Name: Date: Class: Period: I Would Rather.

Name: Date: Class: Period:

I Would Rather. . .

Directions: In Act IV, Scene i of Romeo and Juliet, Juliet gives an impassioned speech to the Friar. Read it below and then answer the questions that follow.

Juliet: O, bid me leap, rather than marry Paris. From off the battlements of any tower, Or walk in thievish ways, or bid me lurk Where serpents are; chain me with roaring bears, Or hide me nightly in a charnel house, O'er covered quite with dead mans rattle bones, With reeky shanks and yellow chapless skulls, Or bid me go into a new made grave And hide me with a dead man in his shroudThings that, to hear them told, have made me trembleAnd I will do it without fear or doubt, To live an unstained wife to my secret love.

1. What would Juliet hate to do?

2. What alternatives does she suggest?

3. Hyperbole is a poetic technique involving exaggeration. Find an example of hyperbole in Juliet's lines.

4. Why does Juliet refuse to marry Paris?

Directions: You will now attempt to create an original poem based on Juliet's speech. You will follow the pattern Juliet follows. The first line introduces the worst thing you can think of doing, and the rest of poem describes in detail what you would rather do than face that thing mentioned in line one. The bolded lines/words will be the same in your poem. Write a rough draft on your own piece of paper. Revise for IDEAS and WORD CHOICE, and then type or write your final copy in blue/black ink. Remember presentation for full points!

Shakespeare's Original O, bid me leap, rather than marry Paris. From off the battlements of any tower, Or walk in thievish ways, or bid me lurk Where serpents are; chain me with roaring bears, Or hide me nightly in a charnel house, O'er covered quite with dead mans rattle bones, With reeky shanks and yellow chapless skulls, Or bid me go into a new made grave And hide me with a dead man in his shroudThings that, to hear them told, have made me trembleAnd I will do it without fear or doubt, To live an unstained wife to my secret love.

Sample #1 Oh, make me mix, rather than run track intervals, Oil and water for the rest o my life; Or send me to ski Mt. St. Helens on May 8, 1980; Or body surf the Bonzai Pipeline; Roll me down the stairs in a wheelbarrow; Or ride the Titanic's maiden voyage; Be the horns of a ram in combat; Send my money to the IRS; Or own the Red Sox; or take knitting classes; Things that, to hear them told, have made me trembleAnd I will do it without fear or doubt, Instead of running intervals in track.

Sample #2 Oh, have me sleep, rather than eat mayonnaise, With one million creepy spiders; Or take away my phone; or leave me alone In the dark; forbid me to eat chocolate; Make me stay a rainy day at Disneyland; Eliminate social life after school; Isolate me from my friends; Make me listen to opera, or raid my closet And dress me like a clown; Things that, to hear them told, have made me trembleAnd I will do it without fear or doubt, To escape eating mayonnaise again!

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