Examine how Shakespeare uses key features of language to create tension, drama and atmosphere in Act 1 scene 5 of Romeo and Juliet

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English coursework        Jack Basford         Mrs Smeeth

Examine how Shakespeare uses key features of language to create tension, drama and atmosphere in Act 1 scene 5 of Romeo and Juliet

        Romeo and Juliet is a play set in a city called Verona in Italy, about two “star crossed lovers”, who fall in love at first sight, Unfortunately  Romeo, is a member of the Montague family who are sworn enemies of the Capulet household, to which Juliet belongs. The path of true love is not going to be as straight as the two teenage lovers would wish for. It is a play with many twists and turns, not knowing what will be lurking around the next corner. Ignoring the fact that they should be enemies, they try to further their love for one another, embarking on a torturous path, Juliet had the heart rending decision of which road to take; the one laid out for her by her father, which appears to be straight forward, but not what she truly desires, to marry Paris who is eminently suitable. Alternatively, Juliet could take the path with Romeo, and disobey her parents, travelling a dangerous and twisted journey.

        The scene that I will be focusing on is Act 1 Scene 5, when the two destined lovers first lay eyes upon each other. They meet at a Capulet masked ball, where Romeo and his associates have turned up to, much to the fury of Juliet’s cousin Tybalt, “Prince of Cats“. Tybalt is well known in the city to find enjoyment in brawls. So, this spells out a torrid time to come for Romeo. However this is not the main aspect of this scene. This scene is very important for later events in the play because,  here you really get the idea how much these two people want each other, and what they are willing to do get it. It also confirms the pure hatred Tybalt has for all Montague’s, and now especially Romeo. Tybalt’s anger is shown towards the end of the scene when he makes a speech about “Now seeming sweet convert to bitterest gall.”, which means “What is good for now, will change into a curse”.

        First of all, William Shakespeare is well known for his use of imagery when he was writing plays in the 15 and 1600’s. Imagery was needed more so at that time than plays would do now, because there were not any proper sets, there would just be a curtain towards the back of the stage. So to create a setting he would need to do it using imagery through his script. He could do this by referring to things which were not there e.g. the moon, a valley, things in the distance. Shakespeare would tell the audience whether the setting  was in the evening, morning or afternoon using this descriptive technique. In that period  all of the actors were men they took both male and female roles, another reason why imagery was hugely important.

        The scene is started off with a group of servants, who are frantically trying to get everything sorted for the party, with the first servant (Peter) telling the others to do their jobs, and getting quite agitated over the whereabouts of fellow servant Potpan. You can see that Peter is getting more and more angry because, he is delivering short sharp orders to the staff and also almost everything he says is ended in either a question mark or an exclamation mark e.g. “Where's Potpan, that he helps not to take away? He shift a trencher? He scrape a trencher!”. This translates into “Where's Potpan? Why isn't he helping us clear the table? He should be moving and scraping plates!”. This shows great use of imagery, because it plants a rushed frantic display atmosphere in the audiences head even though they don’t see any decoration. After the servants have left, Lord Capulet, Lady Capulet, Juliet, Tybalt, Nurse and the guests enter. Lord Capulet performs a speech, which Shakespeare has used to set the scene brilliantly. He uses Lord Capulet’s character to set a happy relaxed, scene by making a joke at the beginning, about the women who refuse to dance obviously have corns on their feet, when he says “Ladies that have their toes unplagu’d with corns will walk a bout with you.— Will now deny to dance?”. After his introduction to the evening, with his unmistakably brilliant joke, Lord Capulet makes a point of there being a time when he could wear a mask and still charm a lady, and how that time is gone, and then he starts the music and eggs everyone on to dance especially the ladies, but tells his cousin to sit down for they are “past their dancing days“. This whole speech creates a relaxed welcoming mood for all of the guests. This is one way in which Shakespeare creates an atmosphere within the audience.

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        Now we move onto, what I believe to be, one of the most important moments in the play. The first acquaintance (which the audience has been expecting, due to the Prologue) of the two inevitable “lovebirds“. Shakespeare again creates an atmosphere through the actors, however this time he uses Romeo to create a light romantic feel. He does this using small words and phrases, such as: “she teaches torches to burn bright“, “she hangs upon the cheek of night” (referring to her as a star), “a rich jewel“, “a snowy dove“. Some of the phrases used are metaphors. All of ...

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