A Parody of Romeo and Juliet
Parody-a comic imitation of either formal or thematic elements of a piece of
writing for humorous purposes. Parodies usually follow the original work closely.
1. Students first need to gain an understanding of what a parody is. To accomplish this,
students will view web sites with parodies of familiar stories, songs, etc.
(The first one is a parody of Macbeth. Provide a copy of the first scene from
Macbeth, so students can see how closely the parody mimics the original.)
http://www.shakespeare-parodies.com/
(This one is a parody of Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas)
http://www.seuss.org/seuss/gingrich.html
(This one is a parody of popular country songs)
http://parody-pages.com/country/
2. Discuss the parodies the students observed on the web sites, emphasizing the formal or
thematic elements that the parody writer preserved: rhyme, figures of speech, stanzas, etc.
3. Assign scenes from Romeo and Juliet to groups of students and have them write their own
parody of the scene. Remind them that it is important to follow the original closely, so if
Shakespeare uses rhyme, metaphors, similes, oxymorons, etc., they should utilize these devices in
their translations.
4. When students have a written copy of the parody, they may begin to make their iMovie of the
parody, assigning roles to group members. (If editing software is unavailable, simply have
students act out the parody in class.)
5. The class should view the parodies.
6. Students write a reflection paper answering these questions:
What did I learn from creating the parody?
What did I learn from viewing others’ parodies?
What did I learn from working in a group with others?
The best part of this project was...
The worst part of this project was...
Rubric for Romeo and Juliet Parody
Student Name ______________________
CATEGORY
3
Presentation
Well-rehearsed
with smooth
delivery that
holds audience
attention
2
Rehearsed with
fairly smooth
delivery that
holds audience
attention most of
the time
Written Parody Group presents Group presents
a thorough
an average
written copy of written copy
the parody
Formal/Thematic Parody follows Parody uses
Elements
the original
some elements
closely utilizing of the original but
elements
others could be
included
Originality
Product shows a Product shows
large amount of some original
original thought. thought. Work
Ideas are
shows new
creative and
ideas and
inventive.
insights.
Workload
The workload is Workload is
divided and
divided
shared equally somewhat
by all team
equally. Some
members
members
appear to be
doing more than
others
Reflection
Group members Reflection
completely
papers covered
reflection papers most of the
addressing all
required areas
required areas
TOTALS
1
Delivery not
smooth and
audience
attention is often
lost
No written copy
exist
Elements of the
original are
ignored
Product lacks
creativity and
enthusiasm
Group was
incohesive,
frequent
arguments over
workload
occurred.
Some reflection
papers were
missing or
incomplete