William Shakespeare use language to make the play Romeo and Juliet dramatically interesting he use puns which are words that all sound the same and are linked in some way for example
“ Gregory, on my word, we’ll not carry coals”
“ No, for then we should be colliers”
“I mean, and we be in choler, we’ll draw”
“Ay, while you live, draw your neck out of the collar”
In the 12th and 13th century the people watching this play would think this was really funny and clever and really admire Shakespeare for this.
Shakespeare also uses oxymoron’s which are words that clashes with there opposite for example ‘feather of lead, bright smoke, cold fire, sick wealth’ he used oxymoron’s to high light the theme of the play love versus hate also used them t o describe what was going on in Romeos head when he was confused about Rosaline
Shakespeare brings comedy in to the play with the servants speaking in colloquialisms, which in modern day term it means ‘slang’ the servants talk about sexual natures for example
‘ Ay, the heads of maids, or their maidenheads take it in what sense thou wilt’ This means cut of the maids head and then take there virginity, the audience would think this was quite funny so this would make them interested in the play.
Shakespeare uses characters that clash with each other for example Benvolio the peacemaker clashes with tybalt the character that says
“What! Drawn, and talk of peace? I hate the word, as I hate hell, all Montague’s, and thee. Have at thee, coward!
Shakespeare puts them close together so it builds up tension in the play.
Shakespeare uses dramatic devices to build excitement into the play he brings action and tension into the play by having two families the Capulet and the Montague’s having a big fight in the market square. This makes the audience interested and their attention is caught on the play. Another dramatic device is when the Prince arrive in the middle of their fight, soon as the prince arrives in the play, it all stops, and everyone goes quiet, this makes the audience detected a tense atmosphere between the two family. The prince says
“ If ever you disturb our street again, your lives shall pay the forfeit of the peace”
By looking at the comment you can tell that the prince has a high authority and people respects him
There is a lot of historical, culture and social context in Romeo and Juliet, for example the fight scene begins with an old Italian insult of someone biting their thumb at one another this is what caused the big feud between the two families the capulets and the montagues. The people of that century respected and looked up to authority in Elizabethan times a prince kept the order and there was a strict hierarchy of power and wealth which is shown in the play by the prince giving orders and stopping the feud between the two families. When the play was written in the Elizabethan times the culture of the people, was to get married very young which is shown by Romeos and Juliet age, Romeo was about sixteen and Juliet was fourteen, in our time the 20th century people don’t get married until there in their twenties.
Shakespeare uses themes as a dramatic device for example love versus. Hate, private versus public, old versus young and language versus reality for example love versus hate is shown by Romeo and Rosaline. The fight scene introduce the theme love versus hate between the two families the Capulet and the Montague’s. This scene includes anger, violence and tension, then later on in this scene Romeo talks about his love for Rosaline, this is very emotional and Romeo is upset because he is
“ Out of her favour where I am in love”
This is a quote from the play this means he is in love with Rosaline but she isn’t in love with Romeo. So Shakespeare uses love versus hate to bring excitement and emotion in to the play this will make the audience very interested because it relates to everyday lives. The theme love versus hate is still relevant today in may ways, for example falling out of relationships, Shakespeare uses the theme private versus public, the private part is the love that Romeo talks of and his parents that don’t understand what Romeo is going through, the public part of the scene is the fight at the beginning of the play between the two families. The theme old vs. young fit in to the play between Romeo and his parent don’t understand about Romeos crush because they are to old to under stand about love only Romeo knows about love that’s what he thinks anyway this theme old versus young is still relevant today because teenagers think they know everything and rebel but actually the older generation know a lot more about the world and relationships.
If a modern day audience went to the theatre to watch this play it wouldn’t be acceptable because in the play Sampson express his oppion about women
“Tis true and therefore women, being the weaker vessel, are ever thrust to the wall”
A modern audience would not agree with this because we are all equal but he refers to women as being the weaker sex which isn’t acceptable in our times.
Over all I think Shakespeare does a brilliant job of entertaining an audience with his play, he involve lots of feelings such as love hate emotion anger violence comedy and excitement when I first read this play I really wanted to get to the end of the play so I could find out what has happened.
William Shakespeare makes act 1 scene 1 of Romeo and Juliet dramatically interesting in several ways, I have discussed about structure, language, dramatic devices, themes reflected in the play and comedy and how the play relates to modern day relevance. I would say the strongest device would be the themes and the structure of the play, so the structure is what the play depends on and the theme is what the play is about because as we know Romeo and Juliet is all about the theme love versus hate.