From the previous scene we know that there is a conflict between the Capulets and the Montagues. Romeo is a Montague and Juliet is a Capulet. Romeo had been convinced to go to the party by his cousin Benvolio and his friend Mercutio. During the party Tybalt recognises Romeo as a Montague and wants to kick him out, but Lord Capulet doesn’t allow him to as he is not causing trouble.
At the end of the party, Romeo sneaks out to the back of the orchard. This is where the scene begins, and Juliet comes out onto the balcony thinking she is alone, but Romeo can hear her. At this point the effect of soliloquy adds to the dramatic irony of the scene. Juliet should come out and look out to the audience on the left side. Whereas Romeo is on the right hand side. This highlights that she does not realise that Romeo is there and also the fact that they are looking in opposite directions signifies that they are opposites and they cannot be together properly because of their families.
“[Aside] Shall I hear more, or shall I speak at this?” Romeo should say this line to the audience, as if he is talking to himself but so everyone can still hear. Juliet must still carry on with what she is doing when Romeo is talking, she should not react to what he says until he makes himself well known. Juliet could be tidying up some flowers that stand on the balcony, or she could pick up a flower and perform “He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not”. Also, Romeo should not be able to take his eyes off Juliet. He could be leaning on the pillar which is on the stage, hiding behind that, so he is invisible from Juliet but the audience can see him listening. He should be sideways on, and the only time he stops looking at her is when he says his line “[aside].”
For my second section I decided to do Act 2 Scene 2 line 133-141 because up to this part Romeo and Juliet had gotten much too far ahead of their selves and they obviously had forgotten why they cannot be together etc, they seem to be in their own “dream world” and when the Nurse calls from inside it brings their whole world crashing down back to reality, and maybe the audience start to believe in this happy ending, but when the Nurse calls, it destroys everyone’s ideas about the end and what they believe what would happen, this keeps the audience grasped as they want to know what happens next.
The words, language and punctuation all influence how the actors portray the characters at this point. At the point which Juliet proclaims her love the tempo is very high due to there being a lack of punctuation, therefore the actors will be moving around and not still. But when the Nurse calls out the characters tone of voice if much more rushed and a sense of panic for both Romeo and Juliet, Romeo, must get out of the garden without anyone seeing and if he is caught trespassing he will be seriously punished, and if Juliet is caught talking to a Montague she will be punished by her own family, so they are both very urgent in what they are saying. Juliet should be half holding onto the banister and half trying to walk away, this will show she is torn between the reality of the whole situation and marrying the man she loves. Due to the size of the balcony at the playhouse, and all the flowers on the balcony there will not be a lot of place for Juliet to move about in, therefore her actions will have to be amplified so the whole audience can see and feel the effect of what she is doing.
“My bounty is as boundless as the sea, my love as deep” is the metaphor that Juliet uses to say she loves Romeo; I believe that this metaphor would be mainly aimed at the upper class people in the audience. This metaphor shows uses the sea, which is free flowing and shows she chooses what she wants to do with her love, this also represents the fact that Romeo and Juliet cannot be together due to their two families feud, but Juliet is blatantly ignoring the rule that they must not talk and is with Romeo. Romeo starts to speak in blank verse instead of prose the switch between the two starts to grasp in the lower class audience because prose in Romeo and Juliet is a lower class of speaking for example the Nurse always speaks in prose, also the use of Iambic Pentameter gives a rhythm to the scene and shows they are both equal on the social level, whereas this is unusual in Elizabethan times due to woman being lower down on the social scale than men.
I believe that this scene is so powerful because it would have personal links to everyone in the audience; they would put themselves into the characters’ shoes. The upper class fathers would put themselves in the shoes of the Capulets, to have this enemy trespass on their land, and then is speaking to his daughter would outrage them, where as all the women in the audience would put themselves in Juliet’s shoes, they would wish they had a romantic man, who would try to see them even if their life would be in threat, the lower class audience would enjoy watching the rich people be naughty, and also they would like to see what its like to be upper class. The younger men in the audience would like to think that they are just as romantic as Romeo, this shows the versatility of the play, it shows why Shakespeare is so popular, because it doesn’t matter who you are, and it still has some relevance to you.
Lewis Jolly/Year 10/English/Coursework/A11/Romeo And Juliet
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