The fight that occurs in this scene seems to progress very quickly into full out street warfare. Benvolio, who comes across as a peacemaker, tries to stop the fight that is occurring. Benvolio in Italian means peacemaker so this seems to be very good role for him. The fight is also interrupted by the Prince of Verona, who comes up with a statement that will haunt the children of both families forever. He says that if anyone interrupts the peace of Verona again they will pay the price with their lives. This is another intriguing part of the play; what will happen if the fighting begins again? Will the prince carry out his threat? That is what the audience would be thinking.
At this point, the mood of the play changes as the ever-awaited Romeo enters the scene. This is a very important part of the play as it is the transition from hate to love. The audience of Shakespeare’s plays would have been very interested in a number of themes and love is the second theme in the play so far. They would of also been surprised that Romeo was in love with Rosaline and not Juliet.
In scene ii, we see the mood change from pure love to one of great conspiracy. We hear that Paris, a kinsman of the prince, is discussing with lord Capulet about a marriage between himself and Juliet. Lord Capulet gives Paris permission to woo his daughter (To try and encourage her to marry him). There is a party coming up so he will have a chance their. This is the beginning of what is to become the final, tragic outcome of the play. The marriage between Paris and Juliet will eventually lead Juliet to desperation. It is clear from the prologue that the marriage between Juliet and Paris will not be successful. The audience would guess this and would like to find out what happens in the end.
The mention of a party would really excite a Shakespearian audience because they will be able to get an insight into the lives of the rich, even if it was in a different country. This could be a great opportunity for the people who had no idea what happened to the rich. The way that the stage would have been set up for the party would have been very interesting for the poor. It would have been very grand and full of mystique.
In scene i, we saw Capulet in a rage of temper, who was ready ...
to kill any Montague who crossed his path but now in scene two we see a very different side to him. It is a side, which you would expect from any other loving father, one who cares and is concerned about his daughter. He wants to protect Juliet from any harm. We see later on in the play how quickly his mood can change from kind and gentle to a shouting rage.
In scene two we see how Shakespeare uses language in his plays to create an overall effect and to make it easier for him to write. The servant that appears in the scene is speaking in prose. In Shakespeare’s plays characters of a low social class speak in prose and the main characters in verse. This will remind the upper classes that they are better then the lower classes. They will like Shakespeare for making them look good. It will make them feel important so they are more likely to stick around and attend other plays because they feel grand and look down on the poor of the audience.
In ‘Romeo and Juliet’ a lot of what goes on is coincidence. This leads the audience to wonder, what if that had happened… It is pure chance that Capulet sends a servant with a list of invitations who is unable to read. It is pure chance that the servant meets Romeo and Benvolio and asks them to read the list for him. It is also pure chance that Romeo reads the list and sees Rosaline’s name on it, so he decides to go to the party, uninvited. It is at this party that he meets Juliet, his real true love. The magical fate of storytelling has now taken over.
In Scene iii, we meet the real Lady Capulet and also Juliet’s nurse. They are talking between the three of them about the future marriage of Juliet and Paris. Often they are talking in a bawdy manner, especially the nurse! The nurse is a respected and in a highly privileged position to be able to talk the way that she does. We can gather from the play that the nurse has been with the Capulet family for a very long time and seems to be accepted as one of the family. The nature of the nurse and also of her attitude towards sex seems to annoy Lady Capulet but is received and tolerated as though it is what the nurse’s character is about. Shakespeare has written his play to show all the different levels of love including that of spiritual as well as physical.
The nurse’s open manner to the way she speaks of sex come to life immediately the audience set their eyes on her. From the way she speaks of her past you would often think of it being all about the subject of sex from the word go. She loves it when she talks about sex, especially about what her late husband had said to Juliet when she fell on her face. He had laughed and said that one day she was sure to fall on her back – meaning in the act of sexual intercourse. All the sexual comments in the play would have certainly gained the interest of even the most privileged audience.
A menacing tone is hit when the nurse remembers her own child, called Susan. She too, was at the same stage as Juliet but died. The nurse makes plenty of comments about Juliet being too good for her and as it turns out Juliet is also to be too good for her and is fated to die young.
From watching the play we can obviously tell that Lady Capulet is a lot younger then Lord Capulet even if she was not telling the truth about her age. She says that she was the same age as Juliet when she gave birth to her. This would make Lady Capulet around the age of thirty. You can certainly tell from the way she talks and the long speech about Paris that she highly respects him and regards him as an ideal match for Juliet. When Lady Capulet points out to Juliet that if she were to marry Paris it will raise her social standing the nurse can not resist but the temptation of a bawdy comment. She says that woman do get bigger by men, in other words stating that they get pregnant.
It seems that the main use of language that Shakespeare uses is the subject of sex. It is clear that all bawdy comments would certainly gain the interest of the audience then but also now. This shows how good Shakespeare is as a writer as his plays are gaining the interest of audiences today.
In Scene iiii, we first meet Romeo’s friend Mercutio. As the audience discovers very quickly, he is very full of joy and happiness and is always cracking jokes. He is the type that will make anyone laugh even in conflict as we later discover.
As Romeo, Mercutio and Benvolio are walking towards the party Mercutio tries and cheers Romeo up about him claiming to be sick at heart and to get the girl of his dreams. The audience would feel more relaxed and would certainly laugh at the comments made by Mercutio. You can often see Mercutio playing with the thoughts of Romeo trying to make him happier.
