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Shakespeare: Romeo and Juliet Act 2

June 21, 2010 by Lori Mitchell

Act 2 Prologue- The prologue summarizes act 1 but without the wit and intellectual insight of my summaries.

Act 2 Scene 1- Romeo is hanging out and his buddies come up and start teasing him about his “love” for Rosaline, basically because boys are kind of immature that way. They have no idea that Romeo is generic cheap cialis done with her and is now all hot and bothered for Juliet. Murcutio being his typical self basically calls Rosaline a ‘ho, which just makes Romeo love Juliet more because Juliet is “pure”. I just gotta ask…does every man on the planet have a jerk friend like Murcutio, or is it just in Shakespeare and sit coms? So Ben is all worried that Mercutio is going make Romeo mad talking crap about his woman and all, but Mercutio says bro’s before ‘ho’s and he owes it to his bud to tell him the truth.

Act 2 Scene 2- This is perhaps the most quoted scene in all of Shakespeare. It starts with “But, soft! What light through yonder window breaks?” as Romeo basically stalks Juliet and is hanging out in her orchard where he sees her in her window. He hears her talking and realizes she is talking about how much she loves him. Juliet, who is brighter than any 13 year old I know, suddenly figures out that it’s not Romeo her family won’t approve of, they don’t even know him, but it’s his NAME they won’t approve of. So she figures that if he changes his name then they can be together. He steps out from hiding and tells her how much he loves her. She’s not sure she believes him, or else she’s just playing hard to get, either way, she makes him say it again, it is possible that she just has an ego and wants to be adored. Anyway, he declares his love for her again, and she tells him that he needs to hide or her family might catch him. And of course this quote is also in this scene: O Romeo, Romeo! Wherefore art thou Romeo? Deny thy father and refuse thy name; or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love, and I’ll no longer be a Capulet.” Now that we’ve had the most famous quotes taken care should we even finish this play? I guess I hate to leave things unfinished, so I’ll continue…Then the nurse starts calling her so she has to go, but before she goes they make plans to get married…and Mercutio called Rosaline a ‘ho? Hello?!?!?!? Juliet just met the boy and made out with him at the party and is now planning to marry him behind her parent’s back AND she’s only 13! I’m 48 and not mature enough to get married!

Act 2 Scene 3- Romeo runs to the Friar and tells him how much he loves Juliet and begs the Friar to marry them. The Friar doesn’t think Romeo knows what he wants and that Romeo is pretty much in love with being in love, since he was all hot and bothered over Rosalind just yesterday…but he figures if he marries the kiddos it might end the feud, and since the prince has already been all annoyed it might be a purchase antibiotics online good thing, so he agrees against his better judgment, clearly the man should learn to listen to his gut instincts.

Act 2 Scene 4- The boys are teasing Romeo about “getting sick” the night before and disappearing, and how quickly he seems to have gotten over what ailed him. The nurse comes in and she is clearly a sassy one because Murcutio is acting like a jerk and being all snarky but the nurse matches him wit for wit. Then she warns Romeo that he better not be playing with Juliet’s heart and he’d better be serious. He swears he is and tells her to have Juliet meet him at the Friar’s. He also tells her that he’s going to have a rope ladder delivered so that he can climb it and do the horizontal mamba with Juliet that night after the wedding. She agrees to help him but tells him that Paris is also after Juliet and that she personally thinks Paris is a better match for Juliet. The nurse may be witty but she has clear lack of judgment…how could an old perv like Paris be better than a boy closer to Juliet’s age?

Act 2 Scene 5- The nurse runs back to Juliet and teases her, whining about her aches and pains while Juliet is just chomping at the bit for her to get on with it and tell her what she found out about Romeo. So finally the nurse tells her about the wedding and then teases her about Romeo climbing up the ladder that night. She’s teasing Juliet about getting some. Juliet leaves to hurry to her wedding while the nurse goes off in search of a ladder.

I just want to say that I barely succeeded in fighting the temptation to make a really inappropriate Roman Polanski remark during this act.