Tybalt uses offensive words to describe Romeo when he sees him at the party such as, ‘slave’, ‘villain’ and ‘foe’ and presumes him to have come purely to ‘fleer and scorn’ at the Capulet’s celebration. However, instead of attending the party with feelings of hate, Romeo has turned up looking for love and this reminds the audience of the contrast between love and hate that runs throughout the play. None the less, in lines 57 to 58, Tybalt justifies his actions by saying, ‘Now by the stock and honour of my kin // to strike him dead I hold it not a sin’ meaning he would not feel guilty for killing Romeo as he would be taking his revenge in honour of the Capulets. In these lines, Shakespeare emphasizes Tybalt’s threat by using rhyming couplets as they cause the audience to understand the seriousness of the point he is making. Tybalt tells Capulet how Romeo has scorned at their ‘solemnity this night’ and how if he did kill Romeo he would only be taking revenge for a Montague mocking his household. Suspense is built here as the audience realise that Tybalt would not experience guilt for murdering Romeo. Tybalt is extremely persuasive towards Capulet in telling him to punish Romeo, ‘why uncle, tis a shame’. This also adds to the tension as Tybalt is very persistent and this causes Romeo to appear increasingly vulnerable. After Tybalt speaks to Capulet his last words are ‘I will withdraw, but this intrusion shall // now seeming sweet, convert to bitt’rest gall’. This is ironic because although he leaves the party in peace, the events between Tybalt and Romeo after the party eventually conclude in death.
In Romeo’s first sighting of Juliet he expresses his emotions in a soliloquy in which he emphasizes Juliet’s beauty through metaphors and the use of colour imagery. Romeo compares Juliet to ‘a snowy dove trooping with crows’ which separates her radiant looks from everyone else around her. Romeo describes her as ‘a rich jewel in an Ethiop’s ear’ that ‘hangs on the cheek of night’ therefore comparing her to a rare and valuable object showing that she stands out of the crowd. In this soliloquy, Romeo often relates to Juliet as the light in comparison to the darkness that surrounds her and subsequently this reinforces the light and dark theme that Shakespeare uses during the play. Shakespeare conveys Romeo and Juliet’s opening words to each other in the form of a sonnet which shows how well the two connect after only meeting once and illustrates how they were destined to be together. The effect of using a poem also removes the tension in the scene and causes the audience to forget about the nastiness that surrounds Romeo and Juliet and instead concentrate on the love between them. Throughout Romeo and Juliet’s first conversation they relate to one another as Romeo being a ‘pilgrim’ who has travelled towards a ‘holy shrine’, Juliet. This religious imagery demonstrates the depth and purity of their love and underlines the conflict in the scene between good and bad. The effect of this technique shows they have a passionate love for each other instead of a dutiful love. For an audience at the time the play was written, tension would have been created through Juliet engaging conversation with Romeo because in the sixteenth century this would have been disapproved of. Elizabethans believed that it was unacceptable for a woman to talk to a man in public and especially as Juliet is playing a game with Romeo and leading him along the audience would have felt even tenser.
After Romeo and Juliet have their first meeting, the nurse calls Juliet and they are forced to part reluctantly from each other. Separately they discover the other’s true identity and react fairly similarly to the devastating news that their love is forbidden. Juliet exclaims ‘my only love sprung from my only hate’ and Romeo cries out ‘my life is my foe’s debt’ and this shows that they are both overcome with despair and that their feelings for one other are equal. The tension gradually builds as the audience begin to realise that neither Romeo nor Juliet show any signs of stopping loving the other and reminds them that fate will keep them together until their dying day. From lines 137 to 141, Juliet uses a contrast in language to express her emotions, and says such words as ‘love…hate…early…late’. This demonstrates her prejudice towards the Montagues for if she had known Romeo’s identity she would never have fallen in love with him. Through these lines, Shakespeare could have been trying to put across a message to the audience showing how ridiculous and unnecessary the feud is. In Baz Luhrman’s film, when the lovers are forced to separate, the camera gradually draws away from Romeo’s face and shows both their expressions of disbelief through close up shots. This gives the audience an insight into Romeo and Juliet’s feelings and allows them to relate to their shock.
Throughout the play, fate plays an important role because the Elizabethans strongly believed in the idea that whatever the future held was inevitable. The prologue tells the audience what is going to happen in the play and this represents the idea that Romeo and Juliet cannot escape from their fate. The tension in Act I Scene 5 is reinforced by Romeo’s final words in the scene before when he says, ‘some consequence yet hanging in the stars // shall bitterly begin his fearful date’ because it shows how Romeo enters the party expecting something to happen that will cause his ‘untimely death’. Throughout the play, Juliet almost predicts her own fate as she says ‘If he be married, my grave is like to be my wedding bed’ and she talks of ‘being dead in the bottom of a tomb’. This creates suspense by again demonstrating that their death is inevitable and cannot be prevented.
The lines of the chorus at the end of the party scene remind the audience of the risk the lovers are taking and what a dangerous situation Romeo and Juliet are in. They tell the audience of the devastating truth that their love is forbidden because of their rival families and Romeo ‘being held a foe, he may not have access.’ The lines the chorus say create tension because the audience enter Act 2 knowing fresh in their minds that Romeo and Juliet’s love is dangerous, putting them both in a vulnerable position.
In conclusion, tension is created in Act 1 Scene 5 through many different ways. One technique Shakespeare uses is he differs the amount of tension throughout the scene and this keeps the audience constantly on tenterhooks and apprehensive as to what is to happen. As well as this, the discovery of Romeo and Juliet’s identities question the audience as to whether they will carry on loving each other. However, I believe the way in which tension is created the most effectively is the threat from Tybalt because it leaves the audience with a feeling of apprehension as they are oblivious as to when he will take his revenge on Romeo. In addition to the tension, there are three main ways through which the audience feel suspense: the irony of Tybalt’s final words, Romeo and Juliet both predicting their own fate and the ending lines of the chorus. These factors cause the audience to enter the next scene concerned for the future of Romeo and Juliet as they appear vulnerable in their unfortunate situation. This scene manages to dramatise the tension between love and hate by quickly showing snippets of the love between Romeo and Juliet and the obstacles they will face, for example the strife between their families. Overall, this scene is extremely eventful and exciting which engages the audience. It is cleverly structured to make the scene run smoothly despite there being many tense situations. On the whole, the party scene has to be by far my favourite scene of ‘Romeo and Juliet’ as it captivates the audience and involves them in Romeo and Juliet’s love affair.
