Hi there, I'm Mr. Buckingham, and it's so good to see you here for today's lesson.

Today, we're going to be looking in detail at one of the most dramatic sections of "Romeo and Juliet," the duel between Mercutio, Tybalt and Romeo.

And we're going to be working hard to understand the real language Shakespeare used 400 years ago, as well as doing some drama to deepen our understanding further.

I thought you're going to really enjoy this, so let's get going.

Today's lesson is called exploring act three, scene one in "Romeo and Juliet," and it comes by unit called Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet," diary and narrative writing.

By the end of today's lesson, you will have worked out the meaning of Shakespeare's language in act three scene one, and you'll have acted out parts of the scene showing appropriate emotions.

And for this lesson, you will want to have access to the extracts from act three scene one that you can find in additional materials for this lesson.

If you've got this with you, let's begin.

Here are our key words for today's lesson.

A conflict is a serious disagreement over a period of time, and a duel is a contest with deadly weapons between two people used to settle an argument.

A play script is the written version of a play, and early modern English is the state of English language used from approximately the late 15th century to the late 17th century.

Here's how it's now is today.

We're going to start off by exploring Shakespeare's language in act three scene one, looking at the real language he used, and then we'll use some drama to deepen our understanding of this scene.

So as you know, we've written a diary entry in "Romeo and Juliet" that explores some key events in "Romeo and Juliet," up to the end of that balcony scene.

So what happens next in the story after the balcony scene that results in Romeo being exiled, sent away from Verona.

I'd like you to pause the video and retell the events to your partner from the end of the balcony scene up to Romeo being exiled to Mantua.

Pause the video and have a go.

Well done, great it is.

So we can summarise it like this.

First of all, Romeo and Juliet are of course, married the next day in secret by Friar Lawrence.

And Tybalt, Juliet's cousin is very angry because he knows that Romeo attended the Capulet ball the previous night.

So then, Tybalt fights with Mercutio, he's Romeo's friend and kills him.

And then Romeo kills Tybalt in revenge.

And because of that, the Prince, the ruler of Verona, exiles Romeo to Mantua to a different city.

So some of those events are covered in act three scene one that we're going to focus on today.

So we can see that this part of the plot is very closely linked to the theme of conflict in "Romeo and Juliet".

So what conflict are there in this play? Pause the video and have a chat to the person next to you or think on your own.

There's quite a few, isn't there? So first of all, we've got that key conflict, the feud between the Montagues and the Capulets, which Shakespeare tells us this is an ancient grudge, a longstanding grudge.

And then Juliet and Romeo, of course, as a result of that feud also in conflict with their family's expectations when they fall in love with each other.

Their families would not want that to happen, of course.

So they're in conflict with their families.

And then as a result, Juliet is then in conflict with her father who wants her to marry Paris.

And ultimately, that conflict leads to her death and of course, to Romeos.

So conflict is a really key theme in this play.

So thinking about conflict, the duel that happens between the Montague and Capulet sides in act three scene one is the biggest violent conflict in the play, and that's where we're going to be focusing our attention today.

So we know that this involves several key characters.

First of all, on the Montague side we have Romeo, Benvolio, his cousin, and Mercutio, his friend.

And then on the Capulet side we have Tybalt, who's Juliet's cousin, and Petrichio, who's Tybalt's friend.

So to refresh our memories, let's watch the Shakespeare Animated Tales version of the duel from act three scene one.

<v Person>Peace be with you, sir.

Here comes my man.

</v> <v ->Romeo, the love I bear thee can afford</v> no better term than this.

Thou art a villain.

<v ->Tybalt, the reason that I have to love thee,</v> doth much excuse the appertaining rage to such a greeting.

<v ->Turn and draw.

</v> <v ->I do protest I never injured thee,</v> but love thee better than thou cants devise.

<v ->Oh, calm, dishonourable vile submission.

</v> Tybalt, you rat catcher, will you walk? <v ->I am for you.

</v> (swords clanking) (both grunting) (swords clanking) (tense music) (both grunting) <v ->Gentlemen, for shame for bear this outrage.

</v> Halt, Tybalt, good Mercutio.

(Tybalt grunts) (Mercutio grunts) <v ->Away, Tybalt.

A thou hurt.

</v> <v ->I am hurt, a plague o' both your houses.

