Consider how Shakespeare contrasts the love and the hatred in Act 1 Scene 5

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Consider how Shakespeare contrasts the love and the hatred in Act 1 Scene 5

In the 16th Century, William Shakespeare wrote a play that captures the imagination and emotions of people all around the world. The play’s title is the famous, Romeo and Juliet. Arthur Brooke originally wrote another similar poem. It was a narrative poem published in 1562, called ‘ The Tragicall History of Romeus and Juliet.’ William Shakespeare took the poem and changed it to his own version. William Shakespeare’s version is showing the validity of true love whereas Arthur Brooke’s version was a moral story showing the dangers of physical attraction. So there’s quite a difference in the emotion that you feel when reading the two different poems.
Elizabethans regarded Italy as a wealthy, romantic country, where lovers were found. In the typical 16
th century theatre, there were many plays based on sexual and social intrigues. They were about young men falling in love with young, rich women.  Nurse even proves this by saying,

“I tell you, he that can lay hold of her
Shall have the chinks.”
(Act 1, sc. 5, lines 115-116)

Chinks means money, so the meaning of quote simply means that anybody who ends up marrying Juliet would be very wealthy.
The play shows the passionate, violent and often desperate lives of the young youth. In this play, Shakespeare explores young love, and the consequences they can receive from their actions. Romeo and Juliet knew they were destined to be together, despite the fact that both of their families were enemies and would forbid them to marry. In this play, Shakespeare shows that anything can trigger love between two young people.

Shakespeare had to show that the two families were wealthy and powerful. To show us that the Capulets were wealthy, they held a masked ball with many people.

Shakespeare took ideas from Arthur Brooke’s poem, which is young love, and puts love in a popular lovers situation. He shows at the beginning that love will not work between the two.

“A pair of star-cross’d lovers take their life”

(Prologue)

This quote means that two lovers that, have an ill-fated love life, will eventually die because of their troubled lives with their conflicting families.
Shakespeare sets the first scene with Romeo being madly in love with Rosaline and then as the play goes on, contrasts it with the love for Juliet.

Parent’s influences played a huge part in the tragedy of Romeo and Juliet. To start with, there’s a feud between the two families. From the beginning of the play, it is learned that Lord Capulet held the decisive judgement of what Juliet's future would have in store. It proves this when he says,

“Let two more summers wither in their pride,
Ere we may think her ripe to be a bride.”
(Act 1, scene 2, Lines 10-11)

This quote means that Lord Capulet is intending to choose Juliet's husband, but he still thinks that Juliet is still too young to get married so he wants to wait for two years before he thinks of it. Romeo and Juliet kept their relationship secret from the start, in fear that their conflicting families would reject their love affair. That is what led the death to both of the lovers. If they had a more open relationship, eventually, both families would have accepted it. But Shakespeare was clever in this because if he didn’t write the play in this storyline, there wouldn’t have been a story in the first place! Romeo and Juliet felt that their parents would not have been able to understand the love between the two of them. Today, parents don’t control their children’s love lives and the young youth are independent. Romeo was too involved in his love for Juliet that he didn't devote himself to anything apart the love that they had for each other. Everything happened so quickly for the two. Romeo didn’t think properly about his actions and what circumstances may arise.

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In the beginning of Act 1, scene 5, they servants are getting ready for the masked ball and it’s a happy, joyful and comical scene, which is a relief for the audience because the end of the last scene was full of tension. The servingmen speak in prose, which is a low class way of speaking.

“You are looked for and called for, asked for and sought for, in the great chamber.”
(Act 1, Sc. 5, lines 11-12)

As you can see, it’s not written like a poem like all the other characters in the play. To us, it’s normal ...

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