Shakespeare creates chaos at the start of Act 1 Scene 5, this engages the audience, maintaining their attention so they look towards the stage after the calm and subdued speech of Romeo. Having the servants here delays the party scene, creating tension and keeping the audience hanging on to see what is about to happen next, heightening anticipation in the audience. Shakespeare employs multiple exclamation marks to imply that the characters are shouting the instructions in a rushed and frantic manner. Imperative verbs such as ‘away’, ‘look’ and ‘remove’ are employed to convey how frightened the servants are of making mistakes, depicting Capulet’s power and strength over them, reminding the audience how dangerous Capulet is, this creates tension as the audience begin to realise that he is a formidable character.
Shakespeare shows Capulet’s jovial and celebratory mood at the beginning of the masque through his enthusiastic and flirtatious speech. Capulet displays the audience his strength by being in charge and insists that the ladies will dance or she ‘swear hath corns’, this shows how controlling Capulet is, this conveys to the audience what Romeo and Juliet are up against. Capulet refers to the time when he states ‘I have seen the day that I have worn a visor’, portraying that his flirtatious day are over and how time has passed quickly for him as ‘five and twenty years’ but is quickly corrected by his cousin ‘’tis more, ‘tis more, his son is elder, sir: his son is thirty’, the references to time remind the audience of the little time Romeo and Juliet have left before their imminent death and how their time will seem to pass quickly. This is also ironic as Capulet and his cousin don’t appreciate that Romeo and Juliet are running out of time, this affects the audience as they understand and sympathise with Romeo and Juliet, knowing their time is short.
Romeo is then immediately and purposely inserted after Capulet to emphasise the close proximity of the characters and the danger Romeo is in to create tension, because if he gets caught, there will be bloodshed. This is also done to increase the pace to engage and excite the audience. Romeo expresses his love for Juliet, describing her ‘as a rich jewel in an ethiops ear. Beauty too rich for use, for the earth to dear’ which is inappropriate as ‘too rich for use, for earth too dear’ portrays how Romeo thinks she is a goddess, and as a religious Elizabethan this would be unsuitable because of their views on religion. Shakespeare echoes Benvolio in Romeo when he says ‘so shows a snowy dove trooping with crows’, ironically in Act1 Scene 4, Benvolio states ‘make thee think thy swan a crow’, this links to Romeo’s fate and the audience would have believed that Benvolio’s words would have been pre-planned by God, hence, further predictions are to come true.
Shakespeare uses juxtaposition to create maximum tension when Tybalt is inserted immediately and purposely after Romeo to contrast Romeo’s love for Juliet with Tybalt’s hate for Romeo to communicate to the audience how the passion Tybalt has for the feud is equal to the passion Romeo has for Juliet. Shakespeare employs violent language such as ‘scorn’, ‘fleer’ and ‘villain’ to broadcast and depict Tybalt’s hate for Romeo. Tybalt describes Romeo with ‘an antic face’ that is designed to aggravate him; this conveys how pathetic Tybalt is as his hatred is unnecessary, prolonged and melodramatic. Tybalt states that Romeo ‘fleer and scorn at our solemnity?’, Tybalt takes offence by Romeo’s actions and wants to defend his masculinity and family honour by ironically saying ‘to strike him dead I hold it not a sin’, this creates tension in the audience as they are constantly being reminded of Romeo and Juliet’s fate. Shakespeare employs the use of rhyming couplets in the words ‘spite’ and ‘night’ to signal Tybalt’s exit to the audience
Before Romeo and Juliet’s sonnet, Capulet reminds the audience of Romeo and Juliet’s death by saying ‘now seeming sweet, convert to bitterest gall’,this creates tension and anticipation. In the sonnet, Shakespeare uses sexual words such as ‘lips’, ‘touch’ and ‘blushing’ to convey the highly charged atmosphere and ultimate attraction between Romeo and Juliet. There is also a semantic field of religious metaphors such as ‘pilgrim’, ‘saints’ and ‘holy’ to convey Juliet’s purity to the audience. Romeo states, his ‘lips, two blushing pilgrims, ready stand’ as a saint to warship her, Juliet teases him by saying ‘palm to palm is holy palmers kiss’, telling him that hand touching is more than enough, she further teases him saying ‘Ay, pilgrim, lips that they must use in prayer’; this heightens the flirtatious atmosphere. Romeo worships her, calling her a ‘dear saint’ to convey how high and godly she is to him, he then asks her ‘grant thou, lest faith turn to despair’ to ask her for a kiss or he will lose everything. Romeo conveys his passion and his extremely forward nature when ‘[he kisses her; Juliet is statuesque]’, this portrays how daring and involved they are in each other and creates tension in the audience, putting them on edge as the lovers could be found out or seen at any time. Shakespeare uses the sonnet as protection for Romeo and Juliet as it can’t be interrupted of broken, this gives the audience reassurance that Tybalt will not interrupt.
Symbolically, Juliet’s mother then ‘craves a word’ with her, interrupting her and Romeo. The nurse ignorantly reveals to Romeo that Juliet’s ‘mother is the lady of the house’; this reminds the audience that they can’t be together and creates sadness, devastation and pathos in Romeo as he finally realises who he is in love with. Romeo states ‘my life is my foe’s debt’ as he still loves her even if she is a Capulet, and gives his life to her, there is irony in his words as the audience already know that they are destined to die. He then regrets who she is by saying ‘Ay, so I fear; the more is my rest as he is at a loss, confused and depressed. Shakespeare prolongs Juliet realising the identity of Romeo to build up the tension and engage the audience. Shakespeare then employs dramatic irony when Juliet states ‘my grave is likely to be my wedding bed’, this impacts the audience as they already know that her words are true. The Nurse then delivers Romeo’s identity to Juliet by saying ‘his name is Romeo, and a Montague. The only son of your great enemy’ as a definite, strong statement that is brutally delivered to create maximum anticipation for Juliet’s response. Juliet then immediately regrets meeting him when she says ‘too early seen unknown, and known too late’, she then states ‘prodigious birth of love it is to me that I must love a loathed enemy’, conveying how heartbroken she feels and how she was born to die.
