Shakespeare emphasises this light party atmosphere by using Lord Capulet to be in a nostalgic mood that increases the party atmosphere.
“Welcome, gentlemen. Ladies that have their toes unplagued with corns will walk a bout with you.”
The Elizabethan audience would have been involved in the atmosphere of the Globe Theatre’s production because of the dancing and music going on upon the apron stage and their closeness to the action.
Romeo’s dialogue differs to other characters because he speaks in rhyming couplets. “(To a servant) What lady’s that which doth enrich the hand of yonder knight?”
The servants speak in prose as they have a lower status. Lord Capulet speaks in blank verse –lambic pentameter to distinguish him from the servants. In the party Romeo instantly falls in love with Juliet at first sight and uses rhyming couplets to describe her as all thoughts of Roseline go out of his head.
“Did my heart love till now? Forswear it, sight,
For I ne’er saw true beauty till this night.”
The mood suddenly changes when Tybalt recognises Romeo’s voice. He immediately tells Lord Capulet but Capulet mood doesn’t change. But after a while Tybalt changes Caplet’s mood by using words like,
“T’is he, that villain, Romeo.”
The use of powerful words in this scene, such as ” villain, scorn, fights “ and phrases depicting hatred by Tybalt, contrasts with the expressions love from Romeo. Tension and suspense is created because Shakespeare implies happiness and love may not last.
These words “ gall, bitterest and poison” foreshadow the deaths, which occur later of Murcutio, Tybolt and Romeo and Juliet at the end of the play. The word “gall” means poison, which could indicate what happens at the end.
The word “fate” would have made the Elizabethan audience suspicious because they believed in witches and the supernatural and therefore would have been engaged. Shakespeare uses the sonnet, which was a typical form of love poetry in Elizabethan times, so this instantly signals the idea of love to an Elizabethan audience. This choice of words show how much Romeo and Juliet are in love with each other.
“ Good pilgrim, you do wrong your hands too much.”
The words of Romeo shows that Romeo feels that Juliet is his holy temple and shows that he worships her.
“ This holy shrine.”
The mood dramatically changes when Romeo finds out that Juliet is a Capulet. He realises that he has fallen in love with one of his enemies. This is a scene of tragedy as well as love and hate.
The intense mood of love is lifted from the sonnet when the nurse comes in and tells Romeo that Juliet’s mother is the head of the house. Shakespeare uses antithesis with Juliet a few times through this scene, signalling that she has fallen in love with a Montague
“ My only love sprung from my only hate! Too early unknown and known to late.”
Romeo and Juliet use the sonnet to show their love. The party hustle and bustle fades away so the audience can concentrate on the main part of the scene. Juliet is helpless and obviously in love and the audience are gripped with an ominous feeling as the powerful force of fate works between her and Romeo.
Shakespeare contrasts busy stage action with quiet intense moments, hard aggressive words with gentle words of love which combine to engage his audience in this dramatic scene.