Discuss the Dramatic Effectiveness of Act 1 of Romeo and Juliet

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Discuss the Dramatic Effectiveness

 of Act 1 of Romeo and Juliet

By Lyndsay Roger

Romeo and Juliet: one of the greatest known story’s of all time. Before having seen it acted on the stage or having read the script, people are aware of the storyline and are captured by this tragic love story about “a pair of star cross’d lovers”. The reason for this fame may come from the way the play deals with themes that were not only important in the late sixteenth-century, but are still relevant in today’s society (love, hate, conflict and death to name but a few) or possibly because of the appeal the play has to all ages; romance, action, comedy – it has it all!

To begin the play – a dramatic prologue that adds a suspense which continues throughout the play: a sense of foreboding every time anyone mentions anything ominous. Although the prologue gives away what is going to happen, it does not seem to ruin the rest of the play. Rather than not wanting to see the end of the play, the excitement is heightened – the audience wants to know why the “star cross’d lovers take their life”. 

The prologue also sets the scene, establishing the conflict between “two households, both alike in dignity”, and their “ancient grudge” and telling us the play is set in “fair Verona”. It leaves us with no surprises, giving us a basic summary of the play in the form of a poetic sonnet. One conflict we have with ourselves after the prologue is “ who should we side with?” i.e. which household is more in the wrong? The aim of the prologue in Shakespearian times was to attract the attention of the rowdy audience, who would have been talking and laughing – making a great deal of noise – without any of the action being lost to them.

Act one, scene one starts like a comedy might; with two servants of the house of Capulet exchanging jokes that end up becoming quite smutty. This offers the audience a relief from the heaviness of the prologue and sets up the stage for more important characters to the play to enter. These two characters, although not appearing within the play again, are important to the first scene, as they show how easily the conflict between the two houses can start up and how quickly, once started, it grows; the status being raised from servants of both houses, to the young people all the way up to the Lords and Ladies. The beginning of this scene also builds up the characters of Benvolio, the peacemaker, and Tybalt, the warrior. Benvolio enters, with the purpose of stopping the fight, he is a calm, diplomatic person with good intentions, but

Tybalt’s entrance and speech about hating “peace...all Montagues and thee (Benvolio)”, arouses his anger and he has to defend himself against the violent nature of Tybalt. The Lords both want to get involved in the fight, but their respective wives try to hold them back, before the entrance of the Prince, who quickly ends the public brawl.

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The Prince is a sensible, respected character, yet he does not have the power to quash the “three civil brawls” which were “bred of an airy word”.

After the fight, Lord and Lady Montague talk to Benvolio , trying to make out how the fight started, trusting Benvolio to give them an honest account, which he does, and also to ask him about their son, Romeo, who has been acting in a very despondent manner. They are glad that wasn’t involved in the fight, but are also concerned about him, so Benvolio agrees to find out what is wrong ...

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