“Part fools,
Put up your swords, you know not what you do.”
There is then great contrast with the introduction of Tybalt, who is of the Capulet household. Contrast is a great theme throughout the play and Act I Scene I prepares us for this. Tybalt’s character is established as a fiery aggressive youth who says himself that he hates the word peace. He is very much prepared for fighting and action as opposed to Benvolio who tried to stop the fighting.
We are then introduced to Lord and Lady Capulet and Lord and Lady Montague as the fight escalates. Shakespeare is building the tension as the citizens get involved and we see that they don’t appreciate this ongoing feud between the families. This implies that there have been incidents that have happened before. There is still some humour even in this very tense state as Lady Capulet mocks her husband when he calls for his sword:
“A crutch, a crutch, why call you for a sword?”
This first part of the scene ends with the entrance, and exit, of the Prince. From his speech we are told of previous fights and his authoritative tone has the effect of subduing the atmosphere, bringing down the tension.
There is a short interlude between Benvolio and Montague after the Prince’s exit in which Romeo is discussed. Shakespeare uses poetic language and imagery drawn from nature in describing Romeo and this prepares us for Romeo’s romantic nature. This is also another contrast, one which is exercised throughout the play, a contrast between hate and love. Shakespeare appropriately introduces this to us in the first scene of the first act so that we are prepared for it to reoccur throughout the rest of the play. The last part of the scene is dialogue between Benvolio and Romeo which helps to firmly establish the romantic nature of Romeo. Romeo describes his feelings for Rosaline and tells us how he can’t have her. This then prepares the audience for Romeo to find someone else and it also gives us something to compare his love for Juliet to.
There are many dramatic affects in Act I Scene I that make it appropriate as the opening scene to the play. It is filled with variety and contrast and prepares us for developments in the themes. The variety is in the language
(i.e. Shakespeare uses both poetic and comic language) and between the two themes of hate/love, romance/fighting and this keeps the audience interested. It introduces us to many important characters and also prepares us for the dramatic irony concerned with Romeo being in love with the idea of being in love and thinking he can never love anyone else but Rosaline. Because of all the contrast in Act I Scene I, I think that the opening scene is very appropriate as an introduction to the play.
