:: Thursday, February 27, 2003 ::

This is my huge Romeo and Juliet essay for Mr. Jessee in English 9 HN; I think I've done pretty well on it if I do say so myself. On the four pieces I have submitted I received a 94, 96, 94, and a 96. So it's pretty much guaranteed a 95 or higher if I polish up some of these transitions. I need to change the intros to quotes in the first body paragraph and maybe a spelling error or two, but the way it looks now is pretty much how I want to submit it, but I'm always open to criticism ;-)

James Freeman
Mr. Jessee
English 9 HN
13 February 2003
Currently Untitled

When Shakespeare’s masterpiece play Romeo and Juliet becomes the topic of discussion, most people contemplate and revel over how deep and complicated the young lover’s relationship is. This certainly isn’t the case, however. Once the images of the play, particularly night and blind love, are untangled, it is clear to see how shallow their relationship truly is. These images of night and blind love not only reveal the superficiality of Romeo and Juliet’s love, but also prove it is completely wild and untamed, ultimately leading to their own demise.
The recurring references to night solidify the fact that there is nothing below the surface to support the supposedly “strong” feelings they express for one another. Just as the darkness becomes a cloak over the land at night, so does Romeo craft an artificial night in which to harbor his love. In the first scene of the first act Montague elaborates on Romeo’s situation, explaining how:

Away from light steals home my heavy son,
And private in his chamber pens himself,
Shuts up his windows, locks fair daylight out,
And makes himself an artificial night.
Black and portentous must this humor prove
Unless good counsel may the cause remove. (1.1.132-37)

It is within this artificial night that Romeo finds Juliet, and because this was not counseled and allowed to blossom, its insubstantiality shattered causing their love to rot. The second large mistake they both make is putting their faith in night, which is in and of itself representative of instability and deceitfulness. Juliet confesses her uncorroborated
will to the night in act three scene two by exclaiming, “Spread thy close curtain, love-performing night/ That th’ runaway’s eyes may wink, and Romeo/ Leap into these arms untalk’d of and unseen!” (3.2.5-7). She is justifying here that night shall come and bring along with it the love of Romeo. All night the harbors are darkness, death, and evil notions; this oxymoronic phrase validates how her good-intentioned faith is thrust into a device that will only deliver suffering. These references prove that Romeo and Juliet’s love is unsupported – a light sugar coating based upon variable ideals around them. So what is all of this superficial love masking? The feral, uncounseled love that lies at the very core of Romeo and Juliet.
Romeo and Juliet’s love is unrestricted in every aspect; this is best exemplified by the fact they put their trust into blind love. Of all the characters in the play, Mercutio and Benvolio are most keen to this aspect of their love. While on the lookout for Romeo after Capulet’s party, Benvolio begins discussing Romeo’s behavior and how it applies to his love for Juliet: “Come, he hath hid himself among these trees/ To be consorted with the humorous night/ Blind is his love and best befits the dark” (2.1.30-2). In lighthearted language that nonetheless expresses a profound truth, Benvolio illuminates the dearth of Romeo’s choices. Since his love has no rhyme or reason, it belongs in the dark, where it is sure to become lost and ruined. In addition, despite frequent advice from Friar Lawrence, Romeo and Juliet refuse to adhere to logic and go about their relationship in a wild fashion. As Romeo consults the Friar early the next morning following the balcony scene, Romeo is given clear, blunt advice to go “Wisely and slow. They stumble that run fast” (2.3.94). This must not have registered in him, because instead of controlling his love for Juliet, he allows it to gain too much momentum and slip out from underneath his own feet. Juliet is just as guilty in this respect as her lover, accepting the fact that their love is blind, yet childishly entrusting her faith in it. As she awaits Romeo on the evening of the fight, she encourages love to find its way

By their own beauties, or, if love be blind,
It best agrees with night. Come, civil night,
Thou sober-suited matron all in black.
And learn me how to lose a winning match,
Play’d for a pair of stainless maidenhoods. (3.2.9-14).

She acknowledges that her love’s untamed nature is fostered within night, yet ignores all advice and begs for night to blindly bless her with Romeo’s love. All of these irrational, wild choices by Romeo and Juliet convey how feral their love is. Since this core, this very root of their love is in fact ungrounded itself, it’s easy to imagine how their blind love leads to its own destruction.
As the use of night and blind love imagery is unraveled, it is clear to see that such a superficial, untamed relationship was doomed throughout the entirety of the play. Just as a building with no structural integrity will cave in upon itself, so does Romeo and Juliet’s love because of its insubstantiality. Despite being advised time and time again, they restricted their own love from grounding itself below the surface, and thus its insubstantiality shattered causing their love to rot. Not only is their love lost within the shallowness of night, but also the very nature of their love, its blindness, places the final nail in the coffin for their hopes for love. While Romeo has been banished and weeps in the Friar’s cell, the Friar explains Romeo’s treatment of love “Like powder in a skillless soldier’s flask/ Is set afire by thine own ignorance/ And thou dismemb’red with thine own defense” (3.3.132-34). He ignores good reason and lets himself be blown apart by his own Surface-deep desires. Neither Romeo nor Juliet can seek direction with their love within the night, like a sea ship without a compass bound to crash. Romeo and Juliet’s love is wrecked and crashed due to their love’s nighttime concealment and purblindness.
This unsupported, uncontrollable love of Romeo and Juliet, as evidenced by the images of night and blind love, is what ultimately leads to their own deaths. With such intense feelings childishly entrusted into night, they have nobody to blame but themselves for their own tragedy. Their feral love plays the largest part in this play, and they suffer the consequences accordingly.

