It’s an unusual situation: you marry someone behind your parents’ back, because you love him and you hope it will unite the two families. The next thing that happens is that your new husband kills your cousin in a fight and your dad tells you you’re going to be marrying some rich guy on Thursday… Definitely a tricky one to navigate!
This, however, is where Juliet Capulet finds herself, faced with the prospect of two marriages in one week!
Over the last few lessons, Grade 10 have been trying to show an understanding for the difficulties facing this young lady and how she might escape them. We have been experimenting with the dramatic monologue form of writing, and the students have been using this to explore the events of the text and Juliet’s perspective.
We will be moving on to consider the point of view of Friar Laurence, the man with the plan to fake her death… but more on that later!