Romeo and Juliet Act 1 Scene 5 - How is this scene effective on stage?
Emily Rogers 10.3 Shakespeare Coursework- Act 1 Scene 5 – How is this scene effective on stage? William Shakespeare was born in Stratford Upon Avon on or around April 23, 1564. Birth records do not exist and only a baptismal record from the Holy Trinity, dared April 26 1564, has any recorded evidence of Shakespeare’s birth. The 23rd is merely a sentimental date being the day of England’s patron, Saint George, and the date of the death of Shakespeare. Shakespeare’s parents were John and Mary Arden Shakespeare. On November 27th 1582, Shakespeare married Anne Hathaway who was eight years older than him. Susanna, Shakespeare’s daughter, was born around May 26th 1583. Hamnet and Judith, twins, were born around February 2nd 1585. It is believed that around 1592, Shakespeares ‘Henry VI’ was performed at the Rose Theatre in London. Shakespeare had rapidly risen as one of the top playwrights of the time in 1594. His son, Hamnet, died in August of 1596. In 1599, the Globe Theatre was built. Shakespeare was one of the inventors of this new theatre. April 23rd, 1616, Shakespeare died. The Montague’s and the Capulet’s are the two chief families of Verona. For years, they have been enemies in a bitter feud. Their teenage children, Romeo, a Montague, and Juliet, a Capulet, meet by accident at a grand party and fall instantly in love. They marry in secret, but cannot escape the consequences of their families’ savage quarrel. Romeo’s best friend Mercutio is killed by Tybalt of the Capulets. In revenge, Romeo kills Tybalt and is banished from Verona. Friar Lawrence devises dangerous plans to help Romeo and Juliet live together in happiness, but his schemes go terribly wrong. Romeo, believing Juliet is dead, kills himself to join her death. Juliet finding Romeo dead also kills herself, not wishing to live without him. Their death ends the quarrels of the Montagues and the Capulets. In the eighteenth century, David Garrick’s re-written version of Romeo and Juliet was very popular. He cut much of the dialogue, but added a funeral procession and a final conversation between Romeo and Juliet in the tomb. The play was acted in the fashionable costumes of the day. In the nineteenth century, productions of Romeo and Juliet became obsessed with historical accuracy. Period costumes and settings were designed with meticulous attention to detail. The twentieth century has seen huge variety in the staging of Romeo and Juliet. But for all their differences, most productions have used a single basic set which can be quickly adapted to enable the play to flow from scene to scene. Modern productions are always concerned to avoid lengthy breaks for scene-shifting.
Even though the locations shift from place to place, the flow of action is continuous. Act 1 Scene 5 is set in the great hall in Capulet’s mansion, Capulet, Lady Capulet, Juliet, Tybalt and his Page, Nurse and all the Guests and Gentlewomen enter to the masked dancers. This scene is where we first see Romeo and Juliet together, and this is the scene they first meet. It starts when the Montagues sneak into a Capulet party/ball. A traditional Shakespearean ball, with traditional dress and dancing is used in the Zefferelli version. Romeo and his fellow Montagues are able to ...
