What expectations are created in the first scene of Romeo and Juliet and how does Shakespeare establish these expectations?
G.C.S.E. English Literature Coursework
Assignment:
What expectations are created in the first scene of Romeo and Juliet and how does Shakespeare establish these expectations?
Romeo and Juliet is a romance/tragedy by William Shakespeare set in the Italian post medieval city of Verona based on two lovers named Romeo (from the house of Montague) and Juliet (from the house of Capulet) who are hampered by their families hate for each other and are forced to death because of their families' conflict. This play brings up key themes hate and love throughout the play.
At the start of the play the two Capulet servants Sampson and Gregory are in conversation and the come across one of the Montague servants, Abram and this causes friction because of the ongoing war between the two families. One of the leading members of The Montague's' enters, Benvolio. Benvolio tries to stop the conflict but one of the leading members of the Capulet family enters, Tybalt, and he destroys all attempts Benvolio might have tried to stop a conflict, and they fight with other members of the house joining in on the fray.
This leads to a entrance from the Prince of Verona, which breaks up the fight and he then gives a speech, indicating that he and the city have had enough of the quarrels between the two families. He warns that if another quarrel was to happen then there will be big trouble.
After the quarrel Benvolio is told to talk to Romeo, who has been hiding himself away because he has been love struck by a women who doesn't love him back. Because Romeo is a very dramatic character he takes love to heart and this is the reason for Romeo hiding himself away.
Benvolio meets up with Romeo and Romeo explains his hardship to him. Benvolio tries to make him forget about the women and move on.
At the start of the play some of the key themes are introduced, hatred and violence. Violence is introduced in the stage directions in that Sampson and Gregory are said to be carrying swords.
'Enter SAMPSON and GREGORY, with swords and bucklers.' - opening stage directions
This indicates violence and Shakespeare is setting up an early theme in the play. Comedy is used an initial element of the play in the banter between Gregory and Sampson two of the servants from the Capulet family. Shakespeare uses this comedy element to lead the audience into a false sense of security and to make the change of atmosphere in the play seem more dramatic. Hatred is introduced in the language of the early lines in the start of the play in the conversation between Sampson and Gregory who express their hatred the Montague family.
'A dog of the house of Montague moves me.' Line 7
The conversation also introduces the house of Montague so now the two main families are established. The conversation builds up in intensity, at the start of the conversation it seems a harmless piece of banter but then true feelings towards the Montagues are expressed by the two servants Sampson and Gregory , mainly Sampson. At the beginning of the conversation Sampson talks about not being afraid of any Montague but towards the end he is talking about raping the women and cutting off their heads, in ...
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'A dog of the house of Montague moves me.' Line 7
The conversation also introduces the house of Montague so now the two main families are established. The conversation builds up in intensity, at the start of the conversation it seems a harmless piece of banter but then true feelings towards the Montagues are expressed by the two servants Sampson and Gregory , mainly Sampson. At the beginning of the conversation Sampson talks about not being afraid of any Montague but towards the end he is talking about raping the women and cutting off their heads, in lines 19-20
'I will be civil with the maids; I will cut off their heads.'
This shows the kind of hatred that two houses have for each other, that even the servants who are least related to the families and the arguments they have, would show such a hatred for the other.
As the conversation goes on two of the servants of the house of Montague enter, and Gregory and Sampson go up to them looking for a fight.
The introduction of an insult by Sampson is one of the devices Shakespeare uses to build tension in lines 35-49. Sampson insults Abram by saying ;
'I will bite my thumb at them,' Line 35.
He also incites Abram towards the end of the conversation between them;
'I serve as good a man as you.' Line 46-47.
Sampson says this to turn Abram into the man who starts the fight which also shows he is the one clearly causing it to happen.
Sampson trades one more insult, insulting Abram's masculinity and then they fight. Shakespeare uses the servants as devices to set up his bigger picture conflict between the key members of the families this also introduces the audience to the type of conflict they can expect when the two families meet, and the intensity of the hatred that the two families have for each other.
A key member of the house of Montague, Benvolio, enters when the fight breaks out between the servants. He tries to break the fight up without success, this also shows a contrast between the families, that the Benvolio would rather keep peace than fight whereas the Capulets are more aggressive and look to cause trouble between the two families. Benvolio shows this in trying to stop the fight. He also show this in the type of language he uses when he speaks to probably the most aggressive character in the play Tybalt.
Tybalt enters just as the fight breaks out. Which also says something about his character that he has entered in a violent period in the play. The audiences' perception of Tybalt being a violent character is confirmed in the way he speaks to Benvolio. He uses a very aggressive tone towards Benvolio in just his first few lines;
'look upon thy death.' Line 58.
And as Benvolio tries to encourage peace Tybalt responds with;
'What, drawn and talk of peace? I hate the word, As I hate hell, all Montagues, and thee.' Lines 61-62.
Benvolio's attempts at peace are shattered once again and they fight.
