After the prologue, the audience would be expecting some conflict. The audience usually loves conflict because it contains action and sometimes makes the audience choose a side. Sampson and Gregory carry swords and bucklers which show that they are ready or expecting a fight. They discuss how they want to start a fight with the Montague’s but they want the law on their side. Sampson bites his thumb at Abram, but then realises the law is not on his side, so he denies doing it. Benvolio arrives and tries to make peace, but then Tybalt comes and wants to fight Benvolio. They end up fighting and Montague wants to get involved, this tells us that indeed the grudge is ancient. After the fight has ended, the Prince says that anyone starting a fight will be sentenced to death. The audience reacts by thinking the fighting has been going on a long time in Verona. After reading and watching the scene, I felt that there would be a lot more conflict later on in the play. I think that Shakespeare wanted the audience to feel that the idea of conflict in Romeo and Juliet is very important. I think he wrote act one, scene one as an example of the two families’ conflict and just how significant it is.
The conflict that appears in act three, scene five is quite different from the conflict that appears in act one, scene one. The conflict in act three, scene five is between Juliet and her father, Capulet. It differs from the earlier conflict because that was between the families; this conflict is within the family of the Capulets. In act three, scene five, Juliet speaks to Lady Capulet. The words she speaks have almost double meanings. Her mother thinks she is crying over the death of her cousin, Tybalt. But the audience knows she is really crying because she thinks that she will never see Romeo again because he has been banished from Verona for killing Tybalt. Lady Capulet then goes on to tell Juliet that Capulet has arranged for her to marry Paris. Juliet hated the idea of marrying Paris because she loved, and was already married to, Romeo. Capulet walks in and hears of Juliet’s response to the news. His anger gradually rises; Shakespeare does this to build up suspense. Capulet uses a lot of harsh words against Juliet like “Hang thee, young baggage! Disobedient wretch!” and tells her she will marry Paris or she will not be allowed to live in her family’s house any longer “I tell thee what: get thee to church o' Thursday, or never after look me in the face: speak not, reply not, and do not answer me.” Juliet’s views and opinions are not important to Capulet, he want her to marry Paris because Paris is a well-respected figure in Verona. In Shakespeare’s time, the views and opinions of any daughter of a rich family would not be important. Arranged marriages were common and considered acceptable in those days and still happen in some cultures and communities today, although many people believe it is wrong and that we should be given a choice. Lady Capulet has very little to say once Capulet has spoken, because in Shakespeare’s time women were thought of as inferior to men and she is angry at Juliet for making Capulet angry. An audience in Shakespeare’s time would react with shock because Juliet had stood up to her father. In our modern society, the audience would react with shock because Capulet hit Juliet. Baz Luhrmann intensifies this conflict by showing Capulet as taller and stronger and by having the room quite dark. If I was directing a new version of Romeo and Juliet, I would direct the conflict by using mainly light and sound effects. At first when Capulet enters in a good mood, I would have the light shining down on both of them to make them seem equal. When Capulet gets angry I would have a red light shining from beneath him to make him seem bigger and have a longer, scarier shadow. Juliet would be on the floor whilst Capulet is shouting at her. He would have been holding a whiskey glass, and instead of hitting Juliet he would have thrown the glass at a wall because now days the audience may disapprove of violence against children. This would all be very loud, and Juliet would be very quiet. Lady Capulet would be really stuck-up and not even pretend to care about Juliet, I think that would add the effect of showing that Juliet isn’t cared for. Lady Capulet would not be regarded as inferior by anyone, because now day’s women are not considered inferior by many people.
I think the theme of conflict is the most important aspect of Romeo and Juliet, apart from the theme of love. I think love is slightly more important because most people associate love with the play of Romeo and Juliet, rather than conflict. I think conflict has always appealed to an audience from any age in history because it can be intensified and modernised (like guns instead of swords). I think it will always appeal to most people, and the play of Romeo and Juliet will last forever in many shapes and forms.
By Elliot Reed