Capulet, head of the household is a very powerful man who expects to be obeyed. Although he is earlier seen to be a good father, we later see his control over his daughter Juliet when she is forced to marry Paris. ‘Or I will drag thee on a hurdle thither’. Towards the beginning when Paris asks Capulet to marry Juliet, he says that it is partly her choice of whom she is going to marry. Capulet advices Paris to dance with Juliet at the ‘old accustom’d feast’
The scene opens with Capulet, in good spirits, welcoming his guests to the party. He wants everyone to enjoy themselves especially as there will be the opportunity for Paris to acquaint himself with Juliet. He shows his anger towards Tybalt when he discovers ‘a Montague, our foe’ by telling him to ignore it.
Shakespeare’s use of dramatic irony in Romeo and Juliet is very influential. For example when the lads gatecrash at the party and Romeo meets Juliet for the first time we know that they come from different families and there is going to be trouble when they both fall in love at first sight. ‘I fear, too early: for my mind misgives, some consequence yet hanging in the stars’
The other significant event is the meeting of Romeo and Juliet. Romeo forgets his poor love of Rosaline and he experiences love at first sight. Juliet is seen as some sort of Goddess to Romeo, she is dressed as an angel in the film symbolising her goodness and innocence and Shakespeare uses a religious theme for their encounter. He refers to her as ‘holy shrine’ of a saint, and a kiss to a prayer. He sees himself as a pilgrim who wants to visit her shrine. This adds to the point that the name Romeo in Italian means pilgrim to Rome. She responds to Romeo’s approach by sharing the image, a pilgrim who carried a palm leaf to show he had been to Jerusalem was known as a ‘palmer’. Here Juliet plays on the word, comparing it to the palm of the hand. Their speech is a sonnet which symbolises their vision of love towards each other. Juliet’s response also shows that she is equal in wit with Romeo. They are both intensely attracted to each other. Romeo compares Juliet to, "a rich jewel in an Ethiope's ear" when he first sees her. It is central to the play that important love scenes take place in the dark, away from the disorder that marks the day. Romeo loves Juliet at night, but he kills during the confusion of the day.
‘Content thee, gentle coz, let him alone’. He believes him to be a ‘virtuous and well govern’d youth’. When Tybalt insists that something must be done, Capulet becomes very angry. This shows that the older generation are far more tolerant of the situation compared to how fiery the younger ones are. ‘A villain that is hither come in spite,
To scorn at our solemnity this night’, Tybalt wants revenge and the audience suspect that he will cause trouble. Every time the audience meet Tybalt, he is angry; he is the quarreller whereas Benvolio and Romeo are the peacemakers. Tybalt believes that it is up to him to keep the quarrel alive. He is likened to a cat on many occasions that symbolise him as someone easily raised to aggression and hissing qualities. He is typical of some youth today who search the streets looking for trouble. His comment early on states this, ‘What, drawn, and talk of peace! I hate the word as I hate hell, all Montague’s and thee’. Tybalt seems to be the one man who wishes that Verona should be a divided society.
This scene, a sonnet concludes with the disapproval of the chorus who summarise the situation for the audience. We have already met the chorus right at the beginning, who traditionally is used to explain and comment on the action. They have told us that ‘A pair of star-cross’d lovers take their life’. The chorus comments on the fact that they have both fallen in love with each other because of looks. ‘Alike bewitched by the charms, of looks’ which assumes that they don’t really know each other very well and is fairly typical of young people generally, who are attracted by appearance.
It is Juliet’s nurse who disturbs them and this is significant because she is the one that is involved in the future meetings of the lovers. She informs Romeo who Juliet is and explains to him that ‘he that can lay hold of her, shall have the chinks’ In other words her suitor should have plenty of money, which reminds us why Paris was invited the ‘ancient feast’. Romeo responds to this detail, ‘O dear account! My life is my foe’s debt’. He sees this as a costly reckoning as he feels he owes his life to his enemy. Similarly, when Juliet finds out whom Romeo is, having asked the nurse about ‘yond gentleman’, she states he feelings ‘my only love sprung from my only hate’. She sees this as a ‘prodigious birth of love’ which has the meaning of ominous and foretelling evil.
This scene also predicts what will happen, at the end of the play, in both the characters speeches Romeo has already had a dream where he fears something awful if he goes to the party and how he foresees his ‘untimely death’. When Juliet finds out that he is a Montague she ironically predicts ‘My grave is like to be my wedding bed’, an anticipation of events to come.
