Introduction to Romeo and Juliet essay.
Welcome to the Avis Theatre Company and congratulations on your successful audition for roles in our production of Romeo and Juliet, Act1 scene5.
I need to explain to you how I need you to play your parts. But before I do, I need you to listen carefully while I give you some information about the play as a whole so that you can put our scene into context.
Please don’t make notes- I will give you a copy of my talk later.
Romeo and Juliet was written by William Shakespeare.
I t was written over four hundred years ago. It is still relevant to modern society because of religion and war. People can still fall in love across boundaries of conflict that have arisen in the last 400 hundred years. The play is about young love, which ends in tragedy.
The story of Romeo and Juliet is about two families that are always in conflict, The Capulet’s and the Montague’s. A young man called Romeo; a Montague falls in love with a young lady called Juliet, a Capulet.
They meet at a Capulet party and fall in love at first sight. Tybalt finds out there is a Montague at the party. He wants revenge.
Romeo and Juliet marry in secret. Only the nurse and Friar Lawrence know about it. Then there is lots of fighting because Tybalt wants revenge against Romeo. Tybalt and Mercutio get killed. Romeo gets banished from the city; Verona. Juliet finds out that her one sweet love will not be allowed to see her. So she drinks Friar Lawrence’s poison, which makes her sleep for 42 hours. Romeo comes back and finds out Juliet is dead. So he kills himself to join Juliet in heaven. Juliet awakes, finds Romeo dead and stabs herself in anguish that her plan with Friar Lawrence did not work out in the end.
The main themes of the play are love, hate and fate. They all make the story sad and tradegic.
Act 1 scene 5 is a very important scene in the play. It is a major scene because Romeo and Juliet see each other for the first time and the conflict between the two families ends up being the main reason why they both killed themselves.
In this scene the Servants have got to be busy preparing for the party and to be jolly, and wearing chefs clothes (white).
His name is Capulet; he is the father of Juliet. He is the main Capulet and can be very stern and firm with people who are misbehaving. His key actions are creating a party atmosphere in Act1 scene5 and his argument with Tybalt.
Key lines spoken are, “Welcome, gentleman! Ladies”. This shows that Capulet is creating a party atmosphere.
“Content thee, gentle coz, let him alone.” This shows that Capulet doesn’t Tybalt to ruin the party by picking a fight with Romeo; who Tybalt has spotted as a Montague.
“Go to, go to, you are a saucy boy.” This shows that Capulet angry at Tybalt for wanting to start a fight with Romeo.
Capulet’s characteristics are; he is tolerant, he will not tolerate people like Tybalt. He is determined to be obeyed. Capulet is joyful, he is very good at creating the party atmosphere. He has a fiery temper, when he is arguing with Tybalt. For example, “Go to, go to, you are a saucy boy”.
Capulet’s motivation is he wants to show a good impression for Paris because Paris and Juliet are planning to marry. So this is important for Capulet.