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Even though the locations shift from place to place, the flow of action is continuous. Act 1 Scene 5 is set in the great hall in Capulet’s mansion, Capulet, Lady Capulet, Juliet, Tybalt and his Page, Nurse and all the Guests and Gentlewomen enter to the masked dancers. This scene is where we first see Romeo and Juliet together, and this is the scene they first meet. It starts when the Montagues sneak into a Capulet party/ball. A traditional Shakespearean ball, with traditional dress and dancing is used in the Zefferelli version. Romeo and his fellow Montagues are able to make it inside the Capulet residence because the ball is a 'masked ball´. Romeo uses a cat like mask to disguise his identity. In the modernized version, Luhrman has cleverly changed the theme of the party, from a masked ball to its modern equivalent a 'fancy dress´ party. For this, Romeo´s costume is a knight; Luhrman has tried to show the audience that Romeo is in a sense, 'a knight in shining armour´. In both versions, Capulet welcomes everybody and, even though he´s too old to dance himself, so he gets everybody else to dance because he like to watch those who have lots of life left enjoy themselves. The party in the modern version is also where we first see Mercutio. At the party in the new version, he is performing as a drag queen, this helps us get an idea of this characters personality, we see that he is lively, energetic and one of those people who has no enemies. In the Zefferelli version, however, we don´t get to meet Mercutio just yet.The following is the same for both versions, but is done in different ways. This is where Romeo first sees his true love, Juliet. Romeo is enjoying the party when a dazzling young lady catches his eye. He doesn´t know why, but he knows that the girl he sees is 'the one´. The camera is very linear, and stays at head level all the time. The camera focuses on Juliet all the time as she is dancing, even though fellow dancers get in the way, the camera still keeps track. We are seeing Juliet how Romeo sees her, in the Luhrman version however, the camera movement is quicker and has more variety than staying linear, it follows Romeo and Juliets eyes, this is good because eye contact is the best way of showing how someone is in love. Romeo uses a lot of reference to the original script in Zefferelli´s version, I think Zefferelli uses a lot of the original script because it is a good way of getting across the message that Romeo has fallen madly in love with this girl, and that she isn´t just another Rosaline.I think that Romeo hasn´t fallen in love with Rosaline, but instead has fallen in love with the idea of falling in love, and has maybe encouraged him a little more to gather more information on Juliet. We don´t even get to know who Rosaline is, and she isn´t even mentioned in the modern version. Such lines as 'O she doth teach the torches to burn bright!´ and, 'Beauty to rich for use, for earth to dear´, helps us see that Romeo has really fallen in love this time, because he doesn´t say these kind of things about Rosaline. Juliet still hasn´t seen Romeo, because Romeo is still tying to hide himself, but his luck turns when Tybalt spots him through his voice, Juliet´s cousin and respected Capulet family member. Tybalt seems frustrated that an archrival has intruded on his family´s ball, he tells Lord Capulet of his findings, but is even more frustrated because Lord Capulet doesn´t seem to care because Romeo has a good history and has never before troubled the Capulets, Tybalt says he will fight Romeo for this act, but Lord Capulet becomes furious at his nephews disobedience. This doesn´t interrupt Romeos interests in Juliet, and as Juliet takes a break from the dance, he sees his opportunity, and ceases it. He pulls Juliet behind the pillar he is hiding behind and tries to make Juliet listen by pouring his heart out, his language is like poetry, everything he says seems to flow, even when Juliet questions and dismisses his actions, but Romeo keeps coming back with better and more enticing speech, fro example, 'O then, let lips do what hands do! They pray, grant thou, lest faith turn into despair.´ Juliet replies, 'Saints do not move, though grant for prayers´ sake.´ Romeo comes back with, 'Then move not, while my prayers´ effect I take´. Romeo then kisses Juliet and says, 'Thus from my lips, by thine, my sin is purg´d´. After their little escapade, we meet The Nurse. She interrupts Romeo and Juliet and warns Juliet that her mother wants a word wit her. The Nurse then gives Romeo the bad news; he finds out that Juliet is a Capulet. Benvolio tries to make Romeo forget that she ever existed. The Nurse then tells Juliet the same news; we see this well by the line 'My only love sprung from my only hate!´ which gives the message across clearly. Romeo and Juliet meet under different circumstances in the modern version, Romeo has just taken some kind of hallucinogen, a drug perhaps, and it looks as if Romeo is trying to test himself, asking his brain if he wants to live, taking the risk of death to the edge when we see him with his head in a bowl of water. He eventually withdraws his head from the bowl. As he is exiting the bathroom he happens to walk by a fish tank, he is still maybe suffering form the drugs side effects, he then sees Juliet on the other side of the fish tank. This fish tank isn´t just an ordinary fish tank, this tank means a lot more. As we see Romeo and Juliet see each other through the tank, there is a lot of focus on the eyes of the two characters, this makes us feel closer to the characters, the fish tank is the only separation between the two making contact, even though their