Discuss how Shakespeare presents the change in relationships between certain characters in Act 1 Scene 5, The Banquet Scene.
Romeo and Juliet Essay
Discuss how Shakespeare presents the change in relationships between certain characters in Act 1 Scene 5, The Banquet Scene.
Romeo and Juliet is a tragic play about two lovers, from two different households, who, at the end take their lives. This play was written by William Shakespeare, and set in the 16th century.
The reigning monarch of the time in which Shakespeare wrote this play was Queen Elizabeth I. An audience in the 16th century would have liked Romeo and Juliet because it was really full of everything, lots of things going on at the same time, and it really creates many emotions. There is a lot of violence in this play and this is because of and ancient argument between the two families. This ends up with the tragic deaths of Romeo and Juliet. In this essay I will discuss about the ways in which Shakespeare presents the changes in the relationships between certain characters in the Banquet Scene.
Act 1 Scene 5.
Firstly I am going to talk about the relationship between Tybalt and Capulet in the Banquet scene. Many of the Montague family including Romeo, Mercutio, and Benvolio all go to the ball that had been made for all the Montague's and their friends. When everyone is at the ball Tybalt notices that Romeo is there. He is angered by the straight away because Romeo is a Montague and is therefore not a friend, he is and enemy, and so Tybalt goes straight to Lord Capulet to tell him this news.
"This, by his voice, should be a Montague".
"Uncle, this is a Montague, our Foe: A villain that is hither come in spite, to scorn at our solemnity this night".
Lord Capulet is not as enraged about the news as Tybalt. He just doesn't want any fights at his party and just wants everything to go well. Also he isn't greatly against the Montague's, well at least not
nearly as much as Tybalt. So wanting everything to go well, he just says to tybalt to calm himself. Capulet doesn't want Tybalt to do anything about it, but Tybalt, so angered by the audacity of Romeo turning up to a Capulet's ball, wants to fight Romeo.
So the relationship changes in this scene by Tybalt being angered towards Capulet.
I am now going to talk about the change in relationship between Romeo and Tybalt in the Banquet scene. As I have already explained, Tybalt is angered by the audacity of Romeo to turn ...
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nearly as much as Tybalt. So wanting everything to go well, he just says to tybalt to calm himself. Capulet doesn't want Tybalt to do anything about it, but Tybalt, so angered by the audacity of Romeo turning up to a Capulet's ball, wants to fight Romeo.
So the relationship changes in this scene by Tybalt being angered towards Capulet.
I am now going to talk about the change in relationship between Romeo and Tybalt in the Banquet scene. As I have already explained, Tybalt is angered by the audacity of Romeo to turn up to the ball for the Capulet's. So as soon as he discovers this, there is real tension between them both.
"Patience perforce with wilful choler meeting
Makes my flesh tremble in their different greeting:
I will withdraw, but this intrusion shall,
Now seeming sweet, convert to bitt'rest gall".
I will now talk about the changes in relationship between Romeo and Juliet in the Banquet scene. Romeo and Juliet have never met before, and the second that Romeo walks into the ball and sees Juliet, he is so smitten by her beauty, that he decides straight away that she is his one true love( even though just minutes before, all he could think about was another girl, Rosaline, who had turned him down). He completely focuses on Juliet, not noticing anything else all evening, and is determined to talk to her. Juliet only notices him when she notices that he is staring at her, and that he doesn't take his eyes off of her. Knowing that he must like her, she starts to then flirt with him. They completely forget about everyone else around themselves and just focus on each other.
"Did my heart love till now? Forswear it, sight!"
"Sin from my lips? O trespass sweetly urg'd!
Give me my sin again."
I am now going to talk about a range of use of language in this scene. Firstly I shall talk about Capulet's words, and Tybalt's words. Capulet is much more laid back than Tybalt and is trying to control his temper, and in doing so he is not saying anything that much which is offensive. He is being really polite. Tybalt, on the other hand, is completely off the rails. He doesn't care what he is saying or how he is acting. He is just being as rude as he wants. Capulet tries to calm Tybalt down but, this just makes Tybalt angrier so Tybalt says even worse things and Capulet starts to tell him off.
