SAMPSON Nay, as they dare. I will bite my thumb at them, which is a
disgrace to them if they bear it.
ABRAHAM Do you bite your thumb at us, sir?
SAMPSON I do bite my thumb, sir
ABRAHAM Do you bite your thumb at us, sir?
SAMPSON (Aside to GREGORY) Is the law of our side if I say “Ay”?
GREGORY (Aside to SAMPSON) No.
SAMPSON (Replying to ABRAHAM) No, sir, I do not bite my thumb at
you, sir, but I bite my thumb, sir.
We as the audience can almost see a fight brewing on stage. The Montagues stay composed and peaceful while the Capulets mock them using “sir” acerbically and insulting them repeatedly as if urging them to strike, and again … this raises the tension even more! We are only about two minutes into the production and already turmoil has brewed to a level that you probably wouldn’t find in many plays at all! Enter Benvolio who attempts to separate the two;
BENVOLIO Part, fools!
Put up your swords; you know not what you do.
When this figure of (we presume) authority attempts to settle the four men, the audience settle as (again) we presume that the fight is over. Enter Tybalt! This man immediately starts to argue and challenge Benvolio without us even knowing what his name is or who’s side he is on!
TYBALT Turn thee, Benvolio; look upon thy death
After we think this cannot get any worse, we have an officer and four armed citizens. After this we have both members of each family, both of which are prepared to fight, and both being held back by their wives. Now we have thirteen people on one stage. Even with the turmoil going on, with comments said, the audience can get a good idea on the problem. We instantly see this stop as the Prince enters with his train. We also immediately detect an air of authority around him. He explains a lot in his speech to the Montagues and Capulets
PRINCE By thee, old Capulet, and Montague,
Have thrice disturbed the quiet of our streets,
…….. If ever you disturb our streets again,
Your lives shall pay the forfeit of the piece.
This proves that the feud has been going on for a long time and must be serious if death is the final option.
I will now pay specific attention to Act 5, Scene 3, and Lines 44 to the End with the suicide of Romeo and Juliet. I will be making references to other parts of the play to validate my points.
I will attempt to reinforce my view that Shakespeare uses action; with each action comes a consequence with many twists and turns in-between.
We open with Romeo arriving at the tomb, knocking down the gate with a crowbar. While we are feeling sorry for Romeo, we see trouble brewing as Paris is paying his respects to Juliet.
The desperate Romeo acts spontaneously, out of anger and despair and challenges Paris, not knowing this man who stands at his wife’s tomb. Paris accepts Romeo’s challenge, again misunderstanding Romeo’s intensions.
Paris, believing that that this man is there to vandalise Juliet’s tomb, does not know that Romeo (ironically) is married to Juliet. After Romeo kills Paris, he finds out who this mysterious man is realizes the truth. Out of guilt, Romeo grants Paris’s final wish and lays him next to Juliet. Romeo steps to Juliet and makes a speech prolonging the tension of the audience. Shakespeare affects us using dramatic irony. We, as the audience are practically screaming at Romeo “She’s Alive! Don’t kill yourself you fool, just wait a bit longer and she’ll wake up!” This is happening while Romeo is commenting on the fact that Juliet doesn’t look dead and that her cheeks are rosy and she looks like she is only sleeping.
ROMEO A lightning before death! O, how may I
Call this a lightning? O my love, my wife!
Death, that hath sucked the honey of thy breath,
Hath had no power yet upon thy beauty.
Thou art not conquered; beauty’s ensign yet
Is crimson in thy lips and in thy cheeks,
And death’s pale flag has not advanced there.
This dramatic irony is very effective to have the audience on the edge of their seat. A Romeo turns to Tybalt who is lying in the tomb next to Juliet covered in a bloody sheet and displays his sadness about the events that have unfurled.
ROMEO Tybalt, liest thou there in thy bloody sheet?
O, what more favour can I do to thee
Than with that hand that cut thy youth in twain
To sunder his that was thine enemy?
This is carrying on with the sad emotional feeling of the play that Shakespeare obviously wants to portray. To much dismay to the audience, Romeo finally takes the poison, and the audience cannot believe it “Romeo is dead” the audience want to cry out. Already the happy ending we are hoping and expecting for has been shattered into tiny pieces. The friar then arrives just too late to save Romeo. Already we can see the pandemonium breaking out as the Friar starts to panic as he sees the two dead bodies.
FRIAR And steeped in blood? Ah, what an unkind hour
Is guilty of this lamentable chance
When we as the audience believe it can’t get any worse… Juliet wakes up!
The Friar begins to rush as he hears the watch coming. He hurriedly explains that Romeo and Paris are dead and that he can hide her away in a nunnery.
FRIAR And Paris too. Come, I’ll dispose of thee
Among a sisterhood of holy nuns.
With the Friar desperate to run and panicking, Juliet declines. With this, the friar runs away. This cowardly action could cause the audience to change their opinion of the man, due to the actions of him throughout the production leading to the events of this tragedy.
The audience watch in disbelief and astonishment as Juliet attempts desperately to kill herself with the poison on Romeo’s lips. Failing this, Juliet stabs herself in a rush as the watchmen come to the tomb. With the watchmen arriving, they call for the two feuding
As if a repeat of the opening scene the prince enters. The air of authority is evident around him as he demands to know what is going on
PRINCE What misadventure is so early up,
That calls our person from our morning rest?
As if on cue (ironically it is on cue) the Capulets arrive and see what has happened. Again on cue, enter the Montagues. With the turmoil building as we know the tension between the two families, the Friar is brought in and confesses everything. We start to see the joint mourning as the price explains that the deaths could have been avoided if there was not a feud. This could have been linked with the fact that the prince said that if something happened again then they would pay with their lives. The Montagues and Capulets realize their wrongdoing and end the feud.
Shakespeare use of dramatic impact is highly important as my point has been proven, each action has a consequence. Even though Romeo and Juliet are dead, the audience are left gloomy there is some good out of it as the feud is ended because of them. This would leave the audience in a state of mixed reactions.