Whilst the rival families and citizens are fighting, enter ‘Old Capulet and Lady Capulet.’ Lord Capulet asks Lady Capulet for his sword, “Give me my long sword, ho!” Lord Capulet spots Old Montague in the distance and asks for his sword again, “My sword I say! Old Montague is come, and flourishes his blade in spite of me.” At this point in the play, enter ‘old Montague and Lady Montague.’ Lord Montague has also seen Lord Capulet in the distance, “Thou villain Capulet! Hold me not, let me go.” Here the tension and excitement is at a maximum as both heads of the families are together. Just as the head of the house of Montague is also attempting to join the fray, enters ‘Prince Escalus’ with his train. Prince Escalus quells the riot, “Rebellious subjects, enemies to piece.” Once everyone has stopped fighting, Prince Escalus does a speech. In this speech, Prince Escalus introduces a death penalty, which will be put in to action if the two families were to fight again. Also Prince Escalus orders both heads of the rival families to meet with him to talk about what happened, “You Capulet shall go along with me, and Montague, come you this afternoon.” At this point in the play, the tension and excitement of the play is cooling down after an exciting start. Even though the tension and excitement of the play is low, the fact that there is a death penalty in place may level out the tension and excitement as one argument between the two rival families could result in the death of the leaders of both households.
After the feud is over, the long awaited involvement of one of the key characters in the play is finally here. Shakespeare cleverly does not introduce Romeo at the beginning of the play because he wants to keep the audience hooked and excited. Lady Montague asks Benvolio if he knows where Romeo is, “O where is Romeo? Saw you him today?” Benvolio answers that he has seen him, but Romeo wants to be left alone and that no one seems to know what the matter with him is. Finally Romeo arrives and his parents leave the scene purposely so Benvolio can ask him why he is so sad, “Come madam, lets away.”
Now in the play, two good friends Romeo and Benvolio are having a conversation about Romeo’s problem, “What sadness lengthens Romeo’s hours?” Romeo explains to his friend that he is in love, “Out of her favour where I am in love.” At this point in the play, the audience are questioning themselves about who this girl is; this creates tension and excitement, is it Juliet? Benvolio tries without success to discover the name of the girl Romeo has fallen in love with, Tell me in sadness, who is that you love.” Romeo avoids answering the question and expresses to Benvolio that the woman that he is in love with, is beautiful but is not in love with him, “O she is rich in beauty.” At this point in the play the tension is high as the audience is wondering if these are the start-crossed lovers. Benvolio tells Romeo that he should forget about the woman that he is in love with and look for another girl, “Be ruled by me, forget to think of her.”/”Examine other beauties.” Here Shakespeare cleverly excites and interests the audience, he does this by not telling the girls name who Romeo is in love with. If it is Juliet, then Benvolio may be getting in the way of their fate by telling Romeo to look for another girl. At this point in the play, the audience is interested and excited. This is also because Shakespeare is cleverly using characters as detours to increase the tension and excitement of the play, the characters that act as detours get the audience questioning about what is going to happen next.
Scene two begins with Paris, whom is a wealthy young man of Verona and Lord Capulet having a conversation. They are talking about Capulet’s young daughter Juliet. At this point in the play the audience is exciting and tension is building, as this is the first time that the other main character has been mentioned in the play. Paris is asking for Juliet’s hand in marriage, “But now my lord, what say you to my suit?” But Capulet is not unwilling, he thinks Juliet is too young, he believes that Paris should wait two more years, “My child is yet a stranger in the world, she hath not seen the change of fourteen years, let two more summers wither in their pride.” Paris is unhappy at this, so Capulet agrees to ask his daughter if she is willing. Capulet also gives Paris an invitation to the feast he is giving that evening and tells Paris that he will meet Juliet there. This is a huge twist in the plot as Juliet was meant to fall in love with Romeo, not Paris; Shakespeare cleverly uses Paris as a diversion to increase the tension and excitement for the audience. At this point in the play the audience are worried, as they want Juliet to meet Romeo, not Paris.