"Content thee, gentle coz, let him alone,
'A bears him like a portly gentleman;"
"It fits when such a villain is a guest:
I'll not endure him".
"Go to, go to,
You are a saucy boy. Is't so indeed?"
Now I shall talk about Romeo's immediate reaction to, and initial approach to Juliet. As soon as Romeo saw Juliet he was so overwhelmed by her beauty that he could not take his eyes off of her. He thinks that he has never in his life seen anyone as beautiful as her and probably thinks that he is a fool for going after all of those other people.
"Did my heart love till now? Forswear it, sight!
For I ne'er saw true beauty till this night."
"O she doth teach the torches to burn bright!
It seems she hangs upon the cheek of night
As a jewel in an Ethiop's ear-
Beauty too rich for use, for earth too dear:"
Romeo knows that he knows he is looking at her and is watching her. So, he decides that he must go and talk to her where know one can hear them. He doesn't appear that scared and it just seems like a spur of the moment thing happening.
"If I profane with my unworthiest hand
This holy shrine, the gentle sin is this,
My lips, two blushing pilgrims, ready stand
Smooth that rough touch with a tender kiss."
Now I am going to talk about the contrast of language used by the lovers from meeting to discovering each others names. First of all they speak for a long period of time, with no silences, talking about religion.
(Religion when this was written was an important part of every day society and was for the time in which this play was set.) As they speak Romeo draws in the idea of talking about religion using a four line structure with rhythm alternating, Juliet then starts to pick up what Romeo is doing and starts talking about religion as well, just to go along with Romeo. As Romeo ends what he is saying he takes that advantage and kisses Juliet. This effect of language and structure emphasizes the fact that the lovers are both isolated from society in which they live. The way that they both share the same image of religion emphasises the actual harmony of their thoughts. As they are interrupted by Juliet's nurse saying that her mother wants a word with her, this whole sense of isolation is ruined and they both are pulled back into the real world.
"If I profane with my unworthiest hand
This holy shrine, the gentle sin is this,
My lips, two blushing pilgrims, ready stand
To smooth that rough touch with a tender kiss."
"Good pilgrim, you do wrong your hand too much,
Which mannerly devotion shows this,
For saints have hands that pilgrims' hands do touch,
And palm to palm in holy palmers' kiss."
Romeo asks the nurse who her mother is; she tells him that she was born of Marry, Bachelor, a Capulet. Then as Juliet summons her nurse to find out more about Romeo, Juliet too learns the truth that he is a Montague and that he is her families enemy. However, knowing that they are on opposite sides of an argument, makes them even more determined to love and marry each other.
"Is she a Capulet?
O dear account! My life is my foe's debt."
"My only love sprung from my only hate!
Too early seen unknown, and known too late!
Prodigious birth of love it is to me,
That I must love a loathed enemy."
I am now going to talk about the effects on the audience throughout the Banquet scene. I am firstly going to talk about the purpose of the Masque ball as a means of familiarity (a 16th century convection) and a disguise. I think that the facts that the ball is a Masque ball is probably so the audience have to guess more, this would be to keep them interested in the play. Also it is so that the Montague's can enter being unseen.
Now I am going to discuss the social and historical context, represented by the language and manner ("Ethiop's ear." Romeo's reference to religion as a means of conveying honour). When Romeo starts talking to Juliet he talks about pilgrims, which goes with his meaning to Juliet, but the audience might not understand what he really means, and why he is talking about religion.
"My lips, two blushing pilgrims, ready stand
To smooth that rough touch with a tender kiss."
I am now going to say the ways in which this scene affects the play as a whole. If Romeo had not gone to the ball, Tybalt would have not then been angry and want to fight or duel with Romeo, Romeo's friend Mercutio might not have been killed because Tybalt would have not talked to Mercutio to find Romeo, and Capulet would no have embarrassed Tybalt which must have enraged him even more. Romeo and Juliet both act too close when they meet, because they don't know each other, if they were not like this then maybe they would have held back for longer and maybe, none of the tings that did happened would have happened.