The prince then enters. The prince makes three rulings throughout the play. Each ruling is important as it determines how the story progresses. The first ruling was whoever has the next fight “your lives shall pay for the for fit of the peace”. By this he meant that the next person to fight in a public place will pay for it with their lives. The second ruling was that Romeo was to be banished from Verona and the third was that the two families make the peace. The next person to fight is Romeo, but he still lives.
The party scene is where Romeo and Juliet meet for the first time. Romeo is gate crashing at a Capulet party. There is a threat of violence in this itself which also makes the audience excited. In the party Tybalt notices Romeo and says “fetch my rapier, boy”. The reason for this is because Tybalt thinks that Romeo is mocking the party and that he is a Montague at a Capulet party, he also says “what dares the slave come hither”. By this he means to call Romeo his servant which is dishonouring Romeo’s honour as he is a gentleman but Romeo does not see this. Tybalt now has a reason to get back at Romeo, this now effect the plot of the story because if Tybalt challenges Romeo to a duel it will ruin his chances with Juliet because Tybalt is Juliet’s cousins. Now because of this it makes the audience engage with the two lovers because their love is so beautiful and so we the audience feel worried for them because we the audience want them to get together.
There is another part during this part of the story and that is when Tybalt goes to his uncle and complains about Romeo and says “uncle, this is a Montague, our foe” by this he is implying that Romeo is a Montague and because he is a Montague he is their enemy. This is the first and only time during the play where Capulet looses his temper at Tybalt when he says “am I the master, or you? Go to! You’ll not endure him?”. The audience can also tell that Tybalt don’t like getting put down by is uncle, the audience can see this when he says “uncle, tis a shame”. By this the violence and anger build up inside Tybalt even more, and makes him want to fight Romeo even more.
When Romeo sees Juliet and talks to her and starts kissing for the first time this straight away show the audience that they love each other. The reason why Shakespeare does this is because it makes the audience want even more than before for Romeo and Juliet to get together which make that audiences emotions run wild, this makes the audience dislike Tybalt because he is totally against Romeo and the audience is not, they like him.
Act 2 scene 4 starts off with Benvolio and Mercutio making jokes about Tybalt’s challenge. Mercutio also makes jokes about Tybalt’s name by calling him “more than prince of cats” which makes the audience laugh. In this part of the story the mood is calm, funny but there is also a sense of violence. Benvolio and Mercutio know about the challenge but Romeo doesn’t. Here Shakespeare has used dramatic irony to make the audience feel sorry and worried for Romeo as we the audience know he has been challenged but he don’t know also Shakespeare still makes the audience aware of the danger and what could happen if he fights Tybalt. The reason why Benvolio and Mercutio don’t tell Romeo about the challenge is because he has just got married and he was so happy and it would be wrong to disturb him. Now that Mercutio has accepted the duel against Romeo and Tybalt makes us the audience feel sorry for Romeo because he is in a tough position because he has just married Tybalt’s cousin Juliet an this causes a problem for romeo because in the Elizabethan times a mans honour was one of the most important things in life so if he refuses he will no longer be classed as a gentleman.
In act 3 scene 4 the stage directions lets us know that the fight scene is in a public place, the reason why Shakespeare sets this scene in a public place is because the prince mad e ruling and that was who ever had the next fight in a public place “they would pay for it with their lives”. Shakespeare also sets the mood, the sort of mood that give the impression that there is going to be a fight the atmosphere is so tense as it is a hot day and everyone feels grumpy so the audience gets the feeling that something is about to go terribly wrong.
Meanwhile Mercutio is still laughing and joking about the whole thing while Benvolio is worried and fears for Romeo. We the audience know that Romeo cannot accept the duel and so he has no choice but to refuse the challenge against Tybalt. The audience know why Romeo has refused but the other characters don’t and because Romeo has refused Mercutio has decided to fight Tybalt because he is angry at Romeo for refusing but the main reason why he fights him and that is to defend Romeo’s honour which sadly ends up with Mercutio getting killed by Tybalt when Romeo cuts in between them hen they are fighting and “Tybalt stabs Mercutio under Romeo’s arm”. During the fight between Tybalt and Mercutio keeps the audience on the edge of their seats and when Mercutio is dead Romeo runs after him forgetting everything including Juliet we the audience can see this and so this makes the audience excited as we want Romeo to win and when he finds Tybalt they fight and during the fight the audience are very excited at this stage and they want Romeo to win and when Romeo does kill the great sword fighter. The audience are now relived that Romeo has won.
Lady Capulet enters not long after the fight and when she has heard by Benvolio what has happened she demand that Romeo must pay and so he must be killed. The prince considers a punishment for Romeo and his decision was “let Romeo hence in haste else, when he is found that hour is his last” by this the prince means that if Romeo is found in Verona then he will be executed. We the audience know that Romeo can’t stay out of Verona because he love Juliet so much he will risk his life to be with her the audience can tell that he can’t stay away when he says “there is no world without Verona walls”, this shows the audience that there is a lot more violence and therefore Romeo is risking his life if he caught. Now because of all of what has happened this makes the audience feel sorry for Romeo as we want him to be with Juliet.
In act 5 scene 3 Shakespeare has set this particular scene in the churchyard outside the tombs of Capulet this sets the atmosphere and so the audience get the feeling something is about to happen. Shakespeare build up a sense of violence and when Romeo kills Paris the audience get excited and when. Romeo has still not been told by the Friar that Juliet is not dead and so when he finds her his thinking about committing suicide we the audience can see this because he has a bottle of poison. The audience by this time is very worried about Romeo this makes the audience very anxious. Shakespeare uses dramatic irony as we the audience know that Juliet is still alive but Romeo don’t so at this time the audience want Juliet to awaken before he kills himself. When Romeo is gazing at Juliet we the audience what desperately for her to wake up and for everything to be alright. Romeo comments about Juliet and says “ah, dear Juliet, why art thou so fair?” this is showing the audience that Romeo thinks she looks alive but we the audience know that she is alive this builds up the suspense because we want to know what is going to happen. He waits a while and grows impatient and soon enough he drinks the poison gust after he kisses her one more time which makes the audience feel really sad (Romeo is now dead) and just after that Juliet wakes up and sees Romeo’s body she says “where tis my Romeo”. Juliet is now angry at Romeo because he has left no poison for her to drink the audience can now see that Juliet is going to commit suicide so she reaches for the dagger and stabs herself, when she does that the audience’s emotions run wild and this is very dramatic for them.
The Montages and Capulet’s enter and can see their dead children and so the friar begins to explain. The prince then makes another ruling and that was the two households have to make peace. This is important because Romeo and Juliet have committed suicide and the result everything is so that there can be peace between the two households. This in the end makes the audience very happy about what has happened.
Shakespeare has used violence all through the play, if he didn’t use violence the storyline wouldn’t have worked but because there is violence it works very well. Shakespeare also uses laughter to get his points across and throughout the story Shakespeare has kept his audience on the edge of their seats and because of this. There reason why the story works so well is because their love is forbidden and so there is much more danger and this makes the audience want to read on and so the audience get more involved. The reason why it was the story was set in the Elizabethan times because the whole point of honour works extremely well and that I why it was set in the Elizabethan times.
