A fight begins when Benvolio and Tybalt enter and it develops into a furious riot. Even Capulet and Montague join in; this shows us that violence is the dominant theme.
This scene introduces us to the hierarchical structure of Elizabethan society. The lower class characters, such as the servants, speak in prose (blank verse), “Gregory, on my word, we’ll not carry coals. No, for then we shall be colliers”. This doesn’t rhyme. However, the upper class people, such as the Prince, do speak in rhyme. “To know our farther pleasure in this case, To old Free-town, our common judgement place”.
This scene concludes with love. Romeo describes his love for Rosaline and his frustration that the love isn’t returned. The scene shows the two contrasting themes of the play, love and violence.
In Act 1, Scene 1, we learn about the different characters. We learn that Tybalt is aggressive, hateful and is determined to kill. “What drawn and talk of peace? I hate the word, as I hate hell, all Montagues and thee!” This shows that he adds flames to the fire, seizing the opportunity to fight. Shakespeare shows this by Tybalt only saying five lines in the scene, but all five lines are said with aggressiveness, which shows his character.
What we learn about Benvolio in this scene is that he is not as hateful as Tybalt. He is much calmer and more respected. We know that he is well respected because the servants listen to him when he tells them to stop fighting. “Part, fools! You know not what you do!” He is peaceful and doesn’t want to fight. Shakespeare shows this by Benvolio speaking differently to other characters. The language that Benvolio and Montague use in lines 109-33 is very different to the language used by other characters in this scene. “Madam an hour before the worshipped sun Peered forth the golden window of the east, A troubled mind drive me to walk abroad, Where underneath the grove of sycamore”. This language is much more complex and isn’t as simple to understand as other character’s language. This shows his complex character.
What we learn about Romeo is that he is infatuated with Rosaline. He talks about how love confuses and mixes up, turning order into chaos. Shakespeare shows how mixed up Romeo is feeling by using a dozen oxymorons, two contradictory words brought together to make a striking expression. “Why then, O brawling love, O loving hate, O anything of nothing first create! O heavy lightness, serious vanity, Misshapen chaos of well-seeming forms, Feather of lead, bright smoke, cold fire, sick health, Still-waking sleep, that is not what it is!” But the most important oxymoron used is, “Here’s much to do with hate, but more with love”. This is important because it summarizes the entire play in one sentence. The story is much to do with hate, because the families hate each other, but more with love, because they love their families so they want to defend their honour.
Romeo’s character links to Greek tragedy. Greek tragedy is a form of drama invented by the ancient Greeks. “Romeo and Juliet” has all three main elements of Greek tragedy. It has a tragic hero, a chorus and narrator. The tragic hero, who is always a male, is Romeo, he will always be an excellent person, but has a fatal flaw which will lead to his downfall, and consequently, his death. Romeo’s fatal flaw is that he is obsessed with love. The chorus, which is a group of people who explain and comment on the play, comes twice in the play, in the Prologue and the beginning of Act 2. There is more than one narrator in the play, the chorus, Friar Lawrence and the Prince, who give moral commentary on the play.
The only characters that are not introduced in in Act 1, Scene 1, are Juliet and Mercutio. I think this might be because it shows how quickly Romeo falls in and out of love. In the first scene, he talks about his love for Rosaline, and in Act 1, Scene 5, he suddenly loves Juliet.
The violence established in Act 1, Scene 1, the very first scene of the play, comes to a climax in Act 3, Scene 1, which is the very central scene of the play. This scene is often described as the “turning point” in “Romeo and Juliet”. Until this scene, Shakespeare leads us to believe that the two lovers may have a chance in happiness. By the end of the scene, we see that this is impossible. Mercutio has been killed by Tybalt. Tybalt has been killed by Romeo. Romeo has been banished by the Prince.
This scene is the inevitable conclusion to the violence and hatred set up in the “civil brawl” which began Act 1, Scene 1. Structurally, the two scenes are almost identical, but in Act 3, Scene 1, two main characters are dead, and Romeo banished. For the first time, we see the violence in Verona defeating the love between Romeo and Juliet. By doing this, Shakespeare is giving us a hint that their love will be defeated again in the final scene.
The two scenes, Act 1 Scene 1, and Act 3, Scene 1, are structurally very similar because Shakespeare wanted to link the scenes together. Act 3, Scene 1 is the logical conclusion to the violence established in the opening scene. Most of the characters involved are the same, and events unfold in an identical fashion. In both scenes, two men of one house talk of violence, then the other house’s men arrive, they all fight and the Prince passes judgement.
The very last scene of the play, Act 5, Scene 3, mirrors the first scene because the juxtaposing forces of love and hate come together again. Romeo, believing Juliet is dead, kills himself. “Here’s to my love! O true apothecary! Thy drugs are quick. Thus with a kiss I die”. Juliet then awakens and seeing Romeo dead, kills herself. “Yea, noise? Then I’ll be brief. O happy dagger, This is my sheath; there rust and let me die”. Juliet prefers to join Romeo in death rather than live without him.
Shakespeare uses dramatic irony. The whole time the audience know that Juliet isn’t actually dead, this keeps them excited about what will happen next. We know that Friar Lawrence has hatched a desperate scheme to save them. Friar Lawrence wants to help them because he believes that their love will end the “ancient grudge” between their families. Earlier, in Act 2, Scene 6, the Friar unknowingly predicts their future. “These violent delights have violent ends, And in their triumph die like fire and powder”. He warns their love may end in tragedy, which in the final scene, it does.
But inevitably, as events move so quickly, mistakes are made. The vital message fails to reach Romeo. Juliet rouses herself from her unconscious state fractionally too late to save Romeo and herself. All of this action in such a short time adds to the power of the story. The couple are forced through a sequence of events which adds to the feeling that they are caught up in a train of circumstances which is beyond their power to control.
“Romeo and Juliet” is undoubtedly one of the most popular and enduring of Shakespeare’s plays. I think this is because it’s the pace and urgency that makes the drama so compelling. It also plays upon a lot of our emotions; it can appeal to people who enjoy comedy, drama, violence or romance.
The play has a lot to do with fate. From the prologue at the beginning, we already know that the two lovers are unlucky, “star-crossed lovers”. The theme of fate is carried on throughout the play. Shakespeare used imagery to convey each of the themes in the play. For the theme of love, he used light, “O she doth teach the torches to burn bright!” For the theme of hate, he used darkness. He has used these because; love and hate are opposites, so he used opposing imagery for each theme. Finally, for the theme of fate, he used stars, “inauspicious stars”, “I defy you, stars!”. Shakespeare used stars because they were supposed to contain the secrets of a man’s future. Before Romeo went to Capulet’s banquet, he knew something would happen, “for my mind misgives Some consequence yet hanging in the stars”. Somehow, he knew that something would come out of going to the banquet.
Romeo and Juliet’s families, the Montagues and the Capulets, were finally reconciled because of the love of Romeo and Juliet. Shakespeare’s moral message in the play is that love can bring an end to violence. But this isn’t the only thing that Shakespeare is trying to show us in the play. He is giving us many philosophical lessons like, we shouldn’t fall in love too hastily, like Romeo and Juliet have. He is also trying to show us that we shouldn’t rush into things and to think before we act.
