Explore the ways that Shakespeare makes Act one Scene five of Romeo and Juliet dramatically effective.

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Nia Griffiths 11NE

Nia Griffiths 11NE

Coursework Essay

Explore the ways that Shakespeare makes Act one Scene five of Romeo and Juliet dramatically effective.

Romeo and Juliet is a tragic love story which was written in the late fifteen hundreds during the Elizabethan period. The play revolves around prominent paradoxical themes of love and hate. The play portrays the romance between Romeo and Juliet, the son and daughter of two feuding families living in Verona, both of very high status. The play also involves the theme of fate; this is initially shown in the prologue, “Two star-crossed lovers”.

        The audience knows that Romeo and Juliet will meet, this is obvious purely from the title of the play, this helps build tension until it reaches a dramatic climax at the end of the scene. The audience at first expects Romeo to go after Rosaline and for Paris to be attempting to woo Juliet into marriage. This makes the audience more agitated and excited to find out when Romeo and Juliet will meet.

        The involvement of the serving men at the beginning of the scene begins to build the scene’s dramatic effect. This is because they begin to build the expectations of the impending Capulet party. The conversation between the four servants shows how big and important the party will be. “We cannot be here and there too.” This quote expresses just how busy the servants are: creating tension, atmosphere and expectation which all contribute to the scene being dramatically effective.

        Capulet makes a speech at the beginning of the party. Shakespeare uses lots of repetition to show the audience how excited Capulet is about the party. “Welcome gentlemen!”, “Welcome gentlemen!”, “Welcome gentlemen”, “Tis gone, tis gone, tis gone” As a result of Capulets excitement the audience become excited as to what will happen next, thus building tension amongst them. Capulet then says “And quench the fire, the room is gorwn too hot” This phrase is to continue to put across how many people are in the party and having fun. All the people dancing have made the room hot.

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        Next, the sudden interruption of Capulet and cousin Capulet’s conversation by Romeo instantly brings attention to this part of the scene. “What lady’s that which doth enrich the hand of yonder knight?” Following this comment is an aura of mystery which dramatically builds tension as the audience try to figure out who Montague’s son is talking about. As it becomes apparent that Juliet is the “beauty” Romeo is enthralled by tension builds even more. This speech also severely contrasts with Capulet’s playful, excitable language. This adds to drawing attention to the scene. Also, during Romeo’s speech Shakespeare uses rhyming couplets ...

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