</v> I was hurt under your arm.

(grunting) They have made worms' meat of me.

(grunting) <v ->Now, Tybalt, thou wretched boy,</v> (Tybalt grunts) <v ->Romeo, away, be gone.

</v> The prince will doom thee death.

<v ->Oh, I am fortune's fool.

</v> <v ->Okay, so based on what we've just seen</v> in the animation there, which of these statements are true? And can you correct any false statements? Pause the video and have a go.

Well done.

Good job.

So first of all, yes, it is true that Romeo is trying to keep the peace and stop MErcutio from fighting Tybalt.

The second one's not true because in fact, Tybalt killed Mercutio and Romeo killed Tybalt.

To C, no, it's not true.

But after killing Mercutio, Tybalt left for good because he then fought Romeo who killed him.

And yes, it is true to say that Romeo says he loves Tybalt.

He's talking about the fact that Tybalt is now his family member because Romeo has married Juliet who is also a Capulet.

Really well done for your thoughts there.

So here are some of those events that happened in that dual scene.

Can you put 'em in order from one to four? Pause the video and have a go.

Well done.

Great job.

So you should have started with this one.

Tybalt challenges Romeo to a duel, and he refuses.

Then Tybalt duels with Mercutio instead.

Then Romeo gets in the way, leading to Mercutio being stabbed.

And finally, then Tybalt steps away and Mercutio dies in Romeo's arms. So that's the first part of the duel scene, isn't it? And then we know that we go on to have the second duel between Tybalt and Romeo as well.

So Romeo really starts out in that scene of the peacemaker, doesn't he? He wants to stop this fight from happening.

So why is he so keen to be the peacemaker to start with and why does that change as the scene progresses? Pause the video and have a careful think.

Well done.

Great thinking.

Here's what Laura says.

She says "He is saying that he loves Tybalt and doesn't want to fight him because Romeo now considers him to be a family member.

He's a relative of Juliet's, and they are now married.

However, when his friend Mercutio is killed, that goes out the window.

Now, he wants revenge for his friend's death because he's full of grief and he's very angry." So we see the change in Romeo's emotions there towards Tybalt as the scene progresses.

So let's look at part the real play script now for act three scene one, the words Shakespeare wrote 400 years ago and which we're still talking about today.

It says this, Tybalt, "Romeo, thou art a villain." Then Romeo says, "Tybalt, villain am I none.

Therefore farewell, I see thou knowest me not.

Boy, this shall not excuse the injuries that thou has stun me, therefore turn and draw." So as you can see, we've got early modern English used here.

Notice that use for instance of thou to mean you.

It says, I see thou knowest me not.

We also see some really interesting verb endings here.

We've got thou knowest and thou hast instead of, you know, and you have, we don't use those verb endings anymore in English, but they were used in early modern English.

And you can see this term turn and draw.

Now that's a duelling term, meaning turn and fight me.

So that's Tybalt trying to start off the fight between him and Rome.

And we know that Romeo refuses to fight at that point.

So let's zoom in on some of these words.

Can you match the early modern English to the modern translations from that section of the scene? Pause the video and have a try.

Well done.

Great job.

So first of all, it says this shall not excuse the injuries that thou has done me.

That would mean this doesn't make up for what you've done to me.

Injuries are the bad things you've done to me.

And we're saying it doesn't excuse them, it doesn't make up for them.

The second one's a bit easier says, thou art a villain.

That just means you are a villain.

And then Romeo says, villain am I none, meaning I'm not a villain.

And then it says, I see thou knowest me not, meaning I can see you don't know me, you don't know me at all, we could say.

So let's have a look and read the play script back using this knowledge we've worked out.

We can see it would now say, "Romeo, you are a villain.

Tybalt, I'm not a villain." And then we've got therefore farewell, meaning, therefore goodbye.

I can see you don't know me at all.

Then Tybalt says, "This doesn't make up for what you've done to me, therefore turn and fight me." So we've managed to work out there the meaning of these 400-year-old words in early modern English by thinking carefully about what they might mean.

Good job.

Now, Shakespeare's play script for this duel continues like this.

Romeo says, "I do protest, I never injured thee, but love thee better than thou cants devise." And Mercutio then says, "O calm, dishonourable, vile submission." Hmm, what's going on here? So first of all, who's Romeo talking to? And what is he saying? Pause the video and have a chat to the person next to you and a careful look at those words.

