RIZAL MEMORIAL INSTITUTE OF DAPITAN CITY, INC.

Dr. Heinz Luetke St., Potol, Dapitan City, Zamboanga del Norte
Tel Nos +63(065) 213 6287, +63(065) 213 6620
E-Mail Address: rmidci_1946@yahoo.com.ph
Creative NonFiction

Lesson 3:Creative Nonfiction and Drama Week: 3

Core Values: Integrity, Competence, Service

Learning Target/s: At the end of this module, the learners CAN…

1.1 describe the elements of drama
1.2 analyze sample texts according to the elements and aspects of drama
1.3 narrate and explain “ dramatic “ personal experience

Pre-assessment
Directions: Provide words that can be associated with the word “ Drama”.

Comedy

Production

Show DRAMA

Acting
Theater

Lecturette

Drama- a play is a script that is meant to be staged. It has five elements; situation, character, dialogue, plot,
and style.
 Situation- the early scenes of the play answers basic questions in the spectator’s mind: Where are we?
What are we? What is the issue or problem? What past history explains the current situation? In short,
the early part is an exposition, It will give the audience the background of the story.
 Character- the characters in the drama is always in motion, in action. We know the character by what
he/she doing and by what he/she is saying which brings us to dialogue as element of drama.
 Dialogue- a good dialogue must push story forward. A writer does not use dialogues just to lengthen the
piece. A character is saying something that will lead to another action or event that will move the story
toward the climax and the ending.
 Plot- series of events arranged logically to make the story more interesting.
 Style- has something to do with the playwrights’ or writers’ use of language. For example, William
Shakespeare’s style is elegant because it uses poetry as the language of drama.

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This five elements of drama are useful in writing an engaging essay. According to Cristina Pantoja Hidaldo
(2003,58) the key to good creative nonfiction is dramatic writing. And the key to dramatic writing is action.

A. Pre-reading
In this lesson there are two readings: “Scene II Capulet’s Orchard” from William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet
and John Iremil E. Teodoro’s essay Caught in the Forest Fire. The first one is a classic drama from the greatest
English dramatist and the second one is a creative nonfiction piece full of drama.

B. Cultural-Historical Background
In Romeo and Juliet according to Folger Shakespeare Library, “ Shakespeare creates two world of
violence and generational conflict in which two young people fall in in love and die because of that love. The
story is rather extraordinary in that the normal problems faced by young lovers are here so very large (xii).”
Romeo and Juliet was first published in 1597 as An Excellent Conceited Tragedie of Romeo and Juliet.

C. Scene II Capulet’s Orchard.

[Capulet's orchard. Enter Romeo]

Romeo: He jests at scars that never felt a wound.
[Romeo sees light coming from an upper window]
But, soft! What light through yonder window breaks?
It is the east, and Juliet is the sun.

Arise, fair sun, and kill the envious moon,

Who is already sick and pale with grief,
That thou, her maid, art far more fair than she.
Be not her maid since she is envious.
Her vestal livery is but sick and green,
And none but fools do wear it. Cast it off.
[Juliet appears at the window]
It is my lady, O, it is my love!
O, that she knew she were!
She speaks, yet she says nothing. What of that?
Her eye discourses; I will answer it.
I am too bold, 'tis not to me she speaks.
Two of the fairest stars in all the heaven,
Having some business, do entreat her eyes
To twinkle in their spheres till they return.

What if her eyes were there, they in her head?

The brightness of her cheek would shame those stars,
As daylight doth a lamp. Her eyes in heaven
Would, through the airy region, stream so bright
That birds would sing and think it were not night.
See, how she leans her cheek upon her hand.
O, that I were a glove upon that hand,
That I might touch that cheek!

Julie: Ay me!
Romeo: She speaks.
O, speak again, bright angel, for thou art
As glorious to this night, being o'er my head,
As is a winged messenger of heaven
Unto the white upturned wondering eyes
Of mortals that fall back to gaze on him
When he bestrides the lazy puffing clouds
And sails upon the bosom of the air.

