Capulet invites him to meet her at a family ball.
The servant who should deliver the invitations asks Romeo and Benvolio to read them for him – which gives Benvolio an idea.
At the very beginning of act 1 scene 1 the phrase:
“A pair of star - crossed lovers.”
These are the words with which Shakespeare introduces Romeo and Juliet to us. We know from the first time that there is to be no ‘happily ever after’ for these two: they are destined to die.
Benvolio and Mercutio persuade Romeo to join them in a masquerade also they have decided to gatecrash the Capulet’s ball. Romeo has a strong sense of foreboding - to which something bad will happen.
By the time the audience reaches act 1 scene 5 they are eagerly anticipating any rivalry between the two households Montague and Capulet.
How, and when Romeo and Juliet will first meet, how will they react to one another, and also how will all the other characters react to Romeo and Juliet.
The distinct rhyme and rhythm of the sonnet between Romeo and Juliet makes it more memorable to the audience because the audience feels as if they are in Romeo and Juliets shoes, (basically the audience empathize with them.)
They can see the romantic nature of their conversation and their exchange of love, the devotion and love to one another. The depth and beauty of the new union Romeo and Juliet create. Their love achieves an intensity of passion; they become totally absorbed in one another, theirs is a selfless love – a total giving up of each other to the other. The overwhelming passion of Romeo and Juliet is conveyed most vividly and movingly through the imagery. Romeo achieves something far greater with Juliet than with Roseline, something enduring.
When the lovers meet at the first time, at Capulet’s house, they address each other in a beautifully artificial way, with plenty of wit but little passion.
This imagery captures the audience’s imagination and tells us the nature of Romeo and Juliet’s love.
The dominant feature of the play’s imagery is the contrast between light and darkness, and the most remarkable aspects of this is the way in which Romeo and Juliet appear to each other as luminous objects in surrounding darkness:
“O she doth teach the torches to burn bright!”
Throughout the scene the emotions of each of these characters are all quite different from one another.
Tybalt is very jealous of the family honour and therefore is aggressive to those who cross his path:
“Now by the stock and honour of my sin
To strike him dead I hold it not a sin.”
Tybalt’s portrayal of his emotions attracts and holds the audiences attention because he brings/ gives anxiety and tension, this conflict makes the scene more interesting for the audience.
Romeo is a romantic he sighs after, and writes poetry to, but instead of writing the poems he speaks it aloud:
“O she doth teach the torches burn bright!”
He is saying ‘oh how she makes the torches burn brighter than usual’. Romeo is in awe of Juliet – he looks up to her as if she were a “saint.”
Juliet – we first see her as a child – like and obedient young girl, with little experience of personal relationships beyond her family attachments, and apparently submissive to her mother’s arrangements of the marriage with Paris:
“I’ll look to like, if looking liking move;
But no more deep will I endart mine eye
Than your consent gives strength to make it fly.”
However, her love for Romeo quite transforms her character.
The feelings that the audience would have about Romeo and Juliet’s exchange of love are emotional in a positive and negative way the audience is really happy for Romeo and Juliet but right from the beginning the audience knew that they are destined to die.
“A pair of star - crossed lovers take their life.”
The audience didn’t feel shocked when Romeo and Juliet realised the identity of each other this is because we were told right from the beginning so what we feel is more sympathetic and sorry towards Romeo and Juliet:
“My only love sprung from my only hate!”
These are the words to which Juliet realises the identity of her love.
She goes on with:
“Prodigious birth of love it is to me
That I must love a loathed enemy.”
It is the beginning of love to her and she must hate her enemy who she dearly loves.
These are the words to which Romeo realises the identity of his love:
“Is she a Capulet?
O dear account my life is my foe’s debt.”
These words affect the audience in the way that they have anxiety, tension and they draw the audience into the play.
Conclusion
After seeing act 1 scene 5 the audience will want to know how Romeo and Juliet respond to knowing their love is their enemy, how Tybalt reacts to Romeo, how Paris reacts to Juliet’s rejection, and the twist of fate that will lead Romeo and Juliet to commit suicide.