Well done.

Good ideas.

So Romeo's talking to Tybalt at this point.

This is a continuation of what we saw before.

And he says that he's never done him any wrong.

I never injured thee, I never hurt you.

And he says that he loves Tybalt more than he could imagine.

I love thee you better than thou you cant devise.

So work out.

He doesn't want to fight him, does he? He's saying, I don't wanna fight you.

I've never hurt you.

I love you actually more than you can imagine.

And then Mercutio says something strange.

He says, o calm, dishonourable, vile submission.

Now, submission is giving in.

So let's think about that on the next slide.

When Mercutio says, o calm, dishonourable, vile submission.

Who's he talking to? Romeo or Tybalt? And what does he mean? Pause the video and have a think.

Well done.

Good ideas.

Maybe he said something like this.

"I think Mercutio is saying these words to Tybalt, not to Romeo.

He wouldn't call his own friend vile." Vile is a really unpleasant word, isn't it? So that would seem strange that Mercutio would say that to Romeo, his friend.

Hmm.

But Sophia says this.

"Mercutio's angry at Romeo for his submission to Tybalt, for giving in and saying he doesn't want to fight.

They've all been involved in the feud for so long that to Mercutio, it just looks like Romeo is being cowardly, it's this giving in that Mercutio is calling vile and dishonourable.

He thinks Romeo should fight Tybalt who's just been rude to him." So this is in fact Sophia's right, Mercutio talking to Romeo, he's saying that Romeo is vile for giving in to Tybalt in this way.

So he's actually using quite unpleasant words towards his friend because he's so confused as to why Romeo is not following along with the feud, not following along with the fight they've always had with Tybalt, because of course, Mercutio does not know that Romeo's married Juliet.

So he doesn't know that Romeo now considers Tybalt to be a member of his family.

So we know that Mercutio and Tybalt then duel leading to Mercutio's death.

And we know that Romeo tries to stop them as they're fighting.

He says this Tybalt, Mercutio, the Prince expressly hath forbid this bandying in Verona streets.

Then we've got some stage directions.

Romeo attempts to beat down their rapiers, their swords.

Tybalt stabs Mercutio.

Then Benvolio says to Mercutio, what art thou hurt? And Mercutio replies, ay, ay, a scratch, a scratch.

Hmm.

What's going on here? Well, expressly there in Romeo's first line means clearly and bandying means fighting.

So the Prince clearly hath forbid this fighting in Verona streets.

Then rapier, as we know are those thin, sharp, pointed swords.

And art thou means are you.

So what are you hurt is what Benvolio says.

And ay is an early modern English way of saying yes.

So let's see if we can apply this knowledge to understand what's going on here.

First of all, let's consider the character's motivations at this point in the scene.

Can you match the characters to their motivations in the part of the play script we just read.

Pause the video and have a go.

Well done.

Great job.

So Mercutio is the one who wants to downplay his injuries.

He's saying a scratch, a scratch.

We'll talk more about that in a moment.

Romeo wants Mercutio and Tybalt to stop fighting because the Prince has banned it.

He doesn't want people to get executed for fighting.

And Benvolio wants to know if Mercutio has been badly injured by Tybalt.

So he's heard that Mercutio is saying he has a scratch.

That's all he's saying he has.

So he's downplaying how much he might be injured, but we know it's much more serious.

So we now have a badly injured Mercutio.

Let's see what he says before he dies.

First of all, Romeo says, "Courage, man, the hurt cannot be much." And Mercutio says, "No, does not so deep as a well nor so wide a church door but tis enough, help me into some house, Benvolio or I shall faint.

A plague o' both your houses.

They have made worms meet off me." We've got some very famous lines there.

Let's try and work out what's going on.

So we can see some early modern English contracted forms here.

For instance, tis means it is and o means on.

So I said on when I said it because it's quite hard to say, o, isn't it? And we know that a plague is a terrible disease, a plague o' both your houses.

And we know that worms, which I mentioned in that last line, live in the ground eating soil.

So before he dies, Mercutio says these really interesting things.

What do you think they mean? We've got tis enough, a plague o' both your houses, and they've made worms' meats of me.

