Act 1 Scene 5 begins with a light-hearted, informal feel, already displaying a contrast to what had previously been seen at the end of Act 1 Scene 4, where Romeo spoke of death and sorrow, ‘ , which created a dark gloomy atmosphere and then suddenly we get the excitement and buzz of the Capulet ball. The scene starts with the jokey banter of the servingman clearing away the banquet table to make room for dancing. The chatter is informal, we can tell because they used, ‘thou’ to address one another, this was slang, a casual term, showing that they were happy, friendly just generally light-hearted. We can assume that they had been specially employed for the ball as later on in the scene one of the servants doesn’t know, when asked, who Juliet is. He probably knew she was the daughter of Lord and Lady Capulet but didn’t know what she looked like.
This light-hearted, joyful, cheery atmosphere continues as Capulet in a good-humoured friendly manner welcomes his guests, reminiscing and joking with them, ‘…Ladies that have their toes unplagu’d with corns will walk bout with you.’ He appears very approachable as he invites and encourages ladies to dance. This is a change from the Capulet we saw earlier in the play. In Act 1 Scene 1 we see Capulet to be a fiery, bad tempered character as he calls out for his sword to enter into the fight in the market place, ‘Give me my long sword.’ But in the beginning of this scene he’s friendlier and calmer adding to the jolly atmosphere. Capulet also makes references to there not being enough light, and there needing to be more, ‘More light, you knaves’ this was for the sake of the audience as the play would most likely have been performed during the day, so this was a way of making sure the audience understood the ball was taking place at night. We also see Capulet reminiscing with his cousin Capulet about their past dancing days, showing recognition that they know they are getting older and are aware of the passing of time, ‘For you and I are past our dancing days.’ They even make references to past friends who are now dead, ‘Tis since the nuptial of Lucentio.’ Reminiscing is something we also see done by the Nurse with Juliet in later scenes as she talks with her about her dead daughter Susan.
Meanwhile elsewhere we can see Romeo seeing for the first time, his true love Juliet, giving a change in atmosphere. The previous jokey, light-hearted feel to the scene becomes far more intense and deep as Romeo first realises his love for Juliet. His language is genuine and loving as he describes Juliet in a soliloquy to the audience. He uses imagery of light and colour, ‘she doth teach the torches to burn bright!’ The use of light imagery comes up in virtually every conversation with Juliet. This is because light was seen to represent beauty and purity indicating that Romeo’s love for Juliet is pure and genuine ways in which he didn’t speak of his supposed previous love Rosaline. When speaking about Rosaline, a lady he thought he loved, earlier in the play, he spoke about her confusing him and the misery and heart ache it was causing him to feel. He used lots of oxymorons, ‘ ‘ and ‘ ‘ showing just how confused he was. But his now more mature and heart felt approach to love shows that Romeo has made progress and developed maturity. The love he feels for Juliet seems to be far less in his head and far more from the heart, before he seemed very selfish and self-centred when talking about Rosaline as he moaned about his own mixed up feelings but with Juliet he concentrates far more on her and her beauty rather than talking all about himself.
After seeing the light-hearted atmosphere and loving soliloquy form Romeo we than see a dramatic change as Tybalt realises Romeo, a Montague, has gate-crashed the Capulet ball. Tybalt is full of hatred and resentment as he make his discovery displaying this hate as he demands his sword, ‘Fetch me my rapier boy!’ The atmosphere has now completely changes and we see for the first time in this scene the theme of hate as opposed to the love we just witnessed form Romeo. Tybalt’s intentions are to commit violence as he believes Romeo to be trying to annoy and mock them and he appears to have no qualms about murdering Romeo, ‘To strike him dead I hold not a sin.’ Another indication towards Tybalt becoming violent. Tybalt’s behaviour seems to be picking up where it left off previously after the fight in the market place in Act 1 Scene 1 where he displayed the same dramatic hate and bitterness, As I hater hell, and Montagues and thee.’ When Tybalt goes to report of Romeo’s presence and his intentions to Capulet he is shocked at the reaction, as Capulet seems unconcerned and merely tries to calm down Tyblat and tell him to leave Romeo alone. Capulet uses informal friendly words, ‘gentle coz’ as he tries to tame Tybalt's fury. Capulet talks about hearing of Romeo to be a pleasant youth, ‘a virtuous and well-govern’d youth’ and to let him alone. However, Capulet’s attempts are in vain as Tybalt continues to rant of his hatred for Romeo. Tybalt’s character appears to be very much a stereotypical Italian of that time; fiery hot-headed etc. Tybalt’s inability to be obedient to Capulet’s wishes to ignore Romeo fail, causing the bad-tempered Capulet to return as he loses his temper with Tybalt. We see a change in Capulet’s language as he moves from the informal, friendly use of ‘thou’, to the sterner more formal repeated use of ‘you.’ This change in the use of language communicates to the audience that Capulet really has lost his temper and has become much more serious. He begins hurling insults at Tybalt, ‘you are a saucy boy’ as he says he’ll ruin the ball and how he will not let him spoil the evening, continuing to use 'you' in his language. Eventually as Tybalt shows no signs of calming down and leaving the situation to rest Capulet throws him out. As Tybalt leaves his anger seems fiercer than ever as he hurls insults back at Capulet, promising of future confrontation and that its far from over, a way in which Shakespeare tried to keep the audience in suspense. And we do later see in, Act 3 Scene 1, that Tybalt’s promises are indeed sincere as he reaps his revenge.
