo. They fought in Verona's streets, which was forbidden by the Prince, and they paid a horrible price for it.
Host: And how do you feel about fighting?
Benvolio: I do not like it when it is not necessary. Mercutio... he used to tell me that I would say I disliked fighting but find the smallest things to fight over, but soon after the last time he told me that he got involved in a fight that wasn't his to begin with and he was killed in that very fight.
Host: Do you think Tybalt meant to kill Mercutio? Or did Romeo's interference cause his death?
Benvolio: Honestly, I am not sure. Tybalt came to fight Romeo, not Mercutio, and only fought Mercutio because he challenged him. Even so, Tybalt loves fighting as much as anything, and he could have been aiming to kill. As far as Romeo, I do not want to think about what could have happened had he not come between them.
Host: How do you feel right now?
Benvolio: My two closest friends are dead and banished. I feel as if the world is a different place for me now.
Host: I see. Thank you for your time.

Act 2 Scene 6: The Passion of Romeo and Juliet

The image above is of a wildfire because that is what Romeo and Juliet's relationship has become. They have only known each other for little over a day, yet they have already been married. Even though their families are great enemies, they do not care what happens to the people around them, as long as they are together. This is why I have compared them to a wildfire; it destroys everything in its path and burns everything around it until something comes to put it out. The Friar also had concerns about the speed of Romeo and Juliet's relationship, saying that it may consume them and then die out. In this way, the fire is also like their love for each other: powerful, burning, and devouring them. Romeo and Juliet are like a wildfire because when they are gone, they have left death and devastation in their wake.

Act 1, Scene 1: Lovesick Romeo

                  In Act 1 Scene 1 on page 21, Romeo says, "Ay me, sad hours seem long." He says this in reference to his own sadness, as he is in love with a girl named Rosaline who does not love him back. I think that this is an interesting line for both the play and applied to real life. Romeo is distraught because of Rosaline and feels as if the hours are working against him. This quote is the opposite of the quote, "Time flies by when you are having fun." Romeo is decidedly not having fun, and it feels to him as if the hours drag by. This is also an ironic line, as currently, Romeo feels that the days are very long, but soon after this, he will fall in love with Juliet. This will bring him happiness instead of yearning for a short while, but days after he meets Juliet he will be dead and his long hours will be gone and forgotten.

Am I

Am I

1. The mouth I keep shut the

words I keep in the

friends I shut out the fear I let

win

2. Strange burning anger at the most random of times

this infinite exhaustion after every single night

3. The races I will win (and lose) the people I will be

the people I will love and the people I will leave

4. The kindness inside

     the endless gray space between  

     what’s wrong and what’s right

a little too much pride (but only on the outside)

5. Speaking up and not sitting down

     the pride I’ll wear (but not yet not now)

the places I visit the places I’ll live the things that I give

    when I have nothing to give

6. Staying up and sleeping in

what I’ll never understand (everything I want to be that is never who I am)

7. The sorrow the anger the nostalgia the peace

my share of too much sentimentality

8. Things I have said I wish I could put back

What if they’re right?

What could be worse than that?

9. Who I will become and who I really am

The times I finally stayed, not ran

the things that I want the things that I’ve lost

everything that I’ve learned (but at what cost?)

the wanderlust in me (still searching for my abilities)

the dreams I have had the (few) times I took a stand

my spineless ambition my adored memories my own forgotten responsibilities

the parts of me I’ve lost and the new ones that I’ve gotten the people I forgot and the ones I will remember

10. All of the above