In this essay I am going to be discussing the impact that the first scene of Romeo and Juliet has on the reader and what kind of image its gives the reader about the various characters that are involved in this action packed scene.

they get right in the face of the enemy “Do you bite your thumb at us, sir?”  As well as giving us the attitudes of the Montague’s and the Capulet’s, it also informs us of the kinsmen, Benvolio and Tybalt.  As with the two families these two characters are also completely different from one another and the way they act in this scene; while Benvolio is attempting to separate the fighting servants “Part, fools!” yet Tybalt is trying to entice Benvolio into fighting him and in contrast, in the two different films, Baz Lurhman’s Tybalt is calm and menacing while Benvolio is frantic and nervous while in Zeffrelli’s film, the roles are switched and now Tybalt is the eager, frantic one and Benvolio is calmly trying to persuade him not to fight “I do but keep the peace.”  Tybalt is a very fiery man who seems to have a kind of animal instinct, this is shown in Zeffrelli’s version of the film where he appears before Benvolio and almost instantly attacks him. This scene also gives us our first view of Prince Escales who appears on the scene of the fight when it has reached its most violent point.  He bursts into the street and immediately takes charge of the situation and calms the fight between the Montagues and Capulets by threatening to have them all executed “Once more, on pain of death, all men depart” he gives the impact that he is a powerful authority figure and is instantly recognised as a main character.  The Prince also gives a good foundation for the rest of the story to be built upon by exposing significant features of the feud.  The final character to appear in this scene is Romeo himself, and although he was in no way involved with the previous brawl, he already knows what has occurred “O me! What fray was here? Yet tell me not, for I have heard it all” as he is already aware of the two previous fights in the streets.  Romeo says he has “much to do with hate, but more with love.” This is interesting as he does not know Juliet exists yet and therefore he must be in love with somebody else.  The emotions he shows here seem artificial in the way that he has fallen in love for the sake of falling in love and not because he truly feels that they should be together because they like each other.  Yet this provides a contrast to the real love and commitment he later feels for Juliet. The scene is not all about people beating the living daylights out of each other, the directors have managed to include some light-hearted humour into the scene.  The “Montague Boys” for instance is only a small touch but it is quite entertaining how Baz Luhrman’s film refers to the Montagues and Capulets as gangs.  Also in the Luhrman film they liven it up a bit by calling the guns sword 9mm’s and that adds a small amount of humour to the action.  The Shakespeare version also includes some mild entertainment even though it is a serious play write, it incorporates some humour into its structure through Lady Capulets ironical wit which she uses to remind her husband that he cannot swordfight at his age “a crutch....why call you for a sword” The dramatic impact mainly comes from the fight scene in general and Romeo’s speeches.  The fight starts the story with the feud kicking off in the middle of a street giving the story an action packed foundation.  Romeo declares his love for an anonymous person (the fair Rosaline) which has a great impact on the rest of the story as it sparks off a chain of events relating to the meeting of Romeo and Juliet, hence the title!