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Juliet: O Romeo, Romeo! Wherefore art thou Romeo?
Deny thy father and refuse thy name;
Or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love,
And I'll no longer be a Capulet.

Romeo :[Aside] Shall I hear more, or shall I speak at this?

Juliet: 'Tis but thy name that is my enemy;

Thou art thyself, though not a Montague.
What's Montague? It is nor hand, nor foot,
Nor arm, nor face, nor any other part
Belonging to a man. O, be some other name!
What's in a name? That which we call a rose,
By any other name would smell as sweet.
So Romeo would — were he not Romeo called —
Retain that dear perfection which he owes
Without that title. Romeo, doff thy name,
And for that name, which is no part of thee,
Take all myself.

Romeo: [Aloud] I take thee at thy word.

Call me but love, and I'll be new baptized;
Henceforth I never will be Romeo.

Juliet:What man art thou that, thus bescreened in night,

So stumblest on my counsel?

Romeo: By a name
I know not how to tell thee who I am.
My name, dear saint, is hateful to myself,
Because it is an enemy to thee.
Had I it written, I would tear the word.

Juliet: My ears have not yet drunk a hundred words

Of that tongue's utterance, yet I know the sound.
Art thou not Romeo and a Montague?

Romeo: Neither, fair maid, if either thee dislike.

Juliet: How camest thou hither, tell me, and wherefore?

The orchard walls are high and hard to climb,
And the place death, considering who thou art,
If any of my kinsmen find thee here.
Romeo
With love's light wings did I o'erperch these walls,
For stony limits cannot hold love out;
And what love can do, that dares love attempt.
Therefore thy kinsmen are no stop to me.

Juliet : If they do see thee, they will murder thee.

Romeo: Alack, there lies more peril in thine eye

Than twenty of their swords. Look thou but sweet,
And I am proof against their enmity.
Juliet: I would not for the world they saw thee here.
Romeo :I have night's cloak to hide me from their sight;
And but thou love me, let them find me here.
My life were better ended by their hate,
Than death prorogued, wanting of thy love.

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Juliet: By whose direction foundest thou out this place?

Romeo: By love, who first did prompt me to inquire.

He lent me counsel, and I lent him eyes.
I am no pilot, yet wert thou as far
As that vast shore washed with the farthest sea,
I would adventure for such merchandise.

Juliet: Thou knowest the mask of night is on my face,

Else would a maiden blush bepaint my cheek
For that which thou hast heard me speak tonight.
Fain would I dwell on form; fain, fain deny
What I have spoke. But farewell, compliment.
Dost thou love me? I know thou wilt say 'Ay,'
And I will take thy word; yet if thou swearest,
Thou mayst prove false. At lovers' perjuries
They say, Jove laughs. O gentle Romeo,
If thou dost love, pronounce it faithfully;

Or if thou thinkest I am too quickly won,

I'll frown and be perverse and say thee nay,
So thou wilt woo, but else, not for the world.
In truth, fair Montague, I am too fond,
And therefore thou mayst think my behavior light.
But trust me, gentleman, I'll prove more true
Than those that have more cunning to be strange.
I should have been more strange, I must confess,
But that thou overheardest, ere I was ware,
My true love's passion. Therefore pardon me,
And not impute this yielding to light love,
Which the dark night hath so discovered.

Romeo: Lady, by yonder blessed moon I vow,

That tips with silver all these fruit-tree tops —

Juliet: O, swear not by the moon, the inconstant moon,

That monthly changes in her circled orb,
Lest that thy love prove likewise variable.

Romeo: What shall I swear by?

Juliet : Do not swear at all;

Or, if thou wilt, swear by thy gracious self,
Which is the god of my idolatry,
And I'll believe thee.

