Shakespeare sets the tone at the start of Act 1, Scene 5 by contrasting this scene with the previous one. The previous scene ended with Romeo’s premonition that:
‘Some consequences yet hanging in the stars/ shall bitterly begin his fearful date’.
The mood and atmosphere of quietness and anticipation had been created. The audience as before start to anticipate in the play due to Romeo’s premonition, which keeps them interested in the play. The scene dramatically changes from a quite atmosphere, to a very loud / lively atmosphere in Act 1, Scene 5. In contrast, at the opening of this scene the preparations for the party that is to take place that evening, are underway. The servants ‘hurry about the stage ,’ cleaning up and moving the tables to create a dance floor. The atmosphere is one of happiness.
Capulet is relaxed, and appears to be enjoying himself as he welcomes his guests. Whilst he admits he is ‘past [his] dancing days,’ he is in content to watch the young guests dance.
The language of the servants tells us they are: busy, excited and rushing and bustling about.
‘Where’s Potpan, that he helps not to take away? He shift a trencher? he scrape a trencher?’
This quote from the 1st Serving man tells us they are busy, and there in a sense of urgency the servant uses words like, where and he also asks lots of questions about have the other servants fulfilled the jobs required by them. The 1st Serving man asks so many questions in just one sentence, telling us that he doesn’t have time, meaning he is busy. Even in the beginning of this scene the stage craft tells us that a servant enters with napkins, also suggesting that the servants are busy.
Throughout the servants conversation, in the stage directions we find out that one servant has left, where as two servants have entered. One of the servants is replaced with two other servants, suggesting that it must be really busy. They come in and out of the stage telling us that it must be really busy.
We also know that the servants are excited because the fact it is a party and people no matter what their position in the society are excited and anxious because of it.
‘You are looked for and called for, asked for and sought for, in the great chamber’.
This quote from the 1st serving man suggests that the servants are excited because in the quote you can see he uses more than one word for the same thing. “You are looked for and called for”, the 1st serving man has clearly expressed his excitement through his language as described above.
‘Away with the joint-stools, remove the court cupboard, look to the plate. Good thou, save me a piece of marchpane, and as thou loves me, let the porter let in Susan Grindstone and well’.
This quote from the 1st serving man tells us that they are rushing and bustling about because in this the 1st serving man is telling other servants to do this and to do that also in one sentence, suggesting that the servants are really busy, he gives a series of commands in one sentence.
The party would be very spectacular to look at on stage with all the beautiful clothes, dancing / music. Lord Capulet is in a very good mood as he greets his guests. He is playing “mine host”.
We know he is happy and jovial when he says;
‘Welcome, gentlemen! ,’ the exclamation mark at the end of his quote suggests that he is happy. Also that it is his party off course he will be happy.
He teases his guests by saying:
‘Ah, my mistress, which of you all will now deny to dance? She that makes dainty, She I’ll swear hath corns. Am I come near ye now’.
From this quote we find out that Lord Capulet teases his guests, especially women because in the quote we can see that he flirts around with women, asking them to dance with him.
More detail emerge about the atmosphere when he exclaims;
‘You are welcome, gentlemen. Come musicians, play’.
In this quote it is crystal clear that a party mood is underway because he tells the musicians to play, so an atmosphere of joy and happiness is created. To help build an atmosphere of happiness Shakespeare has put a dance sequence which runs the stage directions: ‘Music plays’ and ‘And they dance’.
In addition, we learn its getting dark / hot in the room when he says;
‘’More light, you knaves, and turn the tablets up: And quench the fire, the room is grown too hot’.
Here Lord Capulet tells the servants he wants more light, “More light..”. He also tells the servants to quench the fire due to the room getting too hot, “….quench the fire, the room is grown too hot”.
In his light hearted mood, he reflects on his young days:
‘Some five and twenty years, and then we masked’.
He is telling us that he use to go to fancy dress parties a very long time ago, admitting that he is old now.
When Romeo sees Juliet for the first time he is stunned by Juliet’s beauty and we find out about his feeling through his soliloquy. Romeo’s speech is rich in romantic imagery.
Romeo uses similes and metaphors in his soliloquy to compare Juliet with various things.
Here are some examples of how Romeo talks about Juliet in his soliloquy.
The striking smile:
‘It seems she hangs on the cheek of night/As a rich jewel in an Ethiop’s ear’.
In this quote of Romeo’s soliloquy, Romeo compares Juliet to a sparkling jewel in a black man’s ear, which is a simile. Meaning Juliet stands out of all these people, just like a black person with a sparkling jewel in his ear would do.
‘Beauty too rich for use, for earth too dear’.
