Romeo is quite a conventional lover and Shakespeare shows the audience how he has many crushes, which is quite similar to today as teenagers have crushes now. However, a man of today would not woo a woman in Romeo's way and may view him as over romantic. However, a sixteenth century audience would view this as normal, as love scenes often contained more eloquent language than is used in today's love plays. However, a twentieth century audience would still view Romeo's acting as romantic in the same as a sixteenth century audience, as Shakespeare has used language that is very heart felt which makes the audience want to identify more with the characters and the play as a whole. The poetic and romantic imagery Shakespeare includes in Romeo's speeches, show how gentle and caring Romeo can be, whereas shorter and more intense words are used in Tybalt's speeches to show how brash and violent his character is.
Tybalt's character is shown in many ways. The following quote is a very good summary of Tybalt's character in this scene:
'now, by the stock and honour of my kin,
To strike him dead I hold it not a sin'
This quote shows that Tybalt is going to be one of the characters in the play to cause riots and fights. The audience's reaction to this will be one of anxiety, as they will wonder if anything bad will happen due to his violent temper. This quote shows how Tybalt, like Romeo, acts on impulse and will do anything for his family. Tybalt often talks in rhyming couplets, which is shown above, just as Romeo does. Both of their speeches are very dramatic, hence the poetic verse, but the meaning of their speeches vary a great deal. Romeo talks of love and passion and the couplets symybolise him and Juliet together. However, Tybalt talks of violence and death, which is just as dramatic, but his couplets symbolise him and his family. Their characters together again emphasizes the love and hate theme Shakespeare is trying to present in this play. This makes the audience think that although the characters of Romeo and Tybalt seem very different, what they do in the course of the play is the same for both of them- it is what they believe in.
In the quote above, Shakespeare has used quite strong sounding words such as 'strike'. This makes the audience feel that Tybalt has a very forceful character and like Romeo, he is very spontaneous and only thinks of one thing, which is how he can retain his family honour. The word 'dead' is often used in Tybalt's speeches and Shakespeare includes many insults and abrupt sounding words such as 'villain', 'foe' and 'spite'. This makes him seem even more evil and dangerous, as he wants to fight and kill people. Also, many of Tybalt's words are monosyllabic which gives more power to the words that are being said. When the audience watch the play, this will help to show Tybalt's violent and brash character. Although Tybalt is only trying to do well for his family, the audience will see him as a trouble making character and will grow to dislike him due to the offensive language that is used for his character.
A twentieth century audience would view Tybalt as a very violent character due to the number of sword fights he engages in and also his attitude that he wants to kill anyone he dislikes. However, in the days this was written, it was usual for people to challenge others to duels, and deaths due to dislike between families were not uncommon. Tybalt is similar to the teenager of today and undergoes many mood swings and is very concerned with his pride. The audience knows that Tybalt is very dangerous when he gets angry due to the word choice Shakespeare uses in his speeches. For example, Tybalt describes the meeting with Romeo at the ball making his 'flesh tremble'. These are quite disturbing words and Shakespeare has used them to show the audience that Tybalt is a very vengeful and powerful character. Many of Tybalt's words and phrases make the sound of an 's' in this scene. The words 'patience perforce' makes the audience feel uncomfortable as they sound as though they are being 'spitted' out, which makes them view Tybalt as an even more unpleasant character. This makes his speeches sound as though he is hissing. People hiss at people who are unfavorable and this makes the audience think that Tybalt is a disagreeable character and so they take a disliking to him.
Tybalt speaks in iambic pentameter which makes the audience think of him as quite an angry person, as when he speaks, the stressed words are often the horrid and cruel words. For example, in this quote 'It fits when such a villain is a guest', the words villain and guest seem particularly stressed which emphasizes the point that Tybalt is trying to get across. This makes his character seem very harsh and brutal as the insults and cruel words stand out more. Tybalt stands out to the audience as being a very evil and unkind character all of the time, in comparison to Lord Capulet who can be pleasant at one time, then extremely disagreeable.
The audience learns of Lord Capulet's split personality from their first sighting in this scene. When Tybalt brings the presence of Romeo to his attention, Capulet talks to him in a harsh tone and uses words such as 'princox' and 'goodman boy', but then continues to praise the guests in a very gracious manner by addressing them as 'my hearts'. When Capulet uses words such as 'hearts' and 'cheerly' the audience assume that Capulet has a gentle temperament and is good-natured. These words have a gentle sound quality and make Capulet sound kind. He knows that Romeo has a good reputation in Verona. 'And, to say truth, Verona brags of him, To be a virtuous and well govern'd youth'. This is not the behavior of a man determined to bring down another family. Capulet appears reasonable, sociable, and benevolent.
