Mercutio:
“True, I talk of dreams,
Which are the children of an idle brain,
Begot of nothing but vain fantasy,
Which is as thin of substance as the air
And more inconstant than the wind, who wooes
Even now the frozen bosom of the north,
And, being anger’d, puffs away from thence,
Turning his face to the dew-dropping south.”

Shakespeare used many metaphors in his plays, this made them great pieces of writing. In this speech Mercutio is describing dreams and fantasy being the wind.
“More inconsistent than the wind”
“A vain fantasy-thin as the air”
Dreams come and go, but are not solid substances, just like the wind. It’s there but you cannot reach out and grab it.

Your task is to identify the metaphor present in the following excerpt and then write a paragraph that explains the metaphor and its effect on the meaning of the passage it is embedded in.

MERCUTIO

True, I talk of dreams,
Which are the children of an idle brain,
Begot of nothing but vain fantasy,
Which is as thin of substance as the air
And more inconstant than the wind, who wooes
Even now the frozen bosom of the north,
And, being anger’d, puffs away from thence,
Turning his face to the dew-dropping south.

Feel free to watch the presentation again from this lesson to remind you of how to approach a passage that contains a metaphor:

Written: Analytic essay

Spoken: Dramatic monologue

Created: Film a scene from romeo juliet

SUNDAY MORNING:

-There is a big fight between the two rival families when they meet.

SUNDAY AFTERNOON:

-Prince Escalus, the ruler of Verona, attempts to prevent any further conflicts between the families by decreeing death for any individual who disturbs the peace in the future.

-It is found out that Romeo is in love with Rosaline.

-they get an invitation to a ball where Romeo’s cousin wants to show that they are more beautiful girls than her.

SUNDAY EVENING:
At the ball:

-Romeo goes with his cousin to the ball

-Romeo is spotted by the other family, one of them wants to get rid of him but the other tells him not to, so as not to disturb the ball and to keep peace.

-Romeo sees Juliet and then they fall in love, although they do not yet know who each other are as everyone at the ball are wearing masks.

-Romeo waits outside Juliet’s window for her and they make long speeches about each other in private.

-They decide they want to marry each other (even though they have not yet spoken a hundred words to each other yet.)

THE NEXT MORNING:

-Friar Lawrence gives a speech about how herbs can do great good but can also do bad. He compares it to humans.

-Romeo walks in and asks the friar if he can help him and Juliet to be married.

-Friar Lawrence agrees as he thinks that if the two are married it will converge the families and it will be the end of the feuding.

-Sends her nurse to get news from Romeo.

-Romeo and Juliet get married

-As the Montagues walk in the street, Benvolio suggests that they go indoors because he fears that otherwise they may get into a fight with the Capulet family.

-Tybalt enters with another of his men, he asks whether ‘his man’ (Romeo) is anywhere, he begins to insult Mercutio until Romeo enters.

-Tybalt describes him as an enemy, but Romeo says that he must love Tybalt as                 we and Romeo know (all of the other characters don’t) he is secretly married to Juliet so he must love Tybalt as a cousin.

-Romeo’s friends do not like this as they think Romeo should treat Tybalt badly and not love him as they are not supposed to like the other family.

-Romeo does not want to fight with Tybalt, so Mercutio says that if Romeo will not fight then he shall. He draws his sword. Romeo tries to stop the fight,but as he does so Tybalt shoots through the gap next to Romeo’s arm and the bullet hits Mercutio.

-Mercutio says it is only a scratch- but then dies ,off stage.

-Tybalt then turns to Romeo, They fight and Tybalt falls.

Your mind will answer most questions if you learn to relax and wait for the answer

Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm.

I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life and that is why I succeed, Michael Jordon

Failure is success if we learn from it.