This is a metaphor, Romeo tells us that Juliet is too beautiful to be with and too dear for the earth to live on. Telling us that she must be really beautiful.
And the image of her as “a snowy dove trooping with crows”, are in keeping with the associations of brightness and white that run throughout the play, and are often mentioned in relation to love. This quote is a metaphor, in which Romeo tells us that Juliet is different from all the rest of the people there and he does this by saying that Juliet is like a snowy dove in between crows. As if she really stands out just like white doves that are associated with peace, would do in the middle of crows (which are black) and are associated with bad things.
This communicates his feelings to the audience and they now recognize that the passion with which Romeo speaks and his feelings of love for Juliet are sincere. ‘Did my heart love till now? Forswear it, sight!’. In this quote Romeo questions his love for Rosaline and declares it as not his true love. This suggests that Romeo can not love deeply because if he did love deeply then he will not be changing women so quick. However when Romeo meets Juliet he speaks to her in rhyming couplets, “The measure done, I’ll watch her place of stand, And, touching hers, make blessed my rude hand”.
This tells that she must be really special to Romeo because in those days people don’t talk like that normally, they only did this to really impress someone.
The meeting between Romeo and Juliet takes place during the party. Shakespeare makes us forget about the events that are happening around them, and we focus on the two lovers. One way Shakespeare manages to do this is by the change in language. When Romeo and Juliet meet together the exchange between them is a sonnet, a popular form of love poetry in Elizabethan times. A sonnet has fourteen lines and ten syllables in each line. The sonnet that Romeo and Juliet used both uses religious imagery – ‘pilgrims’, ‘holy shrine’, ‘gentle sin’ and ‘saints’. This reveals that their nature of relationships are based on religion, otherwise they would not have used religious imagery in their sonnet.
Romeo describes his lips as ‘two blushing pilgrims’. A pilgrim is the word used to describe a person that visits a holy place to worship. For example, pilgrims visit Mecca to worship Allah. So in the sonnet, Romeo is the pilgrim who is devoted to Juliet. By saying that his lips are ‘My lips, two blushing pilgrims, ready stand. To smooth that rough touch with a tender kiss’, Romeo is using a metaphors to persuade Juliet to kiss him.
The word ‘palmers’, is another word for pilgrim. When Romeo asks Juliet ‘Have no saints lips, and holy palmers too?’ he is asking her ‘Are you not a saint who is worshipped by pilgrims?’ Romeo is asking her are you a girl who has boyfriends, he is trying to persuade her to be his girlfriend.
The final two lines of the sonnet are shared between Romeo and Juliet with the intention of kissing again. However Juliet insists that ‘Pilgrim lips […..] must be use[d] in prayer’. Meaning she can not kiss Romeo unless they are married. But she does not however, move away when Romeo begins to kiss her and she appreciates his kiss.
The nurse’s image of love is in sharp contrast to what we have just witnessed between Romeo and Juliet. She talks about the money that Romeo would stand to gain if he married Juliet. ‘I tell you, he that can lay hold of her shall have the chinks’.
In this quote the nurse tells Romeo if he can get hold of her, he will get the money.
She views the relationship as a materialistic venture, there is no mention of love or devotion. This gives the audience another interpretation of “love” from a different perspective.
Romeo realises that Juliet is a Capulet, and ‘fear[s] that this will lead to ‘my [his] unrest’. Meaning that he fears that his love will lead him to his death. Where as Juliet talks too of how ‘If he be married, / My grave is like to be my wedding bed’. She is telling the audience that if she try’s to marry Romeo her wedding bed will turn into her grave, which is ironic because that is what happens. This will get the audience really interested because now they become certain that a tragedy will happen, getting the audience really tense and involved in the play, anticipation also starts to build up. The irony is that Juliet does die after she has married Romeo ‘Her death bed is her wedding bed!’.
At the end of Act 1, Scene 5, Romeo appears to see that all in not well. Similarly, here the lovers both hint that their union will lead to disorder and tragedy later on in the play, setting the audience up for the tragedy ahead.
The scene changes again quite dramatically when Tybalt enters and immediately recognizes Romeo’s voice. In an echo of Act 1, Scene 1, he draws his sword with the intention of ‘strike [ing] him [Romeo] dead’.
This is the first thing Tybalt says after realising a Montague is at their party:
‘This, by his voice, should be a Montague. Fetch me my rapier, boy’.
The quote tells us that Tybalt is really aggressive, because he wasn’t even really sure if a Montague was really there because he had only heard a voice and he tells the servant immediately to get his sword. Take note of his volatile temperament. His mood quickly changes from a parting mood into an aggressive mood, telling us that his nature also must be like that. Tybalt adds to his aggression when he says:
‘To strike him dead I hold it not a sin’, he says that to kill Romeo will not be a sin. Killing any human is a big sin and when Tybalt says that killing Romeo is not a sin, the audience become really excited because they know now that things are going to get ugly at the party, adding to their anticipation.