After Lord Capulet and Paris leave the scene…Peter, a clown and servant to the nurse is trying to read the invitation list for the feast, which is being held by Capulet, but Peter cannot read. Now enter Romeo and Benvolio, Benvolio is still trying to persuade Romeo that he should move on from the girl he loves, “one fire burns out another’s burning, one pain is lessened by another’s anguish.” Peter is walking by whilst Romeo and Benvolio are having their conversation, Peter stops and asks Romeo if he can read, “I pray sir can you read.” Romeo answers yes, “If I know the letters and the language.” Romeo tells Peter to stay and reads the list out to him; Romeo begins to read the list aloud. He realises that the list includes the name of Rosaline, with who Romeo is in love with. Romeo suddenly wakes up and asks Peter where the feast will take place, “Whither should they come.” Peter tells Romeo that the feast is at the Capulet’s household. Peter invites Romeo to the feast then leaves, “I pray come and crash a cup of wine.” After Peter has left, Benvolio tells Romeo that he should attend; then he will be able to compare Rosaline, whom he loves, with other more beautiful girls and realise his mistakes, “Sups the fair Rosaline whom thou so lov’st, with all the admired beauties of Verona.” Romeo strongly disagrees with this but says he will attend the feast to prove Benvolio wrong, “I’ll go along, no such sight to be shown, but to rejoice in spendour of mine own.” At this point in the play tension and excitement is rising as Romeo will be at the feast as well as Juliet, this may be where the ‘star-crossed’ lover meet. Shakespeare has cleverly still not shown Juliet in the play yet as this creates more tension and excitement for the audience.
Scene three begins in a room in Capulet’s mansion, Lady Capulet and the Nurse are talking about Juliet, “Nurse, where’s my daughter? Call her forth to me.” The nurse calls Juliet to the room. The tension and excitement at this point in the play is high as Juliet is about to be seen for the first time…Juliet enters the room and asks her mother, Lady Capulet what she wants, “Madam, I am here, what is your will?” Lady Capulet asks Juliet what she would feel about the prospect of getting married, “Tell me daughter Juliet, how stands your dispositions to be married?” Juliet explains to her mother that she has not thought about marriage, “It is an honour that I dream not of.” Then Lady Capulet reveals to Juliet that she has a suitor, Count Paris. Lady Capulet urges Juliet to meet him at the feast they are holding. Juliet says that she will do so. This creates more tension and excitement for the audience as Juliet may fall for Count Paris; if she does so, she will not be available for Romeo. This makes the audience think that Juliet has betrothed to Paris.
Scene four begins with Romeo, Mercutio, Benvolio and Horatio with other maskers and torchbearers in a street outside Capulet’s mansion, they are all on their way to the feast. Romeo is gloomy, partly because he is unhappily in love and also he is worried about how they will explain themselves; they have no invitations. Benvolio and Mercutio try to cheer him up, but with little success, “Nay gentle Romeo, we must have u dance.” At this point in the play, the audience is concerned because Romeo is not in the greatest of moods, so this may result in him not really paying attention to Juliet, which may result in a big twist of fate. Because of this, at this point in the play, the tension and excitement is increasing as the audience are thinking about the future. Mercutio continues to try to joke Romeo out of his sombre mood. When Romeo mentions a dream, Mercutio launches into a fanciful account of Queen Mab who travels into people’s dreams, “O then I see Queen Mab hath been with you.” Benvolio points out that they are just wasting time. Romeo speaks of his sense of foreboding about what is to happen, “I fear, too early.” They move onto the Capulet’s household, where dinner is over and the servants are preparing for the masked dance. At this point in the play the tension and excitement is building, as Romeo and his friends are about to enter their rival’s mansion; but the audience is worried, as Romeo is not confident and could make a mistake.
