NIGHT’S DREAM

                               NIGHT’S DREAM

                               I do waNder every where

                                             I must go and seek some dewdrops

                                        in Grove or green

                        by moonligHt

                                           sTolen away from the fairy land

                        joy and proSperity

                       since the miDdle summer’s spring

                          dance our Ringlets to the whistling wind

                  the quaint mazEs in the autumn green

                                       do Abound

       in the fresh lap of criMson rose.

note: phrases from MSND, Act Second, Scene First

playful until the end

What's in a name?

“What’s in a name?”

Yes. A name indicates an identity. But because their families are mortal enemies both of them can not escape their names. 

Another scene again in Juliet’s balcony when Romeo is saying goodbye to Juliet before he is banished to Mantua. They hear a bird sings: is it a nightingale singing in the night or is it a lark signifying dawn? Romeo has to live before dawn because to stay means death.Juliet: “It is not yet near day./It was the nightingale, and not the lark.”

Romeo: “It was the lark, the herald of the morn,/No nightingale.”

The nightingale keeps them together longer while the lark means separation.

Even at the end in their death their words are playful, with a touch of a bitter humor in the midst of death, she has the heart to say: (Romeo) “left no friendly drop to help me after.”

They are young. They are bold and dare to love against all the odds. They die faithful to each other and with their integrity intact.

opening lines

I’m taking an eCourse, Shakespeare in Community, through the University of Wisconsin-Madison. One of the first things is to reflects on the opening lines. In Romeo and Juliet: "Two households, both alike in dignity."

"Two households, both alike in dignity." Two families both alike in dignity.Relationship changes the equation of the family when one member interacts with others who are perceived as enemies or of different culture, philosophy or beliefs.

Juliet asks, “What’s in a name?” Why put constraints, limits, scope, in one’s life? Forgiveness goes to the periphery and ignored. To invoke diplomacy is like a dishonor to their names. It seems effeminate as if to seek peace is cowardice.

"Two households, both alike in dignity,” but change when they face each.