Shakespeare makes the scene exciting and dramatic with the use of short sentences for example ‘He shift a trencher? He scrape a trencher’ at the beginning of the scene. He also adds excitement, with the movement of the actors. There is a great deal of ‘hustle and bustle’ depicted in the Great Hall, which is the setting for the scene. The suspense adds to the dramatic climax of the scene as well, an example of this is the audience wondering whether Romeo will get discovered under his mask or not.
It is clear who the servants and the masters are by how thy speak as commoners speak in sentences and quite normally but the higher ranking members speak in rhyme making it obvious to tell who’s who and also adding to the volupture and grandness of the scene.
Shakespeare also gives the scene a slight comedy aspect using the lazy servants at the start of the scene.
Probably the largest contributor to the excitement is the Dramatic Irony created by the children of the two opposing families falling in love and not knowing each other’s true identity. Since the audience already knows this secret they will be wondering whether Romeo and Juliet will find out the truth or not.
When Romeo and Juliet first meet in this scene the first fourteen lines they say to each other make up a combined sonnet, which is mainly consistent of religious similes and metaphors ‘My lips, two blushing pilgrims, ready stand’. In Shakespearean times sonnets were fairly common and were usually known to be a symbol of love and these two saying a sonnet equally shared between them on their very first meeting strongly suggests that they are truly in love.
There is more dramatic irony again later on when Juliet wonders if he is married because if he is this will be her deathbed ‘my grave is like to be my wedding bed’ as at the end of the play her wedding bed is her deathbed.
The opulence of the occasion would fascinate the audience since the majority of them were from fairly poor homes and had never seen such fanciful things as they could see in this scene.
The scene ends quite dramatically with Juliet’s poem after finding out Romeo’s true Identity:
My only love sprung from my only hate!
Too early seen unknown, and known too late!
Prodigious birth of love it is to me,
That I must love a loathed enemy.
Overall it is one of the most exciting and dramatic scenes in the play.
