Romeo and Juliet

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Romeo and Juliet

Romeo and Juliet is recognised to be not only one of Shakespeare's best and most popular plays but arguably one of the best plays ever written. Romeo and Juliet is a romantic tale about two star crossed lovers fated to meet an untimely death because of their feuding families. Romeo a Montague and Juliet a Capulet both come from different families who are known to be sworn enemies. This is clear from the opening prologue of the play where it says 'from an ancient grudge break to new mutiny' this means that the two families are enemies and have been for a long time. In this same prologue I see that although the families dislike each other intently, they are in some ways alike. I know this as it says; 'two households both alike in dignity'. This shows that the two families have similar social standings yet this fails to cease the conflict between them both.

The play consists of two themes these are love and tragedy. Shakespeare combines the two in order to make the play as effective as possible. By doing this he is able to have the audience on the edge of their seats as they know there's going to be a twist in the play. One of the main characters in the play as you may already know is Romeo. Romeo is a Montague and at the start of the play he is still recovering from his break up with Roseline, this wound would soon be healed however as he meets Juliet in Act 1 scene 5 at Tybalts party. Juliet being at the age where she is expected to get married has a lot of pressure on her from her parents to find a man although Juliet personally feels she isn't ready and wants to wait for the right man. When Romeo and Juliet first meet at Tybalts party its love at first sight with both of them blinded to the fact that each are from different families. When Juliet finds out that Romeo is a Montague she is forced to stay away from him.

Act 1 scene 5 is a pivotal point in the play. The reason for this is because the audience expectations are high. As in the previous scene Romeo didn't want to go to Tybalts party as he felt something bad was going to happen .I know this because at the end of act 1 scene 4 it says ' I fear, too early; for my mind misgives. Some consequence, yet hanging in the stars shall bitterly begin his fearful date' this means that Romeo is expecting something bad to happen in the next scene and this creates suspense and expectation in the audience and makes the audience think about what's going to happen in the next scene and how it's going to affect Romeo. This is a key part in the play and without this scene I don't believe act 1 scene 5 would have been as dramatically effective, as Shakespeare uses Act 1 scene 4 to build up ,the audiences expectations.
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Capulets opening speech in Act 1 Scene 5 is one of the key and most dramatically effective parts of the scene as it sets the mood for the scene and generates excitement both in the audience and on stage. The key way Shakespeare creates this atmosphere is by making Capulet as possessive as possible. This is shown in line 15 where it says; 'Welcome gentlemen! Ladies that have their toes unpaged with corns will walk about with you'. This means that only ladies with corns on their feet won't dance. The mood is a huge contrast between Act ...

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