What do you think Mercutio is talking about? Pause the video and have a think.

Well done.

Really good thinking.

So when he says tis enough, he's saying that the pain might not seem that bad to Romeo, but it's enough to kill him.

And then a plague o' both your houses is a really famous line.

Here, he's cursing, he's saying, I want to plague to before these two houses, the Montagues and the Capulets, the two houses of Verona that he holds responsible for his death.

So he's saying he wants them both to suffer like having a plague as a result of his death.

And then the last one is they have made worms' meat of me.

Well, worms of underground and they eat soil.

And he's saying that the Montagues and Capulets have made him into worm food because soon his dead body is going to be buried in the ground.

Really well done.

You just managed to work those out.

Great work.

So in the animated tales version that we just saw, Tybalt stays while Mercutio then dies.

Being Shakespeare's original script, Tybalt runs off and then he comes back later.

So we see this happen, but Benvolio says, "Here comes the furious Tybalt back again." And Romeo says to Tybalt, "Fire-eyed fury be my conduct now.

Mercutio's soul is but a little way above our heads, staying for thine to keep him company, either thou or I, or both must go with him." Hmm, that's a bit of a complicated section.

Let's try and break it down.

So first of all, conduct is behaviour.

So Romeo is saying fire-eyed fury is my behaviour now.

And then thine means yours.

So Mercutio's soul is but a little way above our heads staying for yours to keep him company.

And then it's important to remember that at this time many people would've believed that a person's soul left their body when they died living on outside the body.

So it talks about Mercutio's soul being a little way above our heads.

So can you match again the early modern English to the modern translations of these lines? Pause the video and have a try.

Well done.

Good job.

So that first one must mean, now, I'm very angry.

Then the second one about Mercutio's soul, we're saying Mercutio's soul is still here, it's still in the area.

Staying for thine to keep him company.

So waiting for your soul to join him in being in dead.

And then it says either thou or I or both must go with him.

So either you or I or both of us must die and join him.

So we take all of that together.

We can see that Romeo's saying one of us or both of us is going to join Mercutio in having our soul leave our body in dying.

So one of our souls or both of our souls will join Mercutio in death.

So he's saying we're going to have to fight to the death now.

Let's do our first task this lesson.

And for this, you will need to have the extracts from act three scene one that you can find in additional materials for this lesson.

So I'd like you to work in a group of four for this task and I'd like to have a go at writing the extracts down in modern English using vocabulary you might use today.

Pay attention as well to the stage directions because they help you to understand what's going on.

And don't worry if you can't think of the meaning of one section, just go into the next.

And you don't have to translate every single word from the original, just try and keep the meaning similar for each extract.

So you're writing your own version of the extract that we've just discussed many of the parts of in modern English.

So work in a group to do this and see if you can help each other to come up with ideas for saying that Shakespearean language in modern English instead.

Pause it again and have a go with your team.

Well done, fantastic effort.

Here's the example of what you might have written in modern English for the first part of the scene.

I said, "You're a villain, Romeo, I'm no villain, Tybalt.

I'm leaving, I can see you don't know me at all.

You can't do anything to make right what you've done to me, to around and fight me.

I've never done anything to hurt you.

I care about you more than you could possibly know.

Stop playing around.

This is our enemy." And Tybalt and Mercutio then fight.

"Tybalt, Mercutio, the Prince has banned us from fighting like this." And Romeo tries to stop the fight leading to Tybalt stabbing Mercutio.

Here's how the remainder of the scene could look.

Benvolio says, "Mercutio, are you injured? It's nothing.

Come on, it can't be that bad.

No, but it's bad enough.

Help me into that house, Benvolio or I'm going to faint, curse all your Montagues and Capulets." And then he dies and Tybalt returns.

"Here comes Tybalt back again and still just as angry.

Well, I'm fired up now too.

Mercutio's soul is still close by waiting for yours to join him, Tybalt.

Either you or I must go with him or maybe both." And they fight and we know that Tybalt dies and Romeo then flees.

It's really well done for translating that early modern English into modern English.

You've done a fantastic job.

So now, let's have a go at using drama to deepen our understanding of this scene.

Now, we've spent quite a lot of time breaking down the language that Shakespeare used in that scene.