Once Tybalt has made his threats and left once again attention is turned towards the two lovers and the atmosphere, once again, changes, this time, back to the deep intense feel before the hate from Tybalt. Romeo and Juliet begin to converse with a sonnet to express their love to one another. They share the fourteen line sonnet which is almost always written with rhyming couplets, ‘…unworthiest hand, This holy shrine, the gentle sin is this, my lips two blushing pilgrims ready stand…’ However, there are exceptions. During the sonnet they use a lot of religious imagery, ‘holy palmers’ kiss’, ‘use in prayer’ and ‘good pilgrim.’ This is another way in which they display that their love is pure and genuine. The sonnet ends and they kiss for the first time.
Romeo and Juliet then begin another sonnet but are interrupted by the arrival of the Nurse informing Juliet that her mother wants her and Juliet leaves. The Nurse’s arrival brings them back to reality with a jolt, causing another change in atmosphere as the Nurse informs Romeo that Juliet is in fact a Capulet and he realises for the first that their love isn’t going to be as smooth as they’d hoped and will in fact be hindered at every turn with complications as they are supposed to be enemies and come from rival families. Its as if the theme of hate is interrupting the theme of love and spoiling what could have been a happy ending. The Nurse begins to tell Romeo of how marrying Juliet would mean wealth and riches, ‘he that can lay hold on her shall have the chinks’, in a way corrupting their love and ruining the image of it being pure and beautiful. Benvolio comes to tell a distraught and anxious Romeo that its time to leave. Then, once again we return to the light-hearted atmosphere of Capulet saying goodbye to his guests, making yet more references to the light, reminding the audience that its supposed to be night, ‘more torches here…’ and guests begin to part, the ball has finished.
As the guests leave Juliet begins to try to find out information about Romeo from the Nurse as she is yet to even know his name. She is, however, cautious not to let the Nurse know that she is in love with Romeo and so begins by casually asking about other men that attended the ball before asking about Romeo, the answer to which she is most concerned. Juliet orders the Nurse to ask his name, and before she even knows that he’s a Montague, she is already, even at this early stage, thinking that their love won’t be pure. Her fears are confirmed when the Nurse informs her the he’s Romeo and a Montague, ‘his name is Romeo, and a Montague.’ Juliet is as Romeo was, distraught and shocked at this news, ‘my only love sprung from my only hate.’ She then makes the premonition that she will die before she should, ‘by some vile forfeit of untimely death.’ Another similar premonition is made later on in the play by Juliet again of death, in Act 3 Scene 5 as Romeo leaves her after their last night together, ‘Me thinks I see thee now, thou art so low as one dead in the bottom of a tomb.’ The atmosphere of joy and love is lost and their love is now mixed with the hate their conflicting families share. The themes of love and hate are beginning to entwine. The scene ends with a chorus to summarise the events that have happened, this is for the purpose of the audience and yet again a reference is made to death, continuing with the theme of death and love, ‘now old desire doth in his death-bed lie.’
William Shakespeare’s immense success with Romeo and Juliet is due to the fact that the two themes love and hate compliment each other and collide giving the play, drama, excitement, tragedy and suspense. This has been recognised in years since and the idea of star-crossed lovers and fated love has been used time and time again in films, musicals e.g. West Side Story, and even soaps. Its an idea that is popular with both young and old which is why Romeo and Juliet managed to remain fresh in people’s minds two centuries later, with modern adaptations and performances taking place still even today. Its one of Shakespeare’s best loved and admired pieces, widely enjoyed by all with elements that can appeal to everyone, young and old.
