Exploration Document Draft
Jennifer Moore
Southern New Hampshire University
HUM200: Applied Humanities
Benjamin Truitt
May 24, 2022
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Exploration Document Draft
Cultural Artifacts
The first artifact that I have chosen is Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare. It was
written by Shakespeare about 1594-96 in his period of “early mastery” during the Italian
Renaissance. Shakespeare wrote Romeo and Juliet to help couples appreciate their love for one
another. Romeo and Juliet has a setting in Verona, Italy. Verona up until 1405 was an
independent city but eventually become Venetian Republic (Pserb, Park Ridge Illinois, 2011).
The second artifact that I have chosen is West Side Story the musical. The music is by Leonard
Bernstein, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, and book by Arthur Laurents. West side Story is set in
the mid-1950s, in the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City. Which in this era was
considered a multiracial, blue collar neighborhood (Gottlieb, 2001).
Common Theme
The theme that is common between Romeo and Juliet and West Side Story is love and
death. This is the type of love that helps young lovers ignore your loyalty to family and friends.
The love that Romeo had for Juliet and Tony had for Maria was the love that had these young
men disobey the loyalty and love for everyone around them including themselves at times.
Society and their families expected something different from both of the lovers in each story. So
much so that the act of suicide with Romeo and Juliet and the tragic death of Tony by Chino
because he thought Maria was killed.
Personal Experience
Falling in love at a young age is hard to justify to either your parents or society.Either way no
one really thinks you are in “love” and that is it just “puppy love”.Because how can anyone at a
young age be in love or even know what love is? Well, when I was young, my husband and I fell
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in love and both sides of the family were like absolutely not. They were not having it. I grew up
in what society saw as high class and my husband grew up in what society saw a low class. So,
my parents did not see eye to eye with how his family was living and vice versa. It was very
difficult. But I was fixing to turn the age of 18 and they could no longer control it caused many
feuds in both sides of the family. Even though there were no deaths involved it seemed like death
when we were not speaking to any family members, for both sides. We were excluded from both
sides of the family for quite some time, but after all our story ended up a fairy tale and we are all
together as one.
Profession
Counselling psychology is one of the professions that could be impacted by love and
death. This is because psychologists are at most times involved in addressing the emotional and
psychological needs of the clients. This include assisting the clients get over experiences of loss
of loved ones and those who experience death. The success of any counsellor or psychologist in
handling the cases can be influenced by the level of understanding of the professional on either
death and love and how the two concepts relate to the mental and psychological wellbeing of the
client (Challoner & Papayianni, 2018).
Humanities Resources
There are three main history resources that can be used. One of the resources that can be
used include the OmniFile Full Text Mega. This is a database that provides a wide variety of
secondary sources such as journal articles covering humanities on different topics and themes
including death and love. Another humanities source is the Humanities Source Ultimate which
provides a wide variety of humanity topics and how they influence human life in one different
ways. The third source that can be used is JSTOR. This is more efficient in that it provides
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articles and books that have been authored from the 1900s to the present date (Somoza‐
Fernández et al, 2018).
Historical Context
Romeo and Juliet was developed as a tool for creating awareness on important aspects in
the society. During this era, love was considered an important tool in building successful families
and communities. The West Side Story on the other side is used as a reflection of the changes
that have occurred in relationships in the modern society as defined and shaped by the modern
culture.
Similarities and Differences
The two cultural artifacts are similar in that they show how love can be used as a tool to
overcome challenges in life. Although there is a difference in the way the challenges are
presented in the artifacts as they reflect different times in history, they both show presence of
love as the main strategy to walking together through life.
Medium
The two mediums are created through literature. The West Side Story is also developed
through film where every part of the initial literature is captured.
Thesis Statement
Thesis statement: Love contributes significantly to the pain experienced in death of a
person among the close relatives and associates left by the dead.
This statement is based on two major variables which also serves as the common themes
in the literature. There is an independent variable which is love. Love also happens to be one of
the themes that are common in the two artifacts that were selected for this discussion. The
second variable which serves as the dependent variable in the discussion is death. Death is
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treated as the second part of the common theme that can be discussed in details in the discussion.
In this discussion, the two artifacts can be analyzed in details to show or verify that the
characters involved in the artifacts suffered great loss as a result of the love they had for the
people who died. Also, the analysis can show ways in which the characters suffered as a result of
death of the beloved partners or friends.
Audience
There are two main classifications of audiences that can be interested by the message.
The first classification of the audience include the professionals in the field of psychology or
those who are engaged in the mental and emotional health of individuals. The main reason these
professionals would be interested is to determine theories that can be used in developing
treatment plans for individuals experiencing mental discomfort and depressions as a result of
losing people they loved most. Another classification or group of participants that can be
interested in the discussion and the message are the youth between the ages of 19 to 35. This
comprise of a majority of people who are either engaged, committed or at infatuation stages with
their partners or lovers. Some of the people at this age live in the fantasy of being with their
loved ones and partners for the rest of their lives where some are dedicated to make sacrifices for
their loved ones.
Message
The message can be tailored through changing the wording and the way in which the
message is expressed in the discussion. For instance, psychology professionals are more official
and prefer scientific and detailed analysis of the highlighted themes. More evidence is needed in
developing the paper. This is different when it comes to the second audience where they would
prefer experiencing more suspicion and more fantasy in the way the themes on love and death
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are explained in the discussion. Use of a casual language would engage more people or a larger
audience.
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References
Atchity, K. J. (2021). Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare. Salem Press Encyclopedia of
Literature.
Lee, D. A. (2022). West Side Story (musical). Salem Press Encyclopedia.
Elizabeth A. Wells. (2011). West Side Story : Cultural Perspectives on an American Musical.
Scarecrow Press.
Gottlieb, Jack. 2001. West Side Story Guide. Leonard Bernstein Office. Retrieved on May 11,
2022 from https://leonardbernstein.com/works/view/9/west-side-story
Pserb, Park Ridge Illinois. May 18, 2011. Why Shakespeare wrote Romeo and Juliet. Retrieved
on May 11, 2022 from
https://www.teenink.com/nonfiction/academic/article/328034/Why-Shakespeare Wrote
Romeo-and Juliet/#:~:text=Well%2C%20the%20answer%20to%20this,lovers%20can
%20find%20t emselves%20in.
Challoner, H., & Papayianni, F. (2018). Evaluating the role of formulation in counselling
psychology: A systematic literature review.MThe European Journal of Counselling
Psychology,M7(1).
Somoza‐Fernández, M., Rodríguez‐Gairín, J. M., & Urbano, C. (2018). Journal coverage of the
emerging sources citation index.MLearned Publishing,M31(3), 199-204.
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