At the beginning of act one scene five the servants are preparing for the party, at this time the mood is excited and anxious, this is shown by the use of questions and commands such as “where’s Potpan?” and “remove the court-cupboard”. They are excited because when the arty has ended they will get the leftovers including marchpane decorated with gold leaf, which was only available to wealthy people. They are also nervous because if the part doesn’t go to plan then they could lose their jobs and they need to provide for their own families.
After the servants preparation, Capulet begins to welcome the guests, the mood now changes to happy but also still worried and anxious. He tries to lighten the mood by making jokes about the women with corn on their feet, this shows what he thinks of women. He used lots of commands to show his guests that he’s the man of the house and in control. Capulet keeps repeating a certain command “more light” which would suggest to the audience that the atmosphere is dark. He spends some time speaking to his cousin about the good old days which shows what a sad unhappy man he is by going on about the past instead of focusing on the now.
Next is the meeting of Romeo and Juliet, the mood changes again, now it’s calm, romantic and peaceful. When Romeo fist sees Juliet he is totally overcome, this is enforced when he says “O” and sighs. He then uses a poetic language when he talks about Juliet, which is very romantic. It seems to be love at first sight for them. He describes Juliet as a “snowy dove trooping with crows”, also Romeo used many oxymorons such as “sick health” when he talked to Benvolio about Rosaline, this suggests he was mixed up about his feelings for her, this is not the same with Juliet as he is sure he loves her. He has now completely forgotten Rosaline which shows that it was probably just an infatuation.
Although the mood was romantic and calm, it changes again to violent, aggressive and intimidating when Tybalt and Capulet have seen that Romeo is at the party. At this moment Tybalt feels insulted by Romeos presence, he shows this by using insults to describe Romeo like “villain, slave and foe”. If you were and Elizabethan you would understand how strongly Tybalt feels against Romeo and how serious the insults were. He repeats these insults which show how much he hates Romeo. Tybalt feels so strongly against Romeo that he wants to deal with Romeo at the party, but is quickly told not to by Capulet who is worried about his reputation and what the prince warned he would do to Capulet. As this conversation progresses Capulets sentences become longer; he’s the man of the house and what he says goes, so Tybalt backs down, Capulet won’t let anyone or anything show him up. He is in charge and telling Tybalt what to do, hence the much use of exclamation marks which besides showing his anger, shows his impatience with Tybalt. The use of hyphens shows he is keeping his temper for his guests and reinforces the thought of him not wanting to show himself up, and wants to act like there is nothing wrong. Throughout the scene he repeats the order for “more light” therefore showing the relationship between Romeo and Juliet will be dark and they will not live happily ever after, it also shows the darkness of their conversation and the fact that Tybalt leaves Capulet threatening to take revenge on Romeo.
The next scene is when Romeo and Juliet talk to each other, the mood changes again to romantic, poetic and calm, this is shown by the use of religious language such as ‘holy shrine’, which means she’s perfect and “saint” and “palmers” which shows his feelings are true. They talk to each other using a sonnet (a 14 line love poem). They share this therefore showing their love is equal. All is going smoothly between them until they are interrupted by the nurse, this suggests their relationship won’t be smooth, easy or simple.
Now Capulet dismisses his guests and the atmosphere is tense, confused. Capulet then calls for “more torches”, suggests the mood has become darkened again (troubled).
The atmosphere now changes to tense, shock and disappointment as they both learn that they are meant to be feuding families and complete opposite.
This scene ends with a cliff-hanger, which keeps the audience gripped and pushes them to read/watch on. It leaves the audience wondering what will happen? How will Romeo and Juliet end up dead? And what’s Tybalt going to do to take revenge on Romeo? Overall it’s a very gripping scene as Shakespeare uses techniques such as mood changes, so the audience doesn’t get bored therefore enticing them to read/watch on.
