Act 3 Invitation to Create

For this Invitation to Create, I decided to find a modern song that had a similar concept to the passage that I was given, which was Act 3, Scene 2, Lines 100-115. The song that I chose was Be My Downfall by Del Amitri. Even though this song was released in 1992, meaning that it wasn't the most modern song that I could have picked, I still chose it because I thought that the concept of it aligned well with this passage.

Annotation of passage:

Lyrics of Be My Downfall:

Well the bus is pulling out

And I guess I'd better go

Before I make a grave mistake and let my feelings show

And twenty miles away 

She waits alone for me 

But when I try to picture her you're the one I see

And in another situation I could put up a fight

But you will be my downfall tonight

So the night is coming down 

Drowning us in blue

And it all points towards the things we know we shouldn't do

And as I look at you

And I fall under your spell

Well, I know I should be thinking of her lying there herself

And when faced with temptation you know a man should stand and fight

But you will be my downfall tonight

Be my downfall

Be my great regret

Be the one girl

That I'll never forget

Be my undoing

Be my slow road to ruin tonight

Well the bus is pulling out

And I'm grounded here with you

And I want to say the sweet things babe I've always wanted to

So tell me now the tail-lights have gone out of sight

Baby won't you be my downfall once again tonight

Literary Analysis Paragraph:

First, before I delve deeper into the specific lines in the song and passage, I want to point out the similar concepts between these two pieces of writing. The idea of the song above is that a guy is dating a girl but is in love with someone else, and in the end, he chooses to be with the person that he loves. The relation between this and Romeo and Juliet isn't too obvious, however, this becomes clearer when we look at the overall meaning from the excerpt of Romeo and Juliet. The message is that Juliet is battling with her emotions as she tries to choose between Romeo and Tybalt, however in the end, she chooses to side with Romeo. This demonstrates that conceptually, these two forms of art already share a common theme, even if the relationships between the characters are slightly different. Below, I will write about what is specifically common between the two arts. 

In Be My Downfall, the third line is, "Before I make a grave mistake and let my feelings show". The use of the word, "grave" is similar to the death imagery that is portrayed several times in the passage as Juliet uses the words, "slain", "kill", "murd'red", etc. In both these pieces, this morbid imagery is used to show the seriousness of the situation and how important these relationships are to the character. In addition, it foreshadows that there will be dire consequences if the main character's give in to love. This is further emphasised in the line in the song, "Be my slow road to ruin tonight.", which demonstrates how the main character giving into temptation is slowly corrupting who he is. The use of the word, "road" also symbolises that the consequences of the main character choosing his lover are permanent or long lasting, and will therefore hurt him in the future. Similarly, the last line of the passage is, "Like damed guilty deeds to sinners' minds:". Since, Christianity played an important role in Romeo and Juliet, the word "sinners'"and "damned" show how destructive Juliet's choice was and how this would impact her for the rest of her life. As Juliet weights these dark messages, her contrasting feelings are also shown in the passage. For instance, she uses the repetition of the words, "husband" and "cousin", to imply that she feels conflicted and that it is difficult for her to choose between her family and husband. This is similar to the repetition of the words, "fight" and "downfall" in the song, which represent the main character's contrasting feelings of fighting to stay loyal to his girlfriend or accepting that he would rather cheat and be with the person he loves. All in all, this modern song and the passage from Romeo and Juliet share many aspects ranging from the language used to the overall concepts, thus showing that even though Romeo and Juliet was written over four hundred years ago, it is still applicable to our world today.