The beginning of this scene sees a party hosted by Capulet, we the audience are quite surprised at how he is; we know that he and Montague have had a feud for many years. Knowing this we would think that he would be very aggressive and maybe a little up tight but we see that he is very playful and does a good job of being the host, he makes a joke making everyone feel comfortable and welcome. He says:
“Welcome, gentlemen! Ladies that have their toes
Unplagu’d with corns will walk a bout with you.
Ah ha! My mistresses, which of you all
Will now deny to dance? She that makes dainty, she,
I’ll swear, hath corns; am I come near ye now?”
Here he asks the women to come and dance and those who won’t are the women who have corns on their feet, here he is making a joke to entertain the guests. He also tells them about how back in his day he used to be a flirt but those days are over he says:
“Welcome, gentlemen! I have seen the day
That I have worn a visor, and could tell
A whispering tale in a fair lady’s ear
Such as would please; ’tis gone, ’tis gone, ’tis gone”
This will surprise the audience because he is nothing like they would’ve expected knowing of his past, this might even amuse them. Later, Tybalt finds out that Romeo is present, Tybalt wants to attack Romeo but Capulet orders him not too, he is the peacemaker. Tybalt is content on attacking Romeo but Capulet gets more aggressive telling him not to, trying to sway the guests’ attention he asks for more light in the middle of the heated discussion between he and Tybalt.
Romeo seems disgruntled, as he is “lovesick”, but then he sees Juliet and he is happier, he uses rhyming couplets to express his feelings he says that she is radiant and she makes others look ugly.
“O! She doth teach the torches to burn bright.
It seems she hangs upon the cheek of night
Like a rich jewel in an Ethiop’s ear;
Beauty too rich for use, for earth too dear!
So shows a snowy dove trooping with crows,
As yonder lady o’er her fellows shows
The measure done, I’ll watch her place of stand,
And, touching hers, make blessed my rude hand
Did my heart love till now? Forswear it, sight!
For I ne’er saw true beauty till this night.”
We can see from this that Romeo is very talented and is able to create this poem. In this poem he also uses similes:
“It seems she hangs upon the cheek of night
Like a rich jewel in an Ethiop’s ear;”
Here he implies that she is a jewel in an Ethiop’s (a black man) ear, so there is contrast between the black ear and the shining jewel, this tells us that he has been well educated. Previous to this we learn that Romeo knows of Greek mythology, he compares Rosaline to the Goddess of Chastity. Later on he and Juliet share a sonnet together, they play off each other’s words, he then kisses and she kisses him back.
In this scene Juliet is with Romeo playing off his words in the sonnet, she seems quite flirty. When Romeo kisses her she says that she has received his sin, so he kisses her again so that he can take his sin back
Rom. “Then move not, while my prayers’ effect I take.
Thus from my lips, by thine, my sin is purg’d.” [Kissing her.
Jul. “Then have my lips the sin that they have took.”
Rom. “ Sin from my lips? O trespass sweetly urg’d!
Give me my sin again.”
She goes on to say that he kisses by the book meaning that he is a very good kisser, this is a very generous compliment and this may have made Romeo happier. She might have said this intentionally so that Romeo would like her even more. When they separate Juliet calls her nurse asking who the Romeo is, she still doesn’t know whom he is as they are still at the masked ball. When she finds out who he is she says:
“My only love sprung from my only hate!
Too early seen unknown, and known too late!”
Here she says that her only love comes from her only enemy and that it is too late as she has fallen in love with him.
In this scene Tybalt is seen as a very aggressive character he asks for his sword straight away when he knows that Romeo is there. He says that he will protect the family name by killing him, as Romeo is only there to mock them. Many times Capulet tries to calm him down and tells him to leave Romeo alone due to the new law enforced by the Prince but Tybalt is determined to attack Romeo. Then Capulet gets angrier when Tybalt doesn’t listen to him, this creates a lot of tension between the two, Tybalt then says
“I will withdraw; but this intrusion shall
Now seeming sweet convert to bitter gall.”
By saying this he’s saying that he will leave him for now but will get his revenge later on. These two lines are very important to the play as these two lines leads to the deaths that occur later on.
Between lines 43-52 Romeo describes how he sees Juliet he says “O! she doth teach the torches to burn bright” here he implies that she is very radiant. Romeo also talks about how she stands out he uses two similes to show this they are:
“It seems she hangs upon the cheek of night
Like a rich jewel in an Ethiop’s ear;”
And
“So shows a snowy dove trooping with crows”
Here he is saying that she is a jewel in a black man’s ear and that she is a dove (which is white) among crows (which are black), both these similes are used to make Juliet stand out. He goes on to say
“The measure done, I’ll watch her place of stand,
And, touching hers, make blessed my rude hand.”
He thinks that by touching her he will be improved, he has used some Christian imagery here when he says blessed, Shakespeare might have used this to show that Romeo was serious about his love for Juliet. Lines 92-109 also have a lot of Christian imagery used with words like palmers, prayer, good pilgrim and saints. All of these words are used as a way to show that their love could be permanent, also as they are flirting with each other it could be that these words are used to make the situation a bit more fun and playful. These lines also contain a sonnet, which shows some of Shakespeare’s best work, there is a very tight rhyme scheme where there are groups of rhyming couplets then the last two lines have a single rhyming couplet. This has been done by Shakespeare to make the characters even closer, this sonnet also has a rhythm to it called iambic pentameter.
The masks, which disguise the characters at the ball, provide dramatic power for the audience, as the two lovers don’t know who each are, but we as the audience do. We are curious to see how they will find out about each other and what they do when they do find out. The imagery and playful language used by the characters also provide dramatic power for the audience, as the audience will find it exciting how the characters use certain words to give a bigger effect. The way that Romeo and Juliet use Christian imagery will excite the audience as well as the flirting that goes along between them in the sonnet. Tension is created because the two lovers are from feuding families this makes the whole situation more exciting, the situation was already exciting when they didn’t know who each other were at party and they had fallen in love. This now brings another level of excitement to the situation also providing dramatic power for the audience.
In conclusion this scene has proven to be one of the most important parts of the play as it is almost like the base of the play, where everything starts off. It is in this scene where Romeo and Juliet meet, where they fall in love and it is where the lead up to all the deaths occur. The play as a whole, I found quite exciting, as I hadn’t known much about this play previously.
Peter Phan