However, when he speaks to Tybalt, he uses many insults and speaks with a harsh tone. For example, he uses insults such as 'saucy boy', 'princox' and 'goodman boy'. These were serious insults in those times and Shakespeare uses so many insults in Capulet's speech to show that although he can be a very compassionate gentleman, he can also be very unkind and obnoxious when people disobey him. Shakespeare also makes the words Capulet say meaningful and harsh. For example 'For shame I'll make you quiet' shows how short tempered Capulet is and how he acts on impulse. Capulet still wants to be young and Shakespeare shows this by making him say slang phrases and words. Capulet uses words such as 'coz', which makes him seem as though he is trying to fit in with the youth instead of wanting to grow up. The language used for the character of Capulet makes the audience believe that he is only interested in his reputation. He talks about 'my guests' and he asks 'am I the master here, or you?' which shows how he thinks that he is the important one and that he owns everything and no one should disobey him. However, due to the gentle manner in which he addresses his guests, the audience thinks that Capulet is a typical host and wants everybody to enjoy themselves. An audience of today would view Lord Capulet in the same way as an audience then, as they could identify with the fact of keeping guests content and preventing chaos and arguments occurring. Similarly to Romeo and Tybalt, Capulet sticks to the same way of speaking which shows that their personality does not change. This would worry the audience as they have seen in this scene how hurtful and angry Capulet can get, and so would be cautious of him as his temperament could change further along in the play.
These impressions in this scene are very important, as this is where the audience will make their mind up about the characters and the responses to the characters in this scene will influence them throughout the rest of the play. Romeo, Capulet and Tybalt all act on impulse and do not tend to think about the consequences of their actions. All three of these characters firmly believe in something and will do anything to prevent change or harm to the one thing they believe in. The characters however, become more dynamic in this scene and this is due to the unexpected actions the characters engage in, therefore changing the audience's reactions.
The impressions of the characters made on the audience in Act 1 scene 5 are very important, as first impressions tend to determine how the audience will view the characters in the rest of the play. In this scene, the audience views Romeo as a young teenager who has become besotted by Juliet and the idea of love. They feel this through the eloquent language Shakespeare has used. In Romeo's speeches, he uses many religious and natural images to show his love for Juliet, such as ' Beauty too rich for use, for earth too dear!'. This quote shows how he relates beauty to nature and the earth. This innocent view of Romeo is altered somewhat throughout the rest of the play. In this scene Romeo's view of love is changed as at the beginning of play, Shakespeare includes words such as 'grief', 'fire' and 'tears' in Romeo's speeches about love. The audience's reactions to these words are that they think Romeo thinks love is mad and a cruel thing. In this scene however, the audience's reactions change due to Romeo's sighting of Juliet. Romeo begins to use languages such as 'bright', 'blessed' and 'rich' which shows that when he falls in love, he views love in a different way. The audience's reaction to this would be that Romeo has changed due to falling in love. The audience would therefore expect that Romeo's character has changed in this scene due to the softer and gentle language he uses. The audience is reminded of this change in Romeo in Act 2 when Mercutio comments that he has become 'sociable'.
Further on in the play Romeo begins to grow up and takes matters into his own hands and becomes quite a violent person. We know this as he kills Tybalt and lets 'fire-eyed fury' be his conduct. When Romeo kills Tybalt, he changes from the gentle and caring Romeo to one that will do anything to get his own way. This reflects Tybalt's character in Act 1 scene 5, which scares the audience, as they know what a violent and disliked character Tybalt was.
Further on in the play, the audience react slightly different to Romeo. In Act 1 Scene 5 they view Romeo as a young boy due to his view on life and the way he talks about his crush on Juliet with decorative and exaggerated language. However, later in the play, when Romeo decides to 'defy' the stars and begins to talk as though Juliet and him are one, the audience's reaction is one of realising that Romeo has grown up. The innocence the audience perceive of Romeo in this scene changes during the rest of the play, especially when he decides to take his life into his own hands. The reaction of the audience when Romeo decides to kill himself is one of disbelief as it shows he is not innocent as he was in this scene. However, the audience knew that Romeo would continue to pursue his love for Juliet due to his reactions to her in Act 1 Scene 5 and his impetuosity, so in that way, Romeo has not changed.
Due to the audiences impression of Lord Capulet in Act 1 Scene 5, the audience view Lord Capulet as being aggressive throughout the rest of the play. Prior to Act 1 Scene 5, the audience reacted to Capulet as though he is a kind-hearted man who has the interests of his daughter at heart. This is because He talks to Paris about getting 'her heart' and the audience believes that Capulet is a compassionate man. When Juliet goes against her father's will (like Tybalt) and says she does not wish to marry Paris, his bad temper emerges and this results in the audience viewing him as an offensive man. This is especially illustrated by the language choice Shakespeare uses at the time. He uses harsh 't' sounds in Capulet's words, such as 'wretch', 'not' and 'itch'. This makes the audience believe that Capulet is not the compassionate father figure they once thought he was, but a contemptible, arrogant man.