Capulet tries to calm Tybalt with the words: ‘Verona brags of him [Romeo] / To be virtuous and well – governed youth’. Meaning people of Verona talk about him that he is a good person, unlike his relatives. This is supposed to calm Tybalt down.
Tybalt persists, and we see how Capulet’s mood can change swiftly too. He orders Tybalt ‘Be quite [….] / I’ll make you quiet’.
Telling Tybalt to keep quiet or Lord Capulet will make him quite. This tells us that Lord Capulet can get aggressive in situations. I think he told Tybalt to shut up either because he didn’t want any trouble at his party, or because of the warning the Prince gave them and it also could be either because if Lord Capulet doesn’t exactly love Romeo, he doesn’t exactly hate Romeo. Think back to Act 1 Scene 1 when Capulet called ‘My sword’. He likes to be in control, and will not tolerate anyone who disobeys him, him being the man of the house. Because of Tybalt’s aggressive action Lord Capulet even insults him by calling him a ‘Saucy boy’. Meaning not a gentleman so ‘Saucy boy’ would be a double insult to Tybalt.
Tybalt fells powerless and angry because of Capulet stopping him from fighting Romeo.
‘Why, uncle, ‘tis a shame’. This quote tells us that Tybalt feels really powerless at that point and angry at his uncle because he asks Lord Capulet ‘why is he doing this and that it is a sham’. Tybalt’s question tells us he feels powerless and his opinion tells us that he is angry. Tybalt had to control his anger and passion. However Tybalt indeed threatens vengeance against Romeo.
‘Patience perforce …… I will withdraw, but this intrusion shall, Now seeming sweet, convert to bitt’rest gall’.
In this quote Tybalt says ‘I am patience by force …… l will leave, Romeo being here might be ok for now, however it will get painful’. This tells us that Tybalt is only quite because of Lord Capulet and his uncle might be thinking now that Romeo is a nice guy however he would have to wait and see that he is the opposite.
Throughout this story Tybalt had always been aggressive towards the Montague’s even in the beginning he says: ‘As I hate hell, all Montague’s, and thee’. Meaning he hates Montague’s, just like he hates Hell. Showing how aggressive he really is towards Montague’s and his aggression continues on in the story, it is almost as if Tybalt is the only one who has really kept the families’ feud alive. Because of Tybalt’s aggression towards Montague’s, whenever the audience see Tybalt at the same place as any Montague, they become tense and start to anticipate because they know about Tybalt’s nature towards Montagues.
The way Shakespeare present Romeo and Juliet when they realise that they belong to opposing families is very revealing.
Romeo says: ‘O dear account! my life is my foe’s debt’.
What Romeo means by that is ‘O my gosh! My life [Juliet] is my enemy’s [The Capulet's] daughter’. This tells us that Romeo does indeed still love Juliet, even though she is his enemy’s daughter.
Juliet says: ‘My grave is like to be my weeding bed’
What she means by that is she can only be with Romeo when she is dead. This is the first time Juliet speaks in such a sombre mood, imagining Death as her bridegroom. Also this image of death marring Juliet keeps appearing in the play as the continues.
The similarity that Shakespeare has created in between the both characters realisation is that they both can see the bright side of their love as well as the dark side. The bright side they see is that they both still love each other even though that they know they families are ancient foes. The dark side is that they can not however go against their families in reality. Their language also suggests that they will still marry each other no matter what because after they both realise their differences they only seem to think about the bright side and no the dark side. We also know their love is true because Romeo and Juliet both compare their love leading them to their death.
I think that Act 1, Scene 5 clearly gives the audience a clear idea of what may happen in the rest of the play because the moment Romeo and Juliet fall in love with each other the audience know that a tragedy will happen, due to them being from different families and they both talk about how their love will end in their deaths. This is when Juliet talks about her grave being her wedding bed and Romeo talks about his life being his enemy’s debt.
The audience get a big hint that a tragedy will happen, this is when Tybalt threatens vengeance against Romeo. So the audience know Tybalt can not be stopped going against Romeo. The audience becomes certain about this when Tybalt says that killing Romeo will not be a sin. So they get a sense that a tragedy will happen.
We know that they will marry each other because in their quotes they do not mention anything about them backing away from their love, clearly suggesting that they will marry each other. We also get a big hint that their love will end in a tragedy because like I said before Romeo talks about his life being his enemy’s debt and Juliet talks about grave being her wedding bed.
By
Bilal Jabbar
D10F