And part of what makes understanding that language tricky is that we are not seeing the performance of the play because it's important to remember these plays were not intended to just be read as we've just done because at the time they were written, many people wouldn't have been able to read at all.

So these people could have enjoyed still Shakespeare's plays by seeing the perform by actors on the stage.

And even today, many people including me, find that they can understand the words much more easily when they see the play being performed compared to just reading it.

And that's partly because the actors use their actions and their emotions to convey the meaning of the lines that they're saying.

So we're going to try acting out the scene as well to see if we can do the same thing.

Now, of course, in order to act well we have to think about the character's emotions at different points.

So let's look at this section of Romeo's dialogue.

At this point he's really pleading, isn't he? with Mercutio and Tybalt and he's quite desperate for them to stop.

So we could show this emotion in our tone of voice.

I could say, "Tybalt, Mercutio, the Prince expressly hath forbid this bandying in Verona streets." I tried to show that I'm pleading with them in the roll of Romeo.

If we look at this section, we can see this Mercutio's dying moments.

So here Mercutio is angry actually, isn't he? With both the houses with the Montagues and the Capulets, but he's also feeling weak and he's dying.

So we can show this in our voices and our body language.

So I could say, "Help me into some house, Benvolio, or I shall faint, a plague o' both your houses.

They've made worms' meat of me." So you could say that many different ways.

I was trying to show kind of the sadness and resignation with a little bit of anger there as well.

So we can see that in order to act well, we're gonna need to understand Romeo's emotions really well.

So how do Romeo's emotions change over the course of this scene? Pause the video and have a think.

Well done.

Good thinking.

So we know he starts off calm and confident.

He's trying to be friendly towards Tybalt and avoid the fight altogether.

But then when Mercutio and Tybalt are fighting, Romeo starts to get desperate for them to stop and he's of course, worrying that Mercutio may be hurt or that the Prince might get involved.

And then when Mercutio dies, Romeo is of course, furious with Tybalt and he wants revenge and perhaps he might also be feeling a little guilty that he was partly responsible.

So we're gonna have to try and show these changing emotions where as we use our voice as we act in roll of Romeo.

So have a go at saying each of these segments aloud, showing an appropriate emotion using your tone of voice.

Pause the video and have a try.

Well done.

Great job.

So Tybalt might speak like this, he's gonna use an angry tone of voice.

He might say, "Romeo thou art a villain.

He's trying to show how he feels towards Romeo.

And then Romeo is responding to that and he's going to use a more confident, relaxed tone of voice because he's trying to diffuse the situation.

So he might say, "Tybalt, villain am I none.

Therefore farewell, I see thou knowest me not." He's trying to keep things calm so he's not going to be aggressive in return.

Really well done for using your voice to show those emotions.

So for our first task here, let's have a look back at the play script you wrote in task A, or you can use the example in the additional materials.

I'd like to work again in your groups of four and this time take on the roles of Tybalt, Benvolio, Romeo and Mercutio.

I'd like to go through the script and write a note to say what emotions should be used for each line.

How is the character feeling at that point? So at one point is Romeo feeling angry or is he feeling relaxed and confident? You decide.

And then I'd like to have a go at doing what's called a table read of the script, using your voices to show those emotions you've just decided on.

And this is what actors do when they first get a script, they sit still and they don't do any acting, they just use their voices to say the lines.

So that's what I want to do to start with.

And it's okay to change and add to your script as you work.

If you decide people need to say different things or you want to add in things for different characters to say.

So pause the video, note down the emotions for each line of your script and then have a go at saying it as a table read aloud using the appropriate emotions in your voices.

Pause the video and have a go.

Well done, great job.

So here's a section of my script from the earlier task and here are the emotions I might use.

So from Mercutio, are you injured? Benvolio's going to be concerned, isn't he? For it's nothing, Mercutio is going to be in pain.

And then for, come on, it can't be that bad.

Romeo's gonna try and be cheerful.

And for this section where Mercutio is dying, he's obviously going to be feeling weak and angry.

And then finally, Benvolio is going to be worried because he sees Tybalt coming back.

So again, try show there's changing emotions in our voices.

So I could do it like this.

I could say, Mercutio, "Are you injured?" To show that concern, I could say, "It's nothing," to show I'm in pain, but trying to hide it.