Scene five begins in ‘The Great Hall’ in Capulet’s mansion, Capulet servants Sampson, Gregory, Sampson, Anthony and Potpan are talking to each other about the feats. Enter Capulet, lady Capulet, Juliet and Tybalt. Capulet welcomes his guests to the ball and encourages them to dance. Some of the ladies are a bit shy and Capulet teases them that is they don’t dance people will think they have corns on their feet. Capulet tells the musicians to play and tells the servants to clear the tables out of the way. Then he and an elderly relative sit watching the dancers and reminisce about the last time the two of them danced like this. At this point in the play the audience is anxious, as they are waiting for the two main characters of the play to meet for the first time. Romeo catches sight of Juliet, “What lady’s that which doth enrich the hand of yonder knight?” The serving man whom Romeo asks this question replies, I know not sir.” This creates immense tension and excitement for the audience as they are on the edge of their seats because they want to know if the girl is Juliet or not. Shakespeare cleverly makes the serving man reply ‘no’ to purposely build tension and excitement. Her beauty stuns Romeo still not knowing who the girl is. Tybalt sees Romeo and recognises him as a Montague, “This by his voice should be a Montague.” At this point in the play the audience is worried, as they believe that ‘The Firery Tybalt’ may kill Romeo for trespassing onto Capulet turf. Tybalt becomes very angry and tells Capulet that Romeo is at the feast, but Capulet orders Tybalt to do nothing and that Romeo shall be put up with, “He shall be endured.” Tybalt gets angry because his uncle tells him to leave Romeo alone, Tybalt protests but Capulet is firm, as he has made his decision.
Romeo approaches Juliet for the first time in the play. The excitement level is rising, as this is the first time that the key characters have properly seen each other. After a deep and romantic conversation, Romeo and Juliet kiss. The nurse interrupts with a message that Juliet’s mother wishes to speak to her. Romeo asks the nurse who Juliet is, “What is her mother?” Romeo learns that Juliet is a Capulet, “Is she a Capulet? O dear account, my life is in my foes debt.” This point in the play is filled with tension, as the audience is puzzled about what Romeo’s next move will be. The guests begin to leave. Juliet calls the nurse and asks her, [“What is yond gentlemen?”/”The son and heir of old Tiberio.”/”What’s he that now is going out of door?”/”Marry that I think be young Petruchio.”/”What’s he that follows here that would not dance?”/”I know not.”] This conversation between the nurse and Juliet is a clever way for Shakespeare to create tension, as Juliet asks for Romeo’s name three times before she tells the nurse to go and ask for his name. Every time that Juliet asked the nurse for Romeo’s name more and more tension and excitement kept building each time. Juliet sends the nurse to discover Romeo’s name, the nurse comes back and tells Juliet that his name is Romeo, “His name is Romeo, and a Montague, the only son of your great enemy.” Juliet is dismayed to learn that Romeo is a Montague. This creates an amazing amount of tension and excitement as the audience want to know hat will happen between the two ‘star-crossed’ lovers, after they have learnt that hey are from rival families. The scene finishes after the nurse and Juliet leave because all the guests have gone.
Shakespeare has created tension and excitement in act one by not introducing the two key characters of the play, until after the play is in flow and running. Shakespeare cleverly does this to hook the audience into the play, because they will be eagerly waiting for this introduction of one of the key characters; Shakespeare takes this a step further by introducing Romeo but not Juliet. Shakespeare cleverly does this to keep the audience hooked, as they will be anxiously waiting for the involvement of Juliet. The audience probably believes that the relationship between the ‘star-crossed’ lovers will not be successful, as the couple will have to secretly meet with no one seeing them, because if they do get seen…The couple may have to pay for their lives. The relationship is unlikely to last. The audience are now eager to watch the rest of the play; this is because they want to see what happens to the ‘star-crossed’ lovers in their adventure of love.
