Their Love

          Romeo and Juliet's love was a lot different than anyone other love now or even back then for that matter. Often times back then marriages were arranged and finding love was a tricky thing. For them, they met at a party and once they first met and started talking Romeo immediately leaned in and kissed Juliet knowing that they were from two houses sworn in hatred. These days if a guy just kissed a girl the second they met he would most likely get slapped, if he even had the "cajones" to do that.
         In present day I wouldn't exactly say love-at-first-sight is a common thing. Lust is a very common thing when seeing someone and instantly being attracted to them, but not love. Love now comes with hard work and a sense of needing a true understanding of the other person. Romeo and Juliet supposedly fell in love as soon as they saw and met each other. They did not spend very much time together at all after the first time that they met at the party. Romeo would have to sneak over to Juliet's orchard just underneath her balcony where she would come out to talk to Romeo. Even though they would talk to each other it would still be hard to literally see each other because it was often dark outside when they met like this. It would be dark because that would be the easiest way for Romeo to sneak over there without getting caught.
       So it is fair to say that their love for each other was insurmountably different than any other love in our history and there are many lessons to be learned from it.

Who's Fault Was It Really?

          Although the rivalry between the Capulets and the Montagues were a big part to Romeo and Juliet's death, I believe the one sole person in charge for their deaths would be Romeo himself. The rivalry between the two families was vicious, as proven in the first scene when the first thing that happened in the play was the two houses fighting out in the public market. Eventually the Prince had to come down and break it up and warned them that if this were to ever happen again, the ones involved would be next in line for the noose.
         I believe Romeo was to blame. If he asked around to actually find out what was going on with Juliet instead of just assuming that she was dead, he would not have overreacted. But instead he went to a man to get a vile of poison that he would proceed to swallow next to Juliet in her tomb after he said goodbye to her just one last time. Also I think that seeing his best friend Mercutio die right in front of his eyes sent him on a downward spiral. From there he went on a killing streak and was then banished from Venice. He also had to sneak around constantly just to see Juliet and it only got harder for him as they got married by the Friar but had to continue to hide their love from the world.
        It is mostly Romeos fault for the suicide of his love Juliet and himself, although there were many other factors that came into play that he could not entirely control that also put their love at risk and set this whole tragedy up.

Difference Between Movies

          In English this year we watched two different movies in class based on the play Romeo and Juliet. In the older version it seemed to be based a lot closer on the exact lines from the play and the time it was in. They had the costumes to match the the time period of the actual play. They also had the setting, where it all took place in a town with castles and markets out on the street. Even the weapons matched with swords and daggers. They also spoke the exact language and lines from the play. I feel that this movie was the more comical of the two for a few reasons. One being that several people died and no one payed much attention to them other than the deaths of Romeo and Juliet. Also the timing was more comedic, such as when Juliet happened to wake up just a few short moments after Romeo committed suicide believing that Juliet was really dead.
          In the newer version that we watched, the first thing that I noticed was that the Montagues started all of the problems at the gas station, rather than the play and other movie that suggested that the Capulets started the fight in the beginning of the play or movie. The plot in this movie very much followed the same path as the original play, but the setting was based off of the present. They dressed like we do today and they had the weapons of the present, not like they would in the play, such as guns. Also they very rarely spoke the entire language that they did in the play. The only one who constantly said all of their lines in that language would be Romeo (Leonardo DiCaprio). I found this one to be more tragic because they took the deaths more seriously and Romeo had to watch Juliet live as he was dying knowing that she was still alive and he was dying for no reason.

Romeo and Juliet: Comedy

         Personally I believe that Romeo and Juliet was depicted as more of comedy. Did anyone else notice the convenient timing? For example that just seconds after Romeo commits suicide in the old movie that we watching in class, the Friar enters the tomb and Juliet wakes up to see her one true love lying dead on the floor.
       There were also six deaths in this play. Not one of them were taken seriously or with much reguard other than Romeo and Juliet. Even Mercutio who was Romeo's best friend was less dramatic then Romeo who only drank poison to kill himself. Unlike Mercutio who got stabbed in a fight.
        Also it seemed conveniently unfortunate that the Capulets and the Montagues settled all of their nasty differences after these two kill themselves. These two families rivalries were one of the big reasons for these two deaths. Only because these two were from different families and the other side of the town, they had to sneak around just to see eachother and continue their love for eachother. But they found a way to keep it going. Romeo was so distraught with the idea of having to live without Juliet that he decided to take his own life with poison. Oddly enough, Juliet was not dead and she wakes up to Romeo dying. She then cannot bare the idea of living without him, herself. She then proceeds to take his dagger and stab herself in the heart with it.

Romeo and Juliet: Tragedy

         Personally I think that Romeo and Juliet is more of a comedy. But I do believe that it was meant to be seen as a tragedy as two love-at-first-sight, love-struck, natural born enemies die for longing to always be with each other in the end no matter what would try to separate them.
        They were so used to hiding from everyone and the world as Romeo was a Capulet and Juliet was a Montague. They couldn't possibly fall in love right? No of course not because the Capulets and the Montagues are sworn enemies. Its unfortunate that the hate between each other could drive Romeo and Juliet to suicide just searching for each others love.
       This could be tragedy because six people end up dying in this story. It's also tragic that the Capulets and the Montagues could only settle their scores once Romeo and Juliet had to meet their untimely demises.
       The new movie that we watched in class was more representative of a tragedy to me for one reason; while Romeo was dying he was able to still see and talk to Juliet knowing that she was still alive. This means that as he's dying he knows that he is dying for no reason as he didn't have to drink the poison to be with Juliet because she was clearly still alive.

Learned in English

      This trimester I have learned a lot in English. first of all I learned how to think outside of the box. Reading Romeo and Juliet really made me think and consider what they were saying. Obviously they don't use the same language that we use today so it took some intense concentration to understand their language. It also showed me that the theory of love has not really changed. although many may not kill themselves over their soul mate, they would go to the absolute limit for them.
       I have also learned how to stick with a book even if it is not quite interesting yet or as exciting as i would want it to be. If you just keep reading the novel then it might pick up and grab your attention more than you expected it to in the beginning.
       In English this year my writing has improved immensely. Due to all of the peer editing sessions that we have had, I have learned some of my most common mistakes and was taught how to fix them, take them out, or just make them better than they are. I have also learned how to add more detail too my writing to make it longer and more complex, therefor adding to the interest for the reader and including more intelligence.

Argumentative Writing

      For me argumentative writing has been decently challenging. I'm the kind of guy who likes to argue in real life (and not lose). This way i know for sure whether ii have won or not. An argument in an essay, for me, leaves me with no closure. I'm not sure whether what i just argued persuaded someone my way, made it worse, or didn't alter their decision on the topic or not.
      For my argumentative essay that we wrote yesterday, i argued that teenagers should also get nap time in school like the kids in preschool. According to www.sleepfoundation.org teenagers need about nine and one half hours of sleep. They also say that it is biologically much harder for us to go to bed before eleven o'clock at night. If most of us have to wake up at six in the morning or earlier then we only get about six to seven hours of sleep. This clearly is not the correct amount of sleep that we need.
      They also said that sleep deprivation can interrupt such patterns as learning abilities, remembering homework assignments, numbers or even names. all of this could simply be solved with a nice, convenient nap time in school. This will help our brains refocus and essentially help us in school. Isn't that what the teachers and everyone wants in the first place?