How does Shakespeare convey the changing mood of Act Three Scene Five
to his audience?
This essay will explore how Shakespeare is able to convey the changing mood of Act three Scene five to his audience. The way in which this changing of mood occurs is through the way in which he constructs and uses language that is full of emotion, both of love and of anger, and being able to mix them in one scene to show so much passion in the scene. By analysing the language and use of action, it is possible to see how Shakespeare does in fact convey the changing mood to his audience.
This scene is relevant to the entirety of they play because it is the main turning point in the text, where the audience first sees aspects of Romeo’s and Juliet’s lives, taking a turn for the worse. Juliet starts to become extremely obstreperous towards her parents, mainly her father when he proposes a marriage to her, which also shows then the views that were taken when it came to the issue of marriage and the role of women in the sixteenth century, also portrayed when the nurse changes her mind to suit Capulet’s decision about Juliet, because, being a women and a servant, she had to do what Capulet wanted and support her master in whatever way necessary. Another main point in this scene is the link towards the end of the play, as it gives the audience an insight in to what could occur towards the climax of this play, which is the departure of Romeo from Verona, and the disobedience that Juliet exerts on her father. This indicates a tragic end to the play, possibly the immanent death of Romeo and Juliet.
The first section of the play shows Romeo and Juliet after they have spent the night together, and they are about to say goodbye, as Romeo gets ready to depart Verona, forever. When they first wake up, there is happiness in their speech, as they are together finally, in mind and physically. As the scene progresses slightly, we see the departure of Romeo, who has to leave Verona, but it is hard for them to say goodbye as neither of them knows when and if they will see each other alive again. When Romeo and departs, Juliet is shown to be anxious; she “must hear from him every day in the hour”. By using these words, Shakespeare highlights to the audience how uncertain Romeo and Juliet’s relationship is. This reminds the audience of the fatal course the play may take. Not just anxiety is shown here, but also sadness for losing each other as Romeo says; “Farewell, Farewell! One kiss and I’ll descend”, showing that Romeo is sad to leave, but also showing his love for Juliet, wanting that last kiss before he descends. Finally in this section of the scene, Romeo is angry towards his punishment, and would rather be dead than unable to see his wife again, and so says; “Come, death, welcome! Juliet wills it so” and also “Let me be put to death, so thou wilt have it so”. Both show the wish to die rather than being tormented by then inability to see each other for a long time, or even for the rest of their lives. This conversation about departing from each other’s presence occurs near or on Juliet’s balcony, and because of this is often referred to as the second balcony scene. The relevance of this conversation happening on the balcony is, that it was on the balcony where they first decided to be wed, and was where they first met properly. The first and last time they were together alone. At this point in the scenes progress, the contemporary audience are sympathetic towards both Romeo and Juliet because they are losing each other, but a sixteenth century audience would have thought that they should be ashamed of themselves, as it was up to the parents to know, approve and even decide who she should marry. Juliet should not have sympathy for that and Romeo should never kill anyone so he deserves the banishment, therefore, no or very little sympathy would have been expressed to Romeo or Juliet.
