Why is Act 1 Scene 5 an important scene in Romeo and Juliet?

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Kirandeep Dhillon 10L

Why is Act 1 Scene 5 an important scene in Romeo and Juliet?

Act 1 scene 5 is a crucial scene in the play ‘Romeo and Juliet’, a tragedy by William Shakespeare. In this scene, Romeo and Juliet meet for the first time at a Capulet feast in which Romeo, a Montague, secretly enters after getting persuaded by his best friend Mercutio. Romeo initially intends to see Rosaline who he suffers unrequited love with. However, it is love at first sight when he sees Juliet. The scene develops further with both love struck teenagers conversing and gradually comes to an end as Romeo and Juliet both find out the true identity of one another; both of them are children of ever-fighting enemies, The Montague family and The Capulet family. Other characters in this scene include Capulet, Tybalt and The Nurse.   Furthermore, Shakespeare has included all the themes in this scene; love, hatred, fate and family.

There are five main characters in the scene, firstly there is Romeo Montague. In Act 1 Scene 5, he is displayed to be mesmerised by Juliet's beauty as he catches sight of her, he praises her beauty:
“O she doth teach the torches to burn bright.
It seems she hangs upon the cheek of night
Like a rich jewel in an Ethiop’s ear;
Beauty to rich for use for earth to dear.”
Romeo uses a simile: ‘Like a rich jewel in an Ethiop’s ear’ which suggests that Juliet stands out and that her beauty is superior to other women. This is shown as he uses the words ‘rich jewel’ which implies that he sees her as precious and very valuable. Furthermore, Romeo is shown to speak in blank verse and rhymed verse – ‘bright’ and ‘night’, which indicates him to be a higher class character. Romeo is seen enticing Juliet as he continues to praise her for her beauty; ‘for earth too dear’, this proves that he is in love with her and that he is a caring character as he is generous in complimenting the person whom he loves. When Romeo finds out that Juliet belongs to the Capulet family, he is dismayed due to the fact that their families are enemies:
“O dear account, my life is my foe’s debt?”
This shows that Romeo acknowledges the tension between the families as he uses the word ‘foe’ and expresses his concern by using the words ‘O dear account’. This indicates that Romeo fears the troubles that will arouse due to his new found love for Juliet. This is shown after his cousin, Benvolio advises him to leave before there is any trouble. Romeo agrees:
“Ay, so I fear, the more is my unrest.”
This may suggest that he loves Juliet a lot and that he is willing to take a risk of trouble to carry on loving her. In Elizabethan theatre colours were used to represent the status and character. Thus, if I were to direct this scene I would have Romeo wear light pastel coloured clothing to show him to be the good character. To further this, I would have Romeo speak in a soft and calm voice but at the same time in a firm and confident one to show that he is brave and the hero of the story. The smoothness will indicate to the audience that he is a lover and does not want any violence. Moreover, when he kisses Juliet I would have him kiss her gently and touch her hair softly to show how caring he is and how precious he considers Juliet to be.

Another main character is Juliet. She is a Capulet and is portrayed in this scene to be beautiful and precious. This is shown when Romeo praises her beauty when he first catches sight of her –
“Did my heart love till now? Forswear it sight,
For I ne’er saw true beauty till this night”
This clarifies that Juliet is beautiful as Romeo is basically saying that he has never seen ‘true beauty’ until then despite the fact that he appeared to be in love with Rosaline. This implies that Juliet is naturally attractive and this suggests that she is a good character as many of Shakespeare’s plays convey the good characters to be the beautiful ones and the bad/evil to be ugly. Juliet is of a higher status therefore she speaks in blank verse and rhyme verse this automatically shows that she has manners and grace:  
“Good pilgrim, you do wrong your hand too much,
Which mannerly devotion shows in this;
For saints have hands that pilgrims do touch.
And palm to palm is holy palmer’s kiss.”
Juliet can be conveyed to be quite playful, as Romeo suggests that they should kiss by calling her a ‘shrine’ to be worshipped at. Juliet says ‘palm to palm’ is how they should kiss, which means that she is teasing him. This signifies that she is enjoying her time with Romeo. When Juliet finds out that she in love with the son of her father’s enemy from her nurse, she is also dismayed about the fact;
“My only love sprung from my only hate,
Too early seen unknown, and known too late!
Prodigious birth of love it is to me.
That I must love a loathed enemy.”
This presents that she doesn’t care about the enmity between the two families as she says she knew Romeo before she knew his name: ‘known too late!’ the ‘!’ emphasises the emotion she feels at this point. Furthermore, this shows that she knows about the tension between the two families and may not be in favour of it as she loves Romeo too much to erase her feelings for him, which ultimately shows that’s she is a strong willed character. Furthermore, ‘My only’ is repeated twice to show that she has only loved once; Romeo, and that her only hate is her father’s enmity, this may suggest that she has only hated the Montagues due to her father’s hate for them and that she is does not believe in hatred or she is too forgiving for a deep-rooted hatred. Romeo and Juliet’s love for each other represents the theme of love in this play and in this scene. The love is meant to be strong as it is one of the main themes of the play. If I were to direct her character, I would have her costume to be a white flowing dress to show her because it shows her to be feminine and also white connotes innocence, peace and purity which will help show her personality to the audience. This would be ideal as her clothing will match Romeo’s and will help the audience recognise them to be a couple. Moreover, I would have her speak in a soft and peaceful voice throughout the whole scene. Also, when she is complimented by Romeo she can act bashful and flutter her eye lids to promote the idea of her being innocent and virtuous.

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In addition to the main characters, there is Tybalt, Juliet’s cousin. Tybalt is a Capulet and leader of the Capulet gang who normally fight the Montagues.  In this scene, he displays hatred. This is because he spots Romeo, a Montague at the Capulet feast thus he is hungry for revenge, Tybalt is very angry at Romeo’s presence at the celebration and instantly wants to fight:
“Uncle, this is a Montague, our foe;
To scorn our solemnity this night.”  
Tybalt’s hatred is clarified as he calls Romeo a ‘foe’ thus showing his hatred for him. Furthermore, he accuses Romeo of trying ...

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