Tybalt believes that he should be dealt with and can’t be left alone, but Lord Capulet sees otherwise and suddenly launches a vicious verbal attack on Tybalt and says,
“He shall be endured…you’ll make a mutiny among my guests: you will set a cook-a-hoop, you’ll be the man”
This shows us that Lord Capulet has a short temper and if pushed can be quite violent.
He treats Tybalt in a disdainful manner and is quite rude towards him; he calls him a princox, and a good man boy, which are insults. Eventually Tybalt concedes that on this occasion Romeo is to be endures and that his time will come. This temper, this volatility that Lord Capulet shows when disobeyed prepares us for events that follow, as Juliet is to question his authority. She refuses to marry Paris and this causes her father to lose his temper and threaten to throw her out of the family and disinherit her.
Tybalt’s actions is this scene prepare us for events that follow as we discover that he is extremely rash in his decisions, and tends not to consider his actions, and what may come of them is carried out. As he hears Romeo’s voice, he instantly asks for his rapier, and tells Lord Capulet that he is to be dealt with because he is trying to disrupt the banquet. Tybalt shows us that he is violent and doesn’t think properly before doing things, which he may in the future regret doing. We can she that if his path is crossed then he will strike. This behaviour prepares us for future conflicts between Tybalt and the Montagues. Tybalt provides a fight, which leads to the death of Murcutio. In revenge Romeo kills Tybalt. This also though gives us an insight pf what things are to come are to come if Lord Capulet’s authority is ever questioned, this prepares us for a confrontation between Juliet and Lord Capulet later in the play, as Juliet questions his choice of man for her to marry, Paris, as she is already married to Romeo at this stage. Also Lord Capulet’s approach to how he spoke to Tybalt relates to the theme of youth as Capulet shows how the vigour of youth and the solemnity of age.
When Romeo and Juliet first meet they have a heart-warming conversation in sonnet form. The significance of the sonnet form is that, a sonnet is a short poem with 14 lines and ten or eleven syllables in those lines, and I feel that the sonnet form is significant because sonnets are normally about love. At the time of Shakespeare, sonnets were a highly respected form of writing. Romeo and Juliet use very holy imagery in the conversation and say things like “my lips two blushing pilgrims ready stand” which Romeo says as he is about to kiss Juliet, as if to say I have been looking for this moment and I am worship your beauty I guess so to speak. Juliet joins in with the religious imagery, “…for the saints have hands, that Pilgrims’ hands do touch and palm to palm is a holy palmers’ kiss”, Romeo then says “have not saints lips and holy palmers’ too?”. Juliet complies with what Romeo is saying and then says “Ay Pilgrim, lips that they must us e in prayer”; she then again after Romeo says something says, “Saints do not move, though grant for prayers sake”.
They seem to be talking in code. They are both afraid to use plain words. As religion was very important to people in those days, they feel safe using religious terms. When Romeo likens Juliet to a ‘shrine’ it makes her sound to good for this world, someone who is to be worshipped. This makes us fear for their future.
Throughout the scene there is light and dark imagery, which helps us to feel the mood for the tragedy that is to come. Firstly Lord Capulet at the beginning speaks about having worn a visor, which obviously blocks out light, then admits that he no longer wears a visor. He may mean that he is too old to dance or that he no longer needs to hide his feelings. Later Lord Capulet, in his conversation with Tybalt, asks for light and later he asks for “more light, more light”. Possibly, Capulet senses the impending tragedy, which is why he feels there is too much darkness. Romeo describes Juliet, as light when he first sets eyes on her “O doth she teach the torches to burn bright: it seems to hang upon the cheek of night” and then also says “As a rich jewel in an Ethiop’s ear”, both of these descriptions shoe light in dark surroundings. These images show that Juliet represents hope and goodness. Finally Romeo and Juliet met at night, this suggests that the outcome of their relationship seems bleak.
The audience already know that there is a bad outcome to the story; the audience know that Tybalt will not follow Capulet’s orders and will start a tragic chain of events. The audience already know that Romeo and Juliet’s young love is predestined to end in tragedy and in the prologue we learn,
“A pair of star-crossed lovers take their lives”.
This means that a pair of lovers are thwarted by fate. As we know what the characters do not, this creates dramatic irony. The irony in Scene one, Act five means that, as Romeo and Juliet meet we are influenced by the dramatic irony and therefore fail to feel the happiness, which is expected and instead feel the sorrow, as we know the outcome, is bleak. We that their affections for each other will never get a chance to blossom, and this therefore influences our emotions. We then look for the signs of tragedy that may occur in the future of the play ahead.
Throughout Act one, Scene five there are signs of the tragedy to come. We know that the young lovers will not be given the opportunity to develop their relationship and will use ‘their graves as their wedding bed’.