Rome: If my heart's dear love —

Juliet: Well, do not swear. Although I joy in thee,

I have no joy of this contract tonight.
Too like the lightning, which doth cease to be
Ere one can say 'It lightens.' Sweet, good night.
This bud of love, by summer's ripening breath,
May prove a beauteous flower when next we meet.
Good night, good night. As sweet repose and rest
Come to thy heart, as that within my breast!

Romeo: O, wilt thou leave me so unsatisfied?

Juliet: What satisfaction canst thou have tonight?
Romeo: The exchange of thy love's faithful vow for mine.
Juliet: I gave thee mine before thou didst request it.
And yet I would it were to give again.
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Romeo: Wouldst thou withdraw it? For what purpose, love?
Juliet: But to be frank, and give it thee again,
And yet I wish but for the thing I have.
My bounty is as boundless as the sea,
My love as deep; the more I give to thee,
The more I have, for both are infinite.

Analysis
Directions: Analyze and answer the questions for comprehension.

1. What details from the selection pertain to the following elements?

a. situation – they’re at Juliet’s home and Romeo is speaking to Juliet through the window.
b. characters – Romeo and Juliet
c. plot – The curiosity to know whether Juliet will exchange vows with Romeo
d. style – Unique because it uses derivatives

2. Which details from the selection would show the love between the characters?
When Juliet said “I gave thee mine before thou didst request it.”

3. Why does Romeo say, “ My name, dear saint, is hateful to myself?” Does Juliet have the same concern?
Romeo understands that the family of Juliet has so much hate based solely on his last name. And Juliet hates
that she has so little control over her life and welfare

4. What requests are the characters making for each other?

Romeo requests that Juliet declares her love for him and Juliet simply replies that she has already done so.

5. According to some scholars,Shakepeare’s Romeo and Juliet is a “tragedy of haste.” What lines from the
selection illustrate this sense of “haste” involving the two characters?
His rashness in committing himself to his passion for Juliet and marrying her the day after they meet is a key
factor in the feeling of rushed decisions and lack of planning that pervades the novel.

6. In what ways are Romeo and Juliet similar to and different from contemporary couples?
In their relationships, the two are also similar. When Romeo first meets Juliet, he compliments her on her
beauty but says nothing about her personality. Before he loved with his heart, he loved with his eyes. When
teens get into a relationship solely for the sake of appearances, they also love with their eyes.

Application
Directions: You learned earlier that creative nonfiction requires “dramatic writing.” Now, read the sample
creative nonfiction text about the narrator’s personal encounter with disaster. Analyze the text based on the
dramatic elements identified earlier-situation,character,plot, and style.

Caught in the Forest Fire

John Iremil Teodoro

Rizal,Palawan-While walking along a forest trail sometime in March, we heard what seemed like a staccato of
gunfire from a nearby mountain. We thought there was a gun battle, an unsual occurrence in this unusual
occurrence in this usually peaceful province, but the tribal leader who served as our guide told us the sound
came from burning bamboo stands. The forest was on fire, and we were right in the middle of the blaze.
My companion and I were trekking towards sitio Imbo in barangay Canipaan, homeland of many Pala’wan
indigenious people. It takes an hour’s walk from the barangay proper to reach the village. We are there to
interview the local community for a brochure on land tenure options that we were commissioned to write.
Edong Tuwahan, our guide, is a panglima or tribal leader of the village. Two days, earlier, his house was
among the dwellings burned to the ground.The forest fire had been going on for days, but he did not seem very
worried about it. He had this it’s-one-of-those-things attitude, like this was something that happened every so
often and they had learned to live with it.
While we were going up, we passed forested areas where both sides of the trail had been razed to the
ground. Thick piles of ash lay on what was once the forest floor, along with tress branches that were black with
soot. We wondered what happened to the wildlife in these forests-the monitor lizards, monkeys, cockatoos,
peacock pheasants, mynah, and others.

