“Will now deny to dance? She that makes dainty,
She I’ll swear hath corns. Am I come ye now?”
Meaning people would suggest women are infected and would be embarrassed and ignored by young men. The example shows a contrast being the young and old.
Capulet remembers his old days of wearing masks and attracting ladies by romantic stories. During his speech, he speeds up the party and the pace by adding music, making space for his guests to dance and expresses the humidity of the room. The party contrasts the old and young. He shows this by saying,
“That I have worn a visor and could tell
A whispering tale in a fair lady’s ear,
Such as would please, ‘tis gone, ‘tis gone, ‘tis gone.
You are welcome gentlemen. Come, musicians, play.”
Lines 21-24 shows Capulet announce this quote, to introduce and add music to the scene.
As Capulet and Cousin Capulet are surrounded by youths, this is more lighthearted humour as he jokes about age. But are clearly old men. At the same time, Capulet talks about his past love, it occurs exactly at the same time that Romeo meets and talks with Juliet.
Moreover, We are then introduced in to the scene; we first notice that Romeo uses a soliloquy. His poetic language shows that he is also highly educated and among their wealthy society. His speech is different from the other characters because he is more romantic and the pace slows down dramatically. The slower pace also shows us his feelings about love at first sight. This is another major shift in the atmosphere.
Dramatic Irony occurs when he says the following lines;
“Did my heart love till now? For swear it sight
For I ne’er saw true beauty till this night’’
Lines 51-52
This is because we previously knew that he was desperately in love with Rosaline and swore to love no one else. Shakespeare uses different examples of poetic devices to emphasise romance. He uses rhyming couplets e.g.; ‘bright’ and ‘night’, ‘ear’ and ‘dear’, ‘crows’ and ‘shows’ etc.
“This holy shrine, the gentle sin is this,
My lips, two blushing pilgrims, ready stand
To smooth that rough touch with a tender kiss.”
These give rhythm to the poem in sequence. He uses simile to describe Juliet, the prettiest girl among all the women.
“As a rich jewel in Ethiop’s ear’’ and
“She doth teach the torches to burn bright’’
The final lines of Romeo’s soliloquy, lines 49-50, show us his confidence and desperation for further physical contact with Juliet. The audience observes everyone’s excitement, a variety of movement and dancing. In contrast, Romeo is standing still, with a fixed stare at Juliet. It shows us his adoration for her.
The romantic mood is then interrupted by tension, created by Tybalt, who is full of anger. Shakespeare deliberately times Tybalt’s entrance to the scene, to remind the audience that the Montague’s and Capulet’s are enemies and love should not occur between them. The pace then quickens and the atmosphere becomes tense and full of suspense, as it shows the audience the difficulties of this relationship
When Tybalt is introduced to the scene, he distinguishes his enemy’s voice, Romeo. Tybalt is outraged & infuriated by a Montague at Capulet’s party. Capulet arrives to hear the news from Tybalt and tends to be calm about the situation. He is dismissive of Tybalt’s concern and instructs him to quieten down, in lines 69-72
“Therefore be patient, take no note of him;
It is my will, the which if thou respect,
show a fair presence’’
Yet, Tybalt still disagrees with Capulet.
“I’ll not endure him’’
This arouses Capulet’s anger and he becomes hot-tempered and urges to continue with the party and forget about fighting and his enemies.
“He shall be endured’’
Capulet then lets Tybalt know who is in charge. He shows this in line 77, by saying,
“Am I the master here, or you? Go to!”
Moreover, in lines 92-105, Romeo and Juliet share a sonnet of love, as they speak for the first time. The pace slows down dramatically and rhyming couplets are used. They share their love and feelings for each other. Romeo starts the sonnet, which is continued by Juliet and ended by Romeo in a rhyming couplet. Shakespeare shows this sonnet as an instant attraction from Romeo to Juliet.
Shakespeare uses religious imagery to symbolise how Romeo worships Juliet, and how she is his idol. Romeo expresses how loyal he is to the shrine of Juliet. Romeo describes himself as a pilgrim, travelling from far to meet the shrine that is Juliet. He compares her “saint lips” to the most sacred shrine, from lines 93-94,
“my unworthiest hand
This holy shrine’’
Juliet describes her hand as a shrine as well, in lines 98-99,
“For saints have hands that pilgrims’ hand do touch,
And palm to palm is holy palmers’ kiss’’
This quote shows us that Juliet feels the same way as Romeo does. Romeo understands her feelings towards him and desires more.
During the sonnet we realise Romeo recognises Juliet as a goddess and worships her. He also uses religious imagery to combine many religious beliefs, in line 102,
“ O then, dear saint, Let lips do what hand do.’’
Further, on in the scene, the Nurse disturbs Romeo and Juliet’s sonnet. The Nurse breaks the romantic mood and creates tension. The Nurse’s timing to enter the scene is crucial, as the audience wants to continue with the romantic mood and forgets about the hatred between the families. This causes tension and problems for the future plot of Romeo and Juliet’s romance, with Nurse’s continuous interruptions. The Nurse’s interruptions are symbolic warning of the future difficulties, when we know Romeo and Juliet are enemies by name.
In lines 117 to line 118, dramatic irony is used, as Romeo discovers that Juliet is a Capulet, when Romeo is the enemy, a Montague. To Romeo’s dismay, he learns that she is a Capulet.
He cannot believe that this is true and loses hope and confidence in their future.
He describes his life paying back to an old enemy; this is another hint to future romance and troubles,
“Is she a Capulet?
O dear account! My life is my foe’s debt.”
Another intrusion occurs when Benvolio enters the scene after Romeo’s discovery about Juliet. Benvolio demands Romeo to leave the party at once, if they stayed they would have been identified as Montagues and also would have been gatecrashing the party.
Juliet does not know that Romeo is her only love as well as her only enemy. She asks questions about other men in the party to the Nurse, and then finally finishes it off when she asks about Romeo. We then realise her true continuous feelings for Romeo, she wants to find out Romeo’s name, but does it indirectly. We discover Juliet going beyond and against her trusting character to find out more about Romeo.
Line 134 is the first time Juliet speaks in a mood, by imagining death as her bridegroom,
“My grave is like to be my wedding bed”
In lines 137-140, Juliet uses rhyming couplets after her discoveries of Romeo’s background.
“my only love sprung from my only hate!
Too early seen unknown, and known too late!’’
Although Juliet uses rhyming couplets from lines 137-140, it also contains examples of opposites, for example,
Love & Hate, Early & Late and Known & Unknown.
During the final lines of Act 1, Scene 5, we find out that Juliet feels similar foreboding on learning Romeo’s name. She has fallen in love with one of her family’s hated enemies.
In Conclusion, Shakespeare’s use of dramatic devices in Act 1, Scene 5 have been used cleverly, He has done this by varying the pace throughout the scene, using short or long sentences and timed the entrances of characters in the last scene of Act 1. Shakespeare’s use of language used in the scene are structured in reflect to the varieties of dialect from each character. His use of religious imagery, dramatic irony and uses of shared sonnets and soliloquy were used several times throughout the scene, to create a situation of love between Romeo & Juliet. Romeo and Juliet’s sonnet reflects back to their views of romance.
Shakespeare also adds humour from the beginning of the scene and many other cases throughout it, this makes the scene entertaining for the audience. Finally, the continuous intrusion of Romeo and Juliet’s word of love by Tybalt and Nurse caused pressure and tension and is also used as a sense of foreshadowing in the scene. It is a sign of what could come later on in the play.