love. The idea behind courtly love is to make a woman feel higher than you meaning that
she is one of the most important thing in his life but he could not have her. A way to
stage this is to have Juliet on top of a balcony and Romeo on the ground floor speaking.
In Act 1 Scene 5 Juliet’s cousin is not very pleased to see a Romeo at the Capulet party.
As soon as Tybalt hears about Romeos unexpected visit he is willing to disturb the
peaceful atmosphere ‘ fetch me my rapier’ This quote is significant as it shows that
Tybalt is a hotheaded and an aggressive character, which we will see more often later on
in the play. ‘ Scorn at our solemnity this night’ this quote suggests Tybalt’s hurt from
Romeos intrusion. Tybalt would be thinking that Romeo came to his uncle’s party to start
trouble. He finds Romeos intrusion a personal disrespect. Romeos intrusion helps to
move the plays plot, as Romeo and Juliet’s love for each other matures Tybalt’s rage
elongates. This leads to a cataclysmic chain of events, which one is Mercutio’s death.
In the film equivalent of Romeo and Juliet, Romeo in love, at the Capulet party Tybalt
is dressed as a devil, red represents anger and hot headedness. This shows that Tybalt
represents the evil and the fuelled feuding between the Capulets and Montagues. His rage
represents the apprehensiveness of the Montagues and Capulets.
In act 1 scene 2 Benvolio suggests that Romeo to go to the Capulet party to get his mind
of Rosaline, which he states, is his first love and there will be no one else who will make
him interested ‘compare her face with some that I shall show, and I will make thee think
swan a crow’ Benvolio compares Rosaline to a crow even though he as never seen
Rosaline before. Act 1 scene 2 has a sense of foreboding as Romeo actually does find a
more beautiful woman at the party ( Juliet). During act 1 scene 1 and act 1 scene 5 Romeo talks about his love for Rosaline and Juliet. When Romeo talks about Rosaline his language makes no sense. Shakespeare uses opposite words to create and effect that Romeo is madly in love. ‘O heavy lightness, serious vanity’ feather of lead bright smoke, cold fire, sick health’ As you can see the group of phrases do not make any sense, you can not have cold fire as fire is hot and you can not have bright smoke as smoke is dull and intoxicating. The meaning within the phrase is that Romeo is ether not sure what he wants or he does not know how to describe Rosaline. Romeos love for her contrasts with Rosaline’s hate for him just like the words contrast with each other. Shakespeare uses the lingual expression of conceit ‘feather of lead’ to explain Romeos crisis. When Romeo talks about Rosaline he expresses courtly love’ O she rich in beauty’ Romeo looks up to Rosaline expressing courtly love. Courtly love is when a male is in love with a female but the female does not love him back because of a few reasons but in this case Rosaline cannot love him because she is a nun ‘in strong proof chastity well armed’ The quote that suggests that she will not love him back is ‘she will not be hit by cupids arrow’ This means that she will not fall in love with him but this not Romeos true love as we find out later on in the play. Rosaline is an artificial character in the play as you do not see her , Rosaline represents Romeo’s lust not true love. When Romeo talks to Juliet his language is elaborate and poetic which is not confusing unlike when he was talking about Rosaline. Shakespeare uses the theme of religion to show that Romeo and Juliet are meant to be together. ‘My lips 2 blushing pilgrims’ Romeo uses this quote to sneakily get a kiss from Juliet .When Romeo and Juliet first meet Romeo takes her hand expressing courtly love and they both share a sonnet. Sonnets were very popular in Elizabethan England as there was no other source of entertainment such as TV or radio and they would of instantly known that this sonnet was a love poem. To prove that they are madly in love Juliet returns the kiss using the same religious language ‘Thus from my lips by thine my sin is purged. Then have my lips the is that they have took.’ During this scene Romeo uses light to describe Juliet to light and very valuable things’ She doth teaches the torches to burn bright’ Light symbolises life, beauty and purity and Romeo says she is more beautiful than all that he does not compare Rosaline to light as it is not his true love. ‘Beauty too rich for use, for earth too dear!’ This quote is significant as it shows dramatic irony as Juliet’s beauty represents the peace and by Romeo and Juliet dying they bring peace to their feuding families. During Act 1 scene 5 Romeo uses religious references to describe Juliet ‘touching hers, makes my blessed hand rude’ This quote shows how Romeo thinks that Juliet is so beautiful, that she is like a holy angel that is too holy to be talked to or touched. Romeo feels unworthy of her. This shows the audience that what he has for Juliet is true love than what he had for Rosaline which was just lust. When Romeo first talks about Juliet he compares her to a ‘snowy dove trooping with crows’ this links in with why Benvolio wanted him to go the Capulet party ‘compare her face with some that I shall show, and I will make thee think swan a crow’ Benvolio’s quote is foreboding what will happen later on in the play. Act 1 scene 5 is a very dramatic scene where Romeo and Juliet first meet and there is a very noisy party going on in the background. This scene would be very challenging to direct as many things are going on in the play. If I was directing the play I would use the effect of flashing coloured lights, loud music and lots of chatter to mirror the image of a party. All partygoers including Romeo would be dressed in very formal dull colours such as navy, grey and black. When Romeo and Juliet first set eyes on each other the music should stop with the people at the party still dancing and miming the words of there chatter, the coloured lights should be replace with bright white lights to give a holy aurora. A thick layer of fog should surround Romeo and Juliet when they first touch to show that there love is intoxicating. Juliet should be wearing white to show her beauty, youth, purity , holiness and Romeos and Juliet’s undying love for each other. When Romeo and Juliet have parted when Juliet’s mother calls the scene of he party should come back again; the music should go back on and the coloured lights should flash. Juliet’s white clothing should contrast with everyone else’s to show that she is the woman that Romeo falls in love with.
