Discuss and compare the pivotal two scenes that impact on the dramatic action of the Shakespearian play Romeo and Juliet.

Authors Avatar

        Romeo and Juliet Essay

Romeo and Juliet

Discuss and compare the pivotal two scenes that impact on the dramatic action of the Shakespearian play Romeo and Juliet.

In Romeo and Juliet there are two pivotal scenes that affect the outcome of the play. These are Act 2 Scene2, the balcony scene and Act 3 Scene 1, the fight scene.

The definition of the word pivotal is the centre on which something turns or that on which something or someone depends on to a great extent.

This makes Act 2 Scene 2 and Act 3 Scene 1 vital to the play for the simple reason that they symbolise the build up and fall of the play in terms of the characters happiness.

In the first two acts the romantic and happier atmosphere of the play is building up as Romeo and Juliet meet (Act 1Scene5) and declare that they’re in love with one another (Act 2 Scene 2). Then in Act 3 things take a dramatic downturn as the fight involving Mercutio, Tybalt, and Romeo takes place, in which Mercutio dies at the hands of Tybalt causing Romeo to kill Tybalt out of anger and vengeance for his friend’s death. This leads Romeo being banished from Verona by the prince, thus signifying the unhappiness that occurs in the following acts 4 and 5.

Another reason that these two scenes have such an effect on the play is due to the fact that they are very dramatised, inevitably causing the whole play to revolve around them.

Although there are other key scenes that affect the play in different ways such as Act 4 Scene 1, where Friar Lawrence gives Juliet a potion that will make her seem as if she is dead so that she can rendezvous with Romeo in Mantua this scene is not as pivotal to the play. The reason for this is because by the time this scene occurs, the play has previously taken a dramatic downturn in the happiness surrounding it, Romeo has by this time killed Tybalt, leading him to be banished from Verona by the prince, and Lord Capulet has told Juliet that she must marry Paris unbeknown that she is already married to Romeo.

There are several reasons to constitute why Act 2 Scene 2, the balcony scene is pivotal to the play, however I feel that the main reason is because of the way in which we are reminded by what has been previously said at the beginning of the play in the Prologue.

In the Prologue we are told that the deaths of the ‘star-crossed lovers’ (line 6) is the only way their ‘parents’ rage’ (line 10) will end. The knowledge of their certain death adds pathos to our view of events.

Join now!

In Act 2 Scene 2 when Romeo and Juliet start to declare their love for each other on the balcony, due to what has been said in the Prologue our minds are triggered to the fact their love will not last, which then unavoidably makes us wonder what will happen in the proceeding scenes to make their love fall apart.

Another reason why the balcony scene has such a dramatic effect on the play is because of the way in which their love must be secret due to the fact that they are from families ‘torn apart in strife’.

As ...

This is a preview of the whole essay