In this part of the scene, where they are walking to the party, there are a few references towards light. As you can imagine the plays of Shakespeare would only of been held in daylight hours because there was no electricity. Mercutio says, “We waste out lights in vain”. Without any stage lighting and only the light that came from the sky a writer of a play would have to use language to state whether it was dark or not.
The action suddenly stops when Mercutio’s Queen Mab speech. As the three of the friends are not of Capulet birth the audience expects to see some conflict, maybe even a fight, when they arrive at the Capulet party. Lit by the torchlight, only accounted for by language, the three walk towards the party when suddenly Mercutio stops and gives out a whimsical speech, one so long it takes up around forty lines. In it he makes fun of Queen Mab. He does this so to try and get Romeo out of the mood he is in.
Mercutio never lands on one idea for to long and is always jumping to a new one. The way he says the speech and the language...
that he uses gives us a vivid picture of his ideas and so lets the audience join in on the fun he is having and trying to create. Mercutio gets more and more outlandish as his ideas progress and Romeo has to interrupt him to stop him from going to far. He is trying to get Romeo out of the lovesick state he is in. As the scene ends Mercutio goes back into his very mischievous manner and his thoughts turn to the only love he knows (when he gets a maid in bed). At the end of the scene the audience is reminded of what is said in the prologue:
I fear too early; for my mind misgives
Some consequence yet hanging in the stars
Shall bitterly begin his fearful date
With this nights revels, and expire the term
Of a despised life clos’d in my breast
By some vile forfeit of untimely death
The mention of stars reminds the audience of the use of “star-cross’d lovers”.
This scene includes a great number of themes so as to interest the audience but to also get their minds running on to what is going to happen next. The amount of jokes made by Mercutio would have lifted the audience’s spirits greatly.
Scene V, is mainly focusing on the Capulet party and the recurring events afterwards. The party begins and as the stage is set for dancing Romeo, Mercutio and Benvolio arrive. Romeo immediately notices Juliet and is astounded by her beauty. Romeo starts off saying a short speech to himself denouncing his love for Rosaline. He is now more concerned about his love for Juliet then for any sadness caused by his failure with Rosaline. His emotions change just as suddenly as when Lord Capulet’s anger did earlier on in the play. As though in a few moments Romeos love for Rosaline is forgotten and is forever engrossed in Juliet. Now the attention span of the audience would be greatly increased as the play has taken a dramatic turn towards the final, tragic end.
As Romeo is speaking about Juliet the audience is totally engrossed in his new way of thinking. He changes from immature beliefs to those of total devotion and maturity. The audience would have accepted his love because the language that Shakespeare uses is beautiful and very exquisite.
Romeo sets a very menacing tone when he says “Beauty too rich, for earth too dear”. The audience would have remembered back to when the nurse said, “She was too good for me”. This would also bring back memories of what was said in the prologue about the fate of the two future lovers.
In this scene we meet Tybalt who is going on to Lord Capulet about Romeo being at the party. Lord Capulet calms Tybalt, although he is not satisfied. Capulet is quick to praise Romeo and Tybalt is clearly angered by this. The audience would have probably expected some action to happen but Shakespeare holds out. The audience would be keen though and would be looking on in anticipation.
As Tybalt persists Lord Capulet about Romeo being at the party Capulet bursts out in a fit of anger as Tybalt has clearly pushed him over the edge. We are reminded once again of the quick transition between calmness and anger of Capulet. The audience would be inspired by this to watch on as the action is picking up. This would not have fazed the audience as it has happened before but as we see later, his anger on Juliet is swift and crushing. It may seem to the audience that Capulet is one of those men who can be calm one minute and as cross as a disturbed bee the next.
After the intense argument the audience witnesses the love between ‘Romeo and Juliet’ again. This time they are standing apart secluded from the rest of the party, as they believe that love between them is the only thing existing. The audience would know that this is the true beginning of the dreadful and tragic ending that is about to arise. Excitement would grow and all would be looking on for what is about to happen.
The ways the two lovers speak to each other are set across in the form of a sonnet. This was a very popular form of poem for expressing love in one way or another. Shakespeare at the time was writing one hundred and fifty four sonnets.
The conversation that is going on is full of religious images that seem to point out that their love just isn’t scraping the surface but going deeper. This will be a love that that will last forever. The audience already knows that this is true. Juliet responds to Romeos sonnet by beginning one of her own but it is interrupted by the nurse and cannot be finished.
If we look back on this scene we can see that it is full of contrasts such as the music and happiness of the dancing party goers, the love between Romeo and Juliet, and of coarse the anger between Capulet and Tybalt. All this action in one scene can be very exciting.
As this scene comes to an end the audience will know that death awaits the two lovers. The audience will remember the threat made by Tybalt to Romeo at the party and although he seems to be acting nice, he will soon see to it that revenge is carried out. The audience may of felt like shouting out up to the stage to try and warn Romeo of the dangers.
Juliet sets a predictive and unsettling sentence when she says, “my grave is like to be my deathbed”. The audience by now will know most of what is to happen in the play but are trying to find out all the little gaps so they would be looking forward to the next act.
In ‘Romeo and Juliet’ we see many ways in which Shakespeare has used his talent to produce one of a great set of plays. They all manage to get the audience interested and but also displaying a great storyline. One of the main features of ‘Romeo and Juliet’ that keeps the audience interested is the theme of love. With a play full of very bawdy comments how could you not display a slight interest?