Romero might say, "Come on, it can't be that bad." And then Mercutio might say, "No, but it's bad enough, help me into that house, Benvolio, I'm going to faint.

Curse all you Montagues and Capulets." And then finally, Benvolio could say in a worried way, "Here comes Tybalt back again and still just as angry." So I tried to show those emotions in my voice.

Really well done for your work there.

So now that we practised saying the play script using our voices to show those emotions, we need to try acting it out.

So what does good acting look like? Pause the video and have a chat to the person next to you.

Well done.

Good thinking.

So there's quite a few things to consider, isn't there? First of all, we need to try and show the plot through our actions.

So we doing what the characters are supposed to be doing.

We also need to think about where we are moving around and where the audience might be.

So could they see the actions or are all hidden in one corner? We need to think about our body language and whether we're showing the emotions that the character is feeling at different points.

And need to decide who is doing what and when they're doing it.

So that's something you have to agree together in order to be a really good team and work together to show this plot and these emotions really well.

So what might the characters be doing as they say these lines from Mercutio and Benvolio.

Pause video and have a think.

Okay, so these are Mercutio's dying line, aren't they? So maybe he's crawling or struggling to stand, maybe he's shaking his fist at Romeo or shaking his head in sorrow on that final line, we're using our bodies to show what Mercutio might be feeling at that moment.

And then for Benvolio saying, "What, art thou hurt? He might be having his hand on Mercutio's shoulder to comfort him or to show that he's concerned and maybe he's looking at him with an anxious expression on his face or scanning his body for signs of any injury.

So if that one tiny line, we could do lots with our bodies to show Benvolio's concern.

So have a look now at your script again and your character's lined in that script.

How are you going to use body language and movement to show the emotions? Pause the video and have a think.

Well done.

Great work.

So Alex says, "I'm Tybalt.

I'm going to step towards Romeo trying to look confident, and I'll have my arms folded across my chest so I look angry and then later I'll come back with my head held high." Sam is Romeo, here's what she says.

"I'm going to try and look relaxed to start with by moving slowly and calmly.

Later on, I'll have my hands out in front of me trying to calm things down." So some good ideas there for how you could use your body language, but it's up to you as the actor.

So let's do our final task for this lesson.

Let's go back to our script again and in your groups take some time to practise acting the script now.

So you're gonna have to discuss where people will stand and where they'll move to and try and show the appropriate emotions using your acting and your body language.

Make sure you continue to show the emotion in your voice as well, that we practised before.

And when you've practised a few times, you might want to try and do it without using your script.

And finally, you might then feel ready to perform it to your class.

Now, when you stop using your script, it doesn't matter if you get some of the words wrong, what matters is that you're trying to stay in character and use words that they might use to show the plot moving forward.

So pause the video and have a go working through these steps to get towards a really good dramatic reconstruction of this scene in your group.

Have a go.

Well done.

Really good work.

I hope you enjoyed that.

Let take some time to reflect on our performances.

For instance, you might say something like this, Andeep says, "I think I did a good job as Mercutio showing how angry I was at Romeo as I was dying.

When we practised, it was tempted to be silly during the dying bit, but I got it right in the end." So pause the video here and have a go at reflecting with your partner or to your class about how you felt you did in that task.

Well done.

Good job.

Maybe you said something like Jim.

"I tried to show how Benvolio was concerned about both Mercutio and Romeo by sounding worried and anxious.

I also help my team decide how the fight should look." So even if like Benvolio, you only have a couple of lines in the script, you can still play a huge role, can't you? In doing those lines justice and in also working as your team to help make sure it's a really good dramatic production.

Great job.

So let's summarise our learning in this lesson.

We've said that conflict is a key theme in "Romeo and Juliet." And this is particularly shown in act three scene one where we see Tybalt kill Mercutio and Romeo kill Tybalt in a pair of violent duels.

When we read the play script, we can translate the early modern English into modern English by thinking carefully about the meaning of particular words.

We can use drama to deepen our understanding of the scene, remembering that Shakespeare's place were intended to be performed.

And when we act, we use our actions including body language and our tone of voice to convey or show character's emotions.

Fantastic job in this lesson.

You've done a brilliant job at decoding Shakespeare's language and in showing what he intended through your acting.

Really great work.

I'd love to see you again in a future lesson.

Goodbye.