:: Floydthebarber 2/27/2003 09:17:00 PM (0) comments [+] ::
...

So I sat down last night and planned out what i'm taking for the next few years. Since I'm feeling lazy I won't whip up any HTML table (that would be good practice, though) I'll just list them. Take a peek:

Sophmore
Paideia 10: English II/World History HN
Algebra II
French II
Newspaper I

Paideia 10: English II/World History HN
Algebra III
Chemistry HN
Computer Science I and II

So yeah...that's a crapload of school to cram into my brain but it's not like I'm taking any school sports so I have to rely more heavily on academics. Not a problem. I have most of my Junior year planned out as well, although the order and groupings may change. Except for Comp Science III and IV because I want that continuity between I and II and III and IV.

Junior
AP English III
Pre-Calculus HN
AP Environmental Science
Computer Science III and IV

AP US History
ICM (Intro to College Math) HN
Something
Something

I don't really have much of a specific clue for my Senior year. I'm just making stuff up at this point lol.

Senior
AP Computer Science
English IV HN
AP Statistics
AP Physics
something
something
something
something

I can't even place those classes by semester...well I can because some of them are a 1st or 2nd semester course but who cares. So yeah I can't wait for my head to explode from all of this free knowledge from the state! Thanks government! Maybe I'll add on to this update later, I'm feeling a little sleepy. Bonne Nuit!

:: Floydthebarber 2/25/2003 10:14:00 PM (0) comments [+] ::
...

It's always hard for me to accept flattery for some reason, but I'm incredibly touched by this:
"February 20
I wrote a poem *turns red* tis for you, you know who you are...

Every word you speak is a small flake of gold
flown off from your beautiful soul
slowly in my mind they form a replica of your being
and in it I place my heart"

Yeah, nobody really knows what a sucker I am for this type of stuff. Especially when it comes from somebody who means the world to you.

:: Floydthebarber 2/20/2003 07:16:00 PM (0) comments [+] ::
...

Wow, I leave this blog abandoned without an update for one of two reasons: a) Absolutely nothing has been worth mentioning in life or b) Everything all of a sudden becomes worth mentioning in life. If you haven't guessed it's the latter; Valentines day was officially the best day of my life. And not just because of all that free chocolate. It started out on thursday night, when I went to go get Megan a card for valentines. It was the funniest thing i've ever seen; 90 guys crawling and scraping just to grab a card, ANY card, for their loved one at the last minute. I of course couldn't say anything because I was there for the exact same reason as those 90 other guys, I simply clawed my way through and found the perfect card. That night I still wasn't exactally sure what I was gonna do tommorow, I decided to let things take their own course and fell asleep.

School was a complete joke on friday, and I certainly wasn't one to complain. For 3 dollars (5 with a rose), a group of girls or guys would come deliver to the selected person a singing valentine. Not to be one to pass up such an amazing opportunity for embarrasment, I plopped down my three bucks to have a group of guys serinade my male biology teacher, Mr. Caudill, with the lovely ballad My Girl. Needless to say it was the funniest thing to see some dudes come in asking for "Cap'n Caudill" and sing My Girl to him. He recognized some of the handwriting in the card as mine but of couse he has no proof and several other people signed it as well. He still doesn't get what "LOL YUO HAEV BEEN ROOFLE PWNED" means. So anyways, every single period was interrupted by these said singing valentines, and the school day came to an anticlimactic close with talking aimlessly in ELP for an hour. Rode the bus home, brushed my hair....whew I was ready.

I went over to Megan's house around 4, and gave her the card. I know I know, I should have brought over chocolates, a present, jewelry, SOMETHING other than just a stinkin card, right? Fortunately for me that wasn't even the whole point of me going over there, I had another present to deliver. We chatted for a while, but I really had to get going since my little brother was gonna be home soon. So then we hugged, and that first kiss each of had been waiting our whole lives for happened. I still can't believe it really happened, the more I think about that afternoon the less easy it is for me to specifically place my finger on it. I keep thinking i'm going to wake up from this dream, that the whole kiss with her wasn't real. This kind of good stuff doesn't happen to me, remember? Yet I know it did, and I couldn't be more ecstatic that it was Megan and not anybody else. I was in a complete daydream the rest of the day, and even now when I close my eyes and picture her and that afternoon I get a little light headed. She's so beautiful, I don't know what took me so long to finally listen to what that little voice in my heart had been SCREAMING at me for so long. So everything's set with her and I now you could say, after a very very long time James finally has a girlfriend. I don't consider any other relationships i've had to fall in this category. What else is there to say about it? Things are perfect.

To all those Sharparonis and whatnots out there, I'm sorry to bore you with all these good thing happening all of a sudden. It's not to make you feel bad or anything but I sort of feel like I deserve to feel this way, it's been wayyy to long. Well that's what's been going on in east nowhere, NC, right now there's impending winter weather and homework to keep me busy. Word up Nintendophiles!

:: Floydthebarber 2/16/2003 01:35:00 PM (0) comments [+] ::
...

Was I outta my head, Was I outta my mind?
How could I have ever been so blind?
I was waiting for an indication, but it was hard to find
Don't matter what I say, Only what I do
I never mean to do bad things to you
So quiet but I finally woke up
If you're sad then it's time you spoke up too...

How ironic I heard this song saturday night....
Never again. No better time than now whether she shows me or not I know how she feels. I need to stop reading into things and simply dive right in. She'll follow.

:: Floydthebarber 2/10/2003 04:26:00 PM (0) comments [+] ::
...