Shakespeare also shows a contrast of character in this dialogue. The language both characters use are very different. Benvolio with his desperate attempts at peace and Tybalt with his fiery aggressive dialogue. They contrast each other but relate to the two families, the Capulets being aggressive and the Montagues being the more peace makers than fighters this is shown in other parts of the play where Romeo fighting and is perceived as more of a lover rather than a fighter.
The audience now how a feel for the play and have identified one of the key themes of the play, hate. They have also established two of the main characters Benvolio and Tybalt. The scene is now set for the entrance of the Prince.
When the Prince enters the contrast in aggression and peace is shown between the heads of the two families, where the heads of Capulets go out to attack the heads of the Montagues. Shakespeare showing the audience again the themes of the two families.
When the Prince enters all fighting stops, this shows the audience the authority the Prince has and how he is viewed by the two families. Similarities can be drawn between Benvolio and the Prince because of their wishes to keep peace. Although the Prince uses more aggressive language than Benvolio he still has peace in mind. He uses more aggressive language to show his authority he has being the Prince. The contrast of Tybalt's character and the Prince's character and is similar to Benvolios' and Tybalts' as well.
The Prince's speech is aggressive and threatening towards both families and shows that he has had enough of the quarrels and battles between the two houses. He calls them 'Rebellious subjects, enemies to peace' Line 72. Which shows his feelings towards them. He makes it clear to both families that if the fights continue there will be a price to pay and they will have to pay it.
'If you ever disturb our streets again, Your lives shall pay the forfeit of the peace.' Lines 87-88.
The Prince uses aggressive and fiery language because Shakespeare is exploring the theme of hatred once again in the Prince's speech to remind the audience what the play is about.
After the Prince gives his speech Shakespeare calms down the atmosphere, for the introduction of Romeo. Shakespeare calms down the atmosphere by adding a conversation with Lord, Lady Montague and Benvolio. This conversation renews the audiences' expectations by introducing the theme of love, which is most associated with Romeo. This short conversation also helps to establish characters with the audience. Benvolio gives an insight on Tybalt's character in lines 100-103 showing the audience once again how aggressive and fiery Tybalt is. Lady Montague also gives the first reference to Romeo and gives an insight to his character, that he is a lover not a fighter, lines 107-108.
The conversation uses different language compared to all the other language used so far in the play. The manner of language is calm and composed, this is also indicates Shakespeare is changing the atmosphere to introduce Romeo and the theme of love.
Towards the end of the conversation between Benvolio and the Montagues, Benvolio is eventually told to talk to Romeo and the final stage of the scene begins.
In the conversation between Romeo and Benvolio, Romeo explains why he has been hiding away . He has been love struck by another women who doesn't love him back. Shakespeare sets the foundation for the character of Romeo in this conversation and establishes to the audience what type of character he is.
Romeo is a very dramatic character especially in love this is expressed in his language. At one point he says life isn't worth living if he cannot be with this women. Lines 214-215
'She hath forsworn to love, and in that vow Do I live dead,'
This shows what a dramatic character he is and how love affects him, it affects him deeply and he revolves around love. His speech also indicates to the audience that he is feeling very lonely and solitary, this gives an incentive for the relationship that Shakespeare sets up with Romeo and Juliet later in the play.
Romeo also sums up what the story is about in certain lines, Shakespeare does this to give an incentive to the audience to what is going to happen, and to let the audience create expectations of their own to what is going to happen in the play. Romeo says in line 167;
'O brawling love, O brawling hate,' This means love can cause hatred, which sums up the two key themes in this play and shows what is going to happen to Romeo and Juliet, that their love causes hatred between the two families.
He gives incentives to the audience in lines 170-171
'Misshapen chaos of well-seeming forms, Feather of lead, bright smoke, cold fire, sick health,' and in lines 179-182. These mean that love brings chaos that describes the play that Romeo and Juliet's' relationship bring chaos and death to both of them.
Romeo gives one more incentive to the audience of how he is going to seal his fate. In lines 214-215 he says;
'She hath forsworn to love, and in that vow Do I live dead,'
This means that life isn't worth living if he can't be with the woman he loves. He is not talking about Juliet at this point, but with his relationship with Juliet he carries out this line showing he is not just a dramatic character and that love really does effect him deeply and he needs it in his life. This line also gives a hint to the audience to what is going to happen later on in the story, because it shows to the audience what is going to happen to him within his relationship with Juliet.
Shakespeare uses these lines to give the audience hints to what is going to happen in the play and to help build their expectations for the rest of the story.
Shakespeare creates the audiences' expectations in Scene 1 Act 1 for the rest of the play, by using contrast in language, introducing key themes love and hate, and giving hints to the audience to what is going to happen later in the play.
The audiences' initial expectations of violence and hatred are changed due to development in events and the plot and the introduction of love. The audiences' expectation of key characters are created in this opening scene. Tybalt; the aggressive fiery fighter, Benvolio; the peacekeeper and Romeo; the lover.
The audience are also introduced to the two main families, Montagues and Capulets, they are also shown the war and intensity of the war between the two families.
Daniel Walsh 11DRK