The audience's reaction to Tybalt does not change a lot after Act 1 Scene 5, but the audience may understand the reason behind Tybalt's actions. Before this scene, Tybalt is causes riots and fighting. The audience reacts to Tybalt in a bad way as Shakespeare includes words such as 'hell' and 'hate' in his short speeches which makes the audience view Tybalt as an unpleasant character. This reaction begins to alter in act 1 Scene 5, as although Tybalt is still seen as a vicious and violent boy, the audience finds out that he only fights due to the 'honour of my kin'. This shows that Tybalt feels strongly about the pride of his family and so they begin to understand his actions. The audience may not agree with Tybalt fighting, but they begin to realise that it is only due to his family. On meeting Romeo before his death, his language begins to soften and his word use is softer including words such as 'peace' and 'love'. Shakespeare has chosen these words so the audience will view Tybalt as a softer character and remind them that all though his family does not justify the violence he performs, he is still a teenager at heart.
This scene is very important to the play as a whole. Firstly, this scene sets the picture and establishes some of the main characters. This scene will give the audience their first impressions of characters and so this scene will help them to decide how they wish to view the characters in the rest of the play. Furthermore, this scene is very important as it shows the audience what the main themes of the play are. There is a sharp contrast between love and hate in this scene. At the beginning of this scene, Romeo uses fantastic romantic imagery in his speech and talks constantly about 'beauty' and 'love'. The audience is then aware that one of the main themes that run through the play is obviously love. However, almost immediately after the audience have become accustomed to the idea of love, the opposite idea is brought in - hate. This is when Tybalt begins to talk about 'dead' and fighting with people. Then, Romeo and Juliet kiss and the theme of love is brought up again as they talk about how they 'kiss' and worship each other. However, directly after this happens, Juliet finds out Romeo is a Montague and talks about how her 'only love sprung' from her 'only hate'. Shakespeare alternates the themes in this scene to remind the audience that Romeo and Juliet may be in love together, but there is hate and arguments around them. When the audience watch the play, they will feel as though they are part of the love scenes and when they see the arguments, they would feel disgusted, just as Romeo and Juliet do. This idea of alternating love with hate is echoed further on in the play. In act 2 scene 5, Shakespeare brings Romeo and Juliet to get married, and then in Act 3 scene 1, there is a fight, which results in Mercutio and Tybalt's death. This shows how Shakespeare alternates between love and hate. Shakespeare does this to show the audience that there cannot be love without hate.
The scenes prior to Act 1 Scene 5 set the scene and introduce the important characters rather than introduce the main themes of the play. When the audience first watch the play, they will not know what genre the play is going to be, as in the first scenes, there is humour, love, hate, violence, loyalty, fate and conflict. However, in act 1 scene 5, due to the obvious acting and speeches of Tybalt and Romeo, the audience will begin to realise that love and hate are two of the most important ideas in this play. Act 1 Scene 5 is very important to the play as a whole due to the fact that the first evidence of the themes of love and hate are shown in great deal in this play. The audience are then able to realise that during the rest of the play, there is going to be much romantic imagery and romance, but there is also going to be a lot of heart breaking action and violence. This scene gives the audience an insight into the fact that they play concentrates on love and hate. Also, by alternating the love and hate, it shows the audience that Romeo and Juliet's relationship is going to be impossible due to the feud which is shown in this scene.
This scene is important too as the audience gets to see how the characters are extremely different, but are also very similar. All three characters do things due to certain beliefs, which are found out in this scene. Without this scene, the audience would not fully understand the characters and their actions.
To conclude, Shakespeare uses language very well to establish the characters of Romeo, Tybalt and Lord Capulet in this scene. Soft words are used in Romeo's speech to show how gentle he can be, whilst Tybalt has harsh sounding words to show that he is a violent character. Shakespeare also establishes the characters by using certain phrases within their language that shows the audience what they think of and how they act. This scene is important to the play as a whole as it shows the audiences some of the main themes of the play that will help them to expect what is going to happen in the remainder of the play. This scene also defines the characters of Romeo, Tybalt and Lord Capulet and shows the audience the other sides they have. This scene plants the thought in the audience's head that the character's personalities can be good and bad. This scene will help justify the actions that the characters do in the rest of the play. Overall, this scene helps to show the audience the true meaning of the play and helps justify the actions of the main characters throughout the rest of the play. Shakespeare includes this scene so that the audience can become closer to the characters and identify more with them, as they know what they are capable of. Shakespeare focuses carefully on the language and presentation of these characters, which is why 'Romeo and Juliet still' remains a timeless love story.
