Romeo and Juliet: Act 2 Scene 1-6

Gang, team and group violence is portrayed in many pieces of literature, in this case, Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare. This WebQuest is designed to get students to study the actions of group’s violence and create conflict/resolution strategies to help prevent future violence.

Your job (the Quest) is to research conflicts that have occurred between characters or groups in the stories of Romeo and Juliet (Act 2, Scene 1 to 6). In a small group, you will then find alternative ways of dealing with the conflicts in the stories that may have prevented violence or ended the conflict. Then, you will create your own example of modern day conflicts that could be prevented. Finally, you will create a presentation that identifies the conflicts, actions, outcomes and alternative outcomes for each of the stories, as well as your modern-day example of a conflict and possible ways to prevent violence or stop the conflict.

The requirement in exploring the Quest are as follows:

1. You will be required to create four groups to fill the following positions.

• Side A––This team member will be responsible for identifying and recording one side of a conflict in the chosen pieces of conflict from the story. You will need to identify the cause of the conflict and actions your side took in perpetuating the violence or continued conflict.
• Side B––This team member will be responsible for identifying and recording the opposing side of a conflict between a character or characters in the chosen story. You will need to identify the cause of the conflict and actions your side took in perpetuating the violence or continued conflict.
• Conflict Outcomes––This team member will be responsible for identifying and recording the outcomes of each conflict identified for each piece of literature.
• Conflict/Resolution Solutions––This team member will be responsible for identifying and recording conflict/resolution solutions that could have stopped the conflicts in each piece of literature. Your job is to stop the violence.

2. Now, you must review websites for the following works:

• Romeo and Juliet––Read through the following websites and identify at least one conflict. You may choose an external conflict between the House of the Montagues and the House of the Capulets, individual characters (i.e. Paris, Romeo, Tybalt, Mercutio, etc.), or internal conflicts (Romeo, Juliet, Capulet, Lady Capulet, the Nurse, etc.). Be as creative as you like here. There are many conflicts within this story, so you will have a variety from which to choose.
• Conflict/Resolution strategies––In order to implement and learn about conflict resolution the Conflict Resolver must have an understanding of what Conflict Resolution is. Below is a definition/description and following that is several links to sites that provide numerous strategies for conflict resolution.

• What is conflict resolution?
  
  Conflict resolution is about teaching people new ways to work through and resolve disputes that don’t involve violence. Many schools and community groups offer conflict resolution programs for teens.
• How does conflict resolution work?
  
  Most conflict resolution programs follow a series of steps that include (Crawford and Bodine 1996):

• Setting ground rules––Agree to work together and set rules such as no name-calling, blaming, yelling or interrupting.
• Listening––Let each person describe their point of view without interruption. The point is to understand what a person wants and why they want it.
• Finding common interests––Establish facts and issues that everyone can agree on and determine what is important to each person.
• Brainstorming possible solutions to the problem––List all options without judging them or feeling that they must be carried out. Try to think of solutions where everyone gains something.
• Discussing each person’s view of the proposed solutions–– Negotiate and try to reach a compromise that is acceptable to everyone involved.
• Reaching an agreement––Each person should state his or her interpretation of the agreement. Try writing the agreement down and checking back at a later time to see how it is working.

(See additional link Handout 2)

3. Now that you have your information, you need to reflect on a current example of gang, team, or group violence. As a group create at least three examples of how the situation can be handled so that there is a peaceful solution.

4. As a group, you will create a presentation giving examples of conflict from each piece of literature, to include the reason, actions of each side, outcomes and other possible solutions that could have stopped the conflict. You will also include your current example with at least three possible conflict/resolution solutions. You may do a PowerPoint presentation, story-telling, create a written piece to be presented to the class, or be creative and come up with your own idea. If you choose to create your own, you will need to get your idea approved prior to working on it.

There are many aspects of violence that can be prevented by a simple conflict resolution. However, it must start with you and the way you feel about and understand violence. The belief is that no one truly likes violence, but it surrounds us in many different aspects. When you consider the story of Romeo and Juliet, love is what triggered a series of violent events that really never culminated into anything except angst and frustration. Essentially because of "love" many people are dead that will never know what true love can feel like again. Is it possible that love is such a strong feeling to provoke someone to lead to violent measures that inevitably leads that person to lose the moral and ethical human sense?

There have been many cases in everything around us: such as television, news, and movies, which surround us with the thought or action of violence. It is no doubt extremely hard for a student of any age to understand that violence is a horrible concept when it is so prevalent in society. However, it is the individual themselves that must distinguish good from bad, and right from wrong: more importantly entertainment form real life. This is why as educators we feel this assignment is more than just a grade. You now have the tools and the knowhow to act against violence, but will you?

Looking into your future you must know that there are certain feelings and ideas that are always running through your minds just like everyone else. Yet you are different because you have the ability inside you to make a difference in this violent world we now live in. You can stand-up and start today right now. Violence is everywhere especially in schools, but it is you that make the Difference, will you?