faces are distorted, this doesn´t change the fact that they may have fallen in love with one another, and this gives the love at first sight emphasis more impact. They finally meet beyond the tank. Juliet is attempting to go somewhere but her attempts are foiled when Romeo talks of his love for her, she questions his motives but seems more convinced of Romeos authenticity of true love for her with flowing speech of his undying love for Juliet. Romeo kisses Juliet and even pulls her into a lift when he sees that her nurse is calling for her. The lift signifies their isolation from the whole party, as before Romeo was chasing Juliet all over the ballroom trying to get his message across, but Juliet was still walking away from him.The camera follows Juliets every movements well and is showing that things are very chaotic in a way, following Juliet up the stairs, through the hall way, past the balcony, rushing around, maybe showing us a sign of things to come. The soft love music from the lone singer, which is also present in Zefferelli´s version, quickly whimpers away to more fast tempo music as Romeo chases Juliet. All is stopped though when the nurse catches them and Romeo finds out that Juliet is a Capulet and that she is due to marry Paris. We see that Romeos brave attempts may have been stopped by one thing, the family name.One thing that I am keen to point out is the use of costume in the two versions. As I have already said, the Zefferelli version has a traditional Elizabethan masked ball; Romeo and every other person seem to be wearing the same darkish coloured clothes. There is one exception, which is Juliet, her bright orangey/red dress makes her stand out from everyone else and shows us that this is the most important female in the scene, Juliet. The dress has a more important role in the Luhrman version, as each character has a fancy dress costume similar to their personality/character. Paris has an astronauts costume, signifying that he is brave, noble, and representing the great American astronaut Neil Armstrong, a man who held the world to a standstill, a national hero. Then we move onto Tybalt. He has a Devils costume on, showing us that he has a fiery personality, a short temper, and an evil man maybe; the devil is the main route of all evil. Mercutio as I have already said is a drag queen, this shows us that he is humorous, and doesn´t care what people think, also that he may not take life that seriously, but he is respected by both families and tries to play a neutral part in-between the feuding families, but we know that he is closer to Romeo than anyone else in the families. Romeo has the costume of a knight, a knight in shining armour perhaps, a saviour, a brave soldier, this also coincides with Juliets costume, as she has chosen the costume of an angel, the route of all goodness, an angel is perfect, maybe this is how Romeo sees her, an angel has no faults. Shakespeare was fascinated by language. He couldn’t resist playing with words, rhythms and styles. He loved to invent words, and to give existing words new meanings by fresh uses and unexpected twists. Shakespeare’s language is still very much in use, but we just don’t notice it because its so familiar. At the same time as Shakespeare wrote Romeo and Juliet, he was probably writing his sonnets. There are several sonnets in the play: Chorus at the start and end of Act 1Lady Capulets praise of ParisRomeo and Juliet first meetingTheir next four lines are the start of another sonnet A Shakespearean sonnet is a fourteen line poem. Each line contains ten syllables. The sonnet has three sections: The first eight line (rhyming ABABCDCD)The next four lines (rhyming EFEF)A couplet to finish (rhyming GG) The language of Romeo and Juliet shows the strong influence of the Italian poet Petrarch. Shakespeare almost always took the ideas for his plays from someone else’s writing. He brilliantly transformed whatever he worked on. He found the idea for Romeo and Juliet in Arthur Brooke’s poem, ‘The Tragicall Historye Of Romeus and Juliet’, written in 1562. Brooke’s long poem was pretty dull! Shakespeare’s genius as a language craftsman made it powerfully vivid. The hero and heroine of Romeo and Juliet are probably the most famous literacy representatives of intense romantic love: consequently, many people know something of the play even if they haven’t read it. If they actually read it, they may well have some surprises. Romeo and Juliet prove to be stronger, livelier, more radical and more paradoxical than hearsay suggests. In the twentieth century, various influential literacy critics argued that this early tragedy by Shakespeare was variously immature, a failed experiment, a work marred by romantic sensationalism. It lacked, they suggested, the psychological subtlety and philosophical profundity of such later works as Hamlet, Macbeth and King Lear, but there are many ways of gauging the success of a literacy work. One test is the scale of influence; another test is fertility, its ability to produce literacy offspring. Some works have been splendid but of limited influence and fertility. By those tests, Romeo and Juliet is one of the two or three most successful of Shakespeares plays, and, indeed one of the most important works in the history of the worlds drama. The influence of Romeo and Juliet has been exerted internationally through countless stage productions, films for cinema and television, videos, radio, records, tapes, cassettes, adaptations and modernizations, parodies, burlesques, cartoons, tours of Verona and even bank notes-for the British twenty pound note used to portray the first ‘balcony’ scene. If not profound and tempestuous, Romeo and Juliet is lively and engaging.
