How does Shakespeare make this extract from Act One scene Five a dramatic and significant moment in the play Romeo and Juliet?(TM)
How does Shakespeare make this extract from Act One scene Five a dramatic and significant moment in the play 'Romeo and Juliet?'
William Shakespeare wrote the play 'Romeo and Juliet' between the years 1591 to 1595 and it is one of his most well known successful plays, still popular in modern theatres. The play is set in Verona a few hundred years before Shakespeare wrote it. The Capulet family are hosting a masque during this extract and Romeo is wearing a visor (and In Lurhman cinematic production is dressed as a traditional hero - a knight). He sees Juliet who appears an image of purity. He asks a serving man who she is, whilst at the same time the 'Prince of Cats', Tybalt, who hates all Montagues, sees him.
Shakespeare makes this extract a dramatic and significant moment in the play by utilising a variety of techniques including use of imagery, sonnet form and juxtaposition.
Shakespeare also uses dramatic irony in this extract. Capulet has just delivered a speech to everybody present at the party. He is very happy because the event is just for Capulets and he thinks that it is only his family at the party. Capulets are only happy when they are with their own kind. However the audience know that there are Montagues at the party, including Romeo, from the prologue we already know that there is rivalry between the two families:
'From ancient grudge break to new mutiny,
Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean.'
consequently making the audience aware of the tension which will soon explode between the two families.
Shakespeare uses juxtaposition quite regularly in this extract in order to improve the dramatic significance. He uses the very different themes to build tension. He uses the very romantic speech of Romeo and immediately after contrasts this with Tybalt's speech of hate and murder. These are two very opposing themes of love and hate. Juxtaposition is very important in every aspect of this play as it helps particular scenes become more significant and dramatic. The whole play is an antithesis.
Shakespeare also draws upon the Elizabethan belief of the four humours in the body, which describe the characters' personalities in the play. An excess of one of these humours would mean that a person acts in a different way to others. Romeo tends to be a melancholic person; this is caused by an excess of bile (one of the four humours). This means he is a very sad person who searches for true love. Romeo's melancholia causes him to speak very metaphorically. Romeo's speech is very significant as it reveals for the first time what type of love ...
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Shakespeare also draws upon the Elizabethan belief of the four humours in the body, which describe the characters' personalities in the play. An excess of one of these humours would mean that a person acts in a different way to others. Romeo tends to be a melancholic person; this is caused by an excess of bile (one of the four humours). This means he is a very sad person who searches for true love. Romeo's melancholia causes him to speak very metaphorically. Romeo's speech is very significant as it reveals for the first time what type of love Romeo feels for Juliet. Romeo's speech is packed with hidden meaning, which, in itself, makes his speech far more significant. When he says:
'O, she doth teach the torches to burn bright!
It seems she hangs upon the cheek of night'
he is suggesting that she is bringing light to the world. She is a source of light in a world of darkness, which gives her an angelic, heavenly image. When Shakespeare uses heroic couplets we can appreciate that love has befallen Romeo.
'Beauty too rich for the earth too dear!
So shows a snowy dove trooping with crows',
In this couplet, Romeo is suggesting that she is too good for the world. The dove is a metaphor for Juliet but is also symbolic of purity, life and the Holy Spirit. Here Shakespeare uses dramatic irony, 'for earth too dear' as again we know, from the prologue that she will be dead in a few days and will have left this world.
In the couplet:
'The measure done, ill watch her place of stand,
And touching hers, make blessed my rude hand',
Romeo wants too seem holy through association with her, as she is an image of heaven. He feels it is his duty to fall in love with her. Shakespeare also suggests that Romeo has forgotten about Rosaline:
'Did my heart love till now? Forswear it, sight!
For I ne'er saw true beauty till this night'
He suggests that he has never seen such a beautiful girl and never felt love before, meaning that he has forgotten Rosaline. Romeo is a Petrarchan lover. He would have died for Rosaline he was so in love with her and would now do the same for Juliet. When reciting this speech the tempo is very slow and melodic.
Tybalt, on the other hand, tends to be very choleric. This, again, is because of an excess in a particular humour, that of mmmm; this means he is a very angry person. His speech immediately transforms the whole extract from love and romance to one of hatred and anger, as he is now aware there are Montagues present at the party. The contrast between the two speeches also creates tension and suspense, therefore intensifying the significance of this moment of the play. When Tybalt speaks he is very definite. He hates all Montagues. When he says:
'Fetch me my rapier, boy. What dares the slave
Come hither, cover'd with an antic face,'
he is asking the boy to get his sword so that he can kill Romeo. He also disparages Romeo by calling him 'slave'. When he says:
'To leer and scorn at our solemnity?
Now by the stock and honour of my kin,
To strike him dead, I hold it not a sin.'
Tybalt takes a very stereotypical view of Montagues and thinks that Romeo has come to the party just to laugh at Capulets out of spite, when he has, as a matter of fact only come to look at girls. Tybalt also has his own moral code. He believes that he can kill anyone he wants if it jeopardizes his family honour.
Capulet reassures Tybalt that Romeo is not like the others and he has heard only good things about him. But Tybalt continues to oppose Capulet:
'It fits, when such a villain is a guest.
I'll not endure him.'
Here, iambic pentameter creates a calm and measured rhythm in Tybalt's sentence, and it is then broken making the following line sound more definite to the audience. Capulet then raises his voice and says, 'He shall be endured'. He says this using the same irregular meter as Tybalt. This makes him sound just as definite as Tybalt. He also calls Tybalt 'Goodman boy!' This is an oxymoronic statement meaning that he is a man but is acting very immaturely. This puts Tybalt in his place and perhaps accentuates his anger.
Capulet also says 'You'll make a mutiny among my guests', here he is trying to give Tybalt and the audience an image of what could happen. This creates a dramatic scene as Tybalt could ruin the party or let it continue as if nothing had happened. However, Tybalt decides to let Romeo go and after soliloquises revealingmmm
mmmThis allows Romeo to meet Juliet.
As soon as Romeo and Juliet speak they are doing so in sonnet form. Sonnet was normally used to show unrequited love but Shakespeare uses it to symbolise requited/true love. This shows that they are perfectly atoned to one another other to speak in such a defined form. It is also symbolic of the fact they are made for each other.
Romeo says:
'If I profane with my unworthiest hand
This holy shrine, the gentle sin is this:'
Romeo is suggesting in this sentence that he is not good enough for such a heavenly angelic person. He suggests that she is a holy shrine and that, to touch her is a sin. This shows just how important Juliet is to him and how he would want nothing more in the world than to kiss her. Romeo then says:
'O, then, dear saint, let lips do what hands do;
They pray, grant thou, lest faith turn to despair.'
Romeo suggests that kissing Juliet would be sacred and holy; it would be a religious duty, which heightens the significance of their kiss. The drama is also a significant role in maintaining the suspense, tension and significance in this whole scene.
The whole scene is very dramatic and significant to the play. This is because Shakespeare expresses Romeo's true feelings for Juliet in this speech at the beginning of the extract for the first time. Tybalt's speech demonstrates the contrasted theme of . Romeo was thinking about love and Tybalt was thinking about rivalry and hate. It reminds the audience of the conflict between the two families. At the end Romeo and Juliet kiss, increasing the dramatic significance. It is one of the most essential scenes in the whole play.
01 October 2008 Thomas Fahey