Unlike the rest of the Montagues, Romeo isn’t really involved in the family feud against the Capulets.
Act 1 Scene 5 begins with the servants preparing for the party, they are talking casually. Then the party begins with Capulet’s speech welcoming the guests to the party. The language used here would’ve been quite informal at the time, but Capulet greets the guests cheerily and confidently.
When Romeo first sees Juliet he cannot believe how beautiful she is. In order to convey her beauty to the audience, Shakespeare used imagery through Romeo’s speech “O she doth teach the torches to burn bright” – Romeo and Juliet, Scene 5, Line 43. What Romeo means is that Juliet shines with beauty and she shines brighter than the torches. “…For I ne’er saw true beauty till this night” – Romeo and Juliet, Scene 5, Line 53. . This would’ve affected the audience because Shakespeare showed so much emotion in his writing; this makes this scene dramatically effective because it is one of the most realistic parts.
Juliet is associated with light; their love could be seen as a positive thing whereas Romeo’s feelings for Rosaline were associated with confusion and darkness. Romeo has completely contradicted himself from what he said earlier at the play. “Show me a mistress that is passing fair, what doth her beauty serve, but as a note where I may read who passed that passing fair? Farewell, thou canst not teach me to forget” – Romeo and Juliet, Scene 1, Line 234. This shows Romeo’s nature, this would suggest that he has a stubborn nature and would not give up fighting for Juliet if he truly loved her.
Romeo’s language in this scene is serious and emotional, compared to Capulet’s language which is happy and teasing: “…Ladies that have their toes unplagued with corns will walk a bout with you” – Romeo and Juliet, Scene 5, Line 17. Here Capulet is encouraging the women to dance; otherwise people will think they have corns on their feet. This quote uses humour, which is a contrast to Romeo’s line at the end of Scene 4, “I fear, too early: for my mind misgives Some consequence, yet hanging in the stars, Shall bitterly begin his fearful date With this night's revels; and expire the term Of a despised life, clos'd in my breast, By some vile forfeit of untimely death: But He that hath the steerage of my course Direct my sail!--On, lusty gentlemen!” – Romeo and Juliet, Scene 4, Line 112. Romeo is telling Benvolio about his premonition that someone will get killed tonight.
When Tybalt realises Romeo is at the party, he is extremely annoyed, he goes to tell his uncle, Capulet. Tybalt uses vicious threats and hatred to tell Capulet Romeo is there. Tybalt thinks Romeo is there to mock him, Tybalt states that he wants to kill Romeo and would not feel any guilt over it: “…Now by the stock and honour of my kin, To strike him dead I hold it not a sin.” - Romeo and Juliet, Scene 5, Line 57. Capulet reacts to this by telling Tybalt to calm down and ignore Romeo because he has a good reputation and wouldn’t be there to cause trouble: “Verona brags of him to be a virtuous and well governed youth.” - Romeo and Juliet, Scene 5, Line 77. Tybalt answers back to Capulet arguing that Romeo is a “villain” and shouldn’t be allowed to stay, this shows lack of respect from Tybalt to Capulet. This speech contrasts greatly with Romeo’s romantic speech about Juliet, which is calm and meaningful, full of love rather than hate.
The fact that Tybalt wants to kill Romeo would cause the audience to feel tense and react by wondering if there was going to be a fight between Romeo and Tybalt. This contrast of emotions means that the audience are swept along by the action on stage.
When Romeo and Juliet first meet it is dramatically effective because Juliet is timid around Romeo, but Romeo comes across as very confident and it makes you wonder if Juliet felt threatened or if she would get to genuinely love Romeo. It takes place at the party when Juliet notices Romeo following her. It is important because it is the start of the main body of the play, when the two main characters meet. The language they use in their shared sonnet relates to religious aspects, this would’ve had a big impact on the audience as religion was more prominent then, and this would be Romeo showing he was serious and that it really was true love. “…This holy shrine…My lips to brushing pilgrims…” – Romeo and Juliet, Scene 5, Line 92. “Good pilgrim…and palm to palm is holy palmers’ kiss” - Romeo and Juliet, Scene 5, Line 95.
When Romeo was in love, or claimed to be in love with Rosaline, he spoke in rhyming a lot of the time “…for beauty starved with her severity, cuts beauty off from all posterity. She is too fair, too wise, wisely too fair. To merit bliss by making me despair.” - Romeo and Juliet, Scene 1, Line 218. This seems unrealistic, but when he is with Juliet he seems to speak from his heart but instead of sounding like he’s planned what he is going to say, he sounds more like he is genuinely in love. “If I profane with my unworthiest hand This holy shrine, the gentle fine is this,- My lips, two blushing pilgrims, ready stand to smooth that rough touch with a tender kiss.” – Romeo and Juliet, Scene 5, Line 91.
At the end of the scene when Romeo and Juliet discover they have fallen in love with the family’s enemy, they both have doubt whether they should meet again but in the end decide to risk continuing to see each other.
I agree that Shakespeare has made Act 1 Scene 5 dramatically effective because there are many tense moments in the scene, for example, when Romeo and Juliet first meet, there is tension and it keeps the audience interested. Act 1 Scene 5 is crucial in the play because it is when the two main characters meet; it is almost like the heart of the play, when the play begins. Therefore it is very important that this stage of the play is intriguing for the audience.
The themes used in the play: love/hate, romance and tragedy. All the themes are still relevant to audiences today, and are still interesting genres. Another point which makes this play as memorable as it is was that in the Elizabethan era, the theatre was very popular, like the cinema today. Except there was no female actors, it was completely male orientated, so the fact that a man would’ve been playing Juliet would’ve made it harder for the play to be more realistic.
In my opinion the scene was dramatically effective and was interesting to analyse.
