All things that we ordained festival Turn from their office to black funeral:appointed, set apart for a purpose
Romeo and Juliet
Act 4
William Shakespeare · Mountaineers 10th–12th
Copywork
All things that we ordained festivalTurn from their office to black funeral:Our instruments to melancholy bells,Our wedding cheer to a sad burial feast;Our solemn hymns to sullen dirges change;Our bridal flowers serve for a buried corse,And all things change them to the contrary.
Capulet says this over a daughter the audience knows is alive. Read your copy aloud and mark the pattern: each exchange turns one wedding thing into one funeral thing. Which exchange is the least exact match, and what does that small slip do to a speech built on balance?
Discussion
Narration Retell Act IV in order, from Paris at the Friar's cell to the musicians waiting for the mourners.
- Juliet tells Paris, “I will confess to you that I love him,” and he answers, “So will ye, I am sure, that you love me.” Was she being honest with him, or hiding from him? Inference
- Juliet begs her father's pardon: “Henceforward I am ever rul’d by you.” He answers, “I’ll have this knot knit up tomorrow morning.” Was she wise, wrong, or both to say it? Moral reasoning
- Alone with the vial, Juliet says, “My dismal scene I needs must act alone,” then lists everything that could go wrong. Does she sound like someone making a plan, someone in a panic, or both? Character
- The Nurse jokes at Juliet's bedside, “What, not a word? You take your pennyworths now,” and a few lines later cries that she is dead. Why might Shakespeare give her the joke first? Author's choice
- Capulet first says, “She’s cold,” and later, “Death is my son-in-law, death is my heir.” Which sounds more like grief to you? Why might Shakespeare give him both? Theme
- After the laments, Peter begs the musicians for “Heart’s ease,” then quarrels with them about why music has a “silver sound.” What does this scene do to the grief you have just watched? Tone
Make a Connection Think of a story where you knew something the characters did not, and say how that changed what you heard them say.
Vocabulary
- ordained
- melancholy
Our instruments to melancholy bells,
sorrowful, heavy with sadness- sullen
Our solemn hymns to sullen dirges change;
gloomy and dull- immoderately
Immoderately she weeps for Tybalt’s death,
beyond measure, to excess- resolution
Do thou but call my resolution wise,
a firm decision- prostrate
By holy Lawrence to fall prostrate here,
lying face down in submission- lamentable
O lamentable day!
deserving grief, deplorable- beguiled
Beguil’d, divorced, wronged, spited, slain.
cheated, deceived- conceit
The horrible conceit of death and night,
an idea formed in the mind, a fancy- festering
Lies festering in his shroud; where, as they say,
rotting, growing worse instead of healing
Critical thinking
- Paris tells the Friar, “Immoderately she weeps for Tybalt’s death,” and says her father hastes the marriage “To stop the inundation of her tears.” Write a thesis on how well Paris understands Juliet's grief. Use two of his lines, answer one objection, and revise.
- Juliet shows the Friar a knife and says, “this shall slay them both.” Write a thesis on whether this is a plea for help or a demand that forces his answer. Use her lines and his reply, answer one objection, and revise.
- Over a Juliet he knows is alive, the Friar says “now heaven hath all” and “she’s best married that dies married young.” Write a thesis on what this speech does for the family. Use two of his lines, answer one objection, and revise.