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 When we reach the village, Tuwahan pointed out his burned hut. Only a few blackened posts remained, and
his family was staying with his two married children whose houses were spared because they had remove the
village and only leaves could been seen on the riverbed these days.
When we asked them what started the fire, they said a Cebuano migrant engaged in slash-and-burn farming
caused the forest fire. This Cebuano bought that parcel of land from their fellow Pala’wan for only one carabao
and one plow a hectare.
They said it will be a very big help to them if the municipal government of Rizal could help survey their
land. It appears that the inaccuracy of the boundaries of their properties caused tension among members of the
tribe . On our way down, we were gripped with fear when we saw flames eaing up tress beside the trail. The
forest fire was spreading fast, considering that we stayed at the panglima’s house for only an hour. My
companion and I started to run when he felt the heat on our arms and inhaled smoke. When we looked back
however, we saw the tribal leader and his children walking slowly, totally unperturbed by the forest fire. Instead
of getting panicked, we decided to take pictures instead and walk at a normal pace. That night , the fire is what
was once a lush forest kept coming back to my mind as I lay in bed. More than anything else, I couldn’t stop
thinking about what the tribal leader said: the forest fire would bring hunger to my tribe again.

Directions: Fill out the table with its corresponding dramatic elements based on the story above.

They’re in a forest trail

Situation

John Iremil Teodoro

Edong Tuwahan
Character/s

The picture was taken in the Sierra National Forest in California

Plot and shows what a wonderful work the United States rangers are
doing. We are first shown one of the principal causes of forest
fires, that of careless campers failing to extinguish their
campfire. Next we see the lone lookout on top of the mountain
peak overlooking the entire forest area. He spots the white haze
crawling up over the distant ravine and sends the alarm to the
forest headquarters over the 'phone. From headquarters the
alarm is sent to the nearest ranger and we see him mounting his
horse and starting for the fire. In turn each ranger is notified
and all arrive at the burning forest, and then begins a fierce
fight against the fire. Not by water, but by rake, hoe, brush and
most of all by fire itself. The fire getting beyond control, a
general alarm is sent in and help is called from the power
house, but the fire continues to resist their endeavors and more
help is needed. The heliograph is called into play and a message
is sent miles across from one mountain peak to another. As a
result farmers are called out who, getting on a high speed truck
auto, dash to the burning forest. We see a settler driven from
his home and all his possessions lost in the flames. And when
night closes around we see what a strong lesson has been
taught to the few merry campers who left their fire burning by
the roadside, never thinking of the future nor of the result. We
are shown the pathos and the destruction caused by
carelessness.
The writing style is a 3rd person view.

Style

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 RIZAL MEMORIAL INSTITUTE OF DAPITAN CITY, INC.
Dr. Heinz Luetke St., Potol, Dapitan City, Zamboanga del Norte
Tel Nos +63(065) 213 6287, +6(065) 213 6620
E-Mail Address: rmidci_1946@yahoo.com.ph
Creative NonFiction
Week 1

Name: Raymond D. Zafra Date: March 6, 2022 Strand & Section: HUMSS & St. Roch

Directions: Your answers will be graded based on the rubric below.

10 points Well written and very organized. Clear and concise statements. Excellent effort and presentation with detail.
Demonstrates a thorough understanding of the topic.
8 points Writes fairly clear. Good presentation and organization. Sufficient effort and detail.
3 points Minimal effort. Fair presentation. Few supporting details.
2 points Somewhat unclear. Shows little effort. Confusing and choppy, incomplete sentences. No organization of thoughts.
1 point Lacking effort. Very unclear. Does not address topic. Limited attempt.

Recall five “dramatic” events in your life and explain why you consider them dramatic. Out of five “dramatic”
experiences, choose one that you can write about and serve as the possible subject of a creative nonfiction text.

Five dramatic events

 Got electrocuted by a light bulb
 Graduating junior Highschool
 Earning at the age of 17
 Came close to death
 Giving a crying woman on the streets a food

The one that I can write about and serve as the possible subject of a creative nonfiction text is “came close to
death”. Because of how I was struggling at that time, how I scrape and fought for my life.

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