“I do bite my thumb sir”
This is and Elizabethan sign of disrespect which is the start of the feuding in this scene. After the gesture these insulting words soon erupt into something far more serious both dramatically and thematically.
This scene gives us a glimpse into the attributes of the characters. Benvolio, Romeo’s friend, is a peace maker, which you can see by his first line
“Part fools.”
This shows that he has tried, although not succeeded, to break up the fight. Tybalt, on the other hand, is the total opposite of Benvolio. Tybalt is a relatively one dimensional character. He is hot tempered, vindictive and aggressive. This audience realises that he is like this straight away as he rejects Benvolio’s plea to
“Keep the peace.”
Instead he responds by saying
“What, drawn, and talk of peace I hate the word/As I hate hell, all Montagues and thee.”
This shows that all he wants to do is fight. I feel this keeps the audience interested as it is only the first scene and a large scale fight has already broken out. The audience will be left asking if this amount of violence and tension can happen in the first scene then what will happen later in the play and how will these two prominent, but opposite characters, (Tybalt and Benvolio) develop.
Prince Escalus is introduced and ends the fight but reinforces the notion that if the feud continues it will end in tragedy.
“if ever you disturb our streets again, your lives shall pay the forfeit of the peace”. He is a strong character who could bring about the end of the fighting where others failed.
Looking at different versions of the play we can compare the character of the prince. In Baz Luhruann’s modern day play the prince is portrayed as the chief of police, but the wide angles used and the height of the helicopter he is in still demonstrates a sense of power. This reinforces the power of the Prince’s threat and still indicates that the play will end in tragedy.
Romeo is introduced at this point too, although he is not involved in the fight. We actually see him as the victim of unrequited love, and the audience is surprised to find that the object of Romeo’s affection at this point is not Juliet but Rosalind. We can see that in this play love is clearly a painful matter. Romeo is suffering for his love and this is portrayed in his posture and actions.
“Griefs of mine own lie heavy in my breast, which thou will propagate, to have it prest with more of thine: this love that thou hast shown doth add more grief to too much of mine own.”
He demonstrates love sickness, whilst Rosalind, the girl toward whom his love is aimed, adopts a cool and disdainful attitude towards him. The audience is left to wonder how this love will develop although they are left with no doubt that Romeo’s love life will have a huge effect on the story. The audience is also left to ponder whether Romeo will follow Benvolio’s suggestion to forget this love.
“Be ruled by me, forget to think of her.”
The opening scene works well as an introduction to the play because it shows that the love affair in this play is going to develop against a background of hatred, a clever contrast of emotions. It begins with an exciting fight scene and ends with a declaration of love. It makes the audience question what will arise later in the play and ultimately indicates on the tragedy that is to follow. It is during this scene that the audience becomes aware that both the love scenes and the fight scenes will continue and mix throughout the duration of the play, leading to the tragic downfall which is how the play ends.
