Essay question: How does Shakespeare set up the play of “Romeo and Juliet” in act 1, scene 1? Essay answer: “Romeo and Juliet” is a tragic play, of two star crossed lovers caught up in the midst of their feuding families. The dispute between Romeo’s and Juliet’s’ families is intense and deeply rooted, making the struggle for their freedom to love each other even more difficult. The opening scene of “Romeo and Juliet” is extremely important because it plays a major role in establishing key elements throughout the rest of the performance. The main elements are the characters, themes, language, settings and plot. The audience can form a basic idea of these elements involved to initiate their interest and curiosity in the outcome of the play.
A prologue is performed at the beginning of the play, by listening to this speech the audience will know that “Romeo and Juliet” will end in tragedy. The audience then feels compelled to find out how this play will end in tragedy, so they become engaged and are prepared to pay attention to the story. “From forth the fatal loins of these two foes A pair of star-crossed lovers take their life”, tells the audience that suicide and death will be a powerful theme throughout the performance. The prologue explains that two households of similar social standing had an old disagreement, which has led to a new conflict between the two families.
It then goes on to reveal that to these two ill-fated hostile families are born two lovers who are destined by the stars to disaster. Their accidental, doomed deaths cause the two families to forget the feud. This makes the audience curious as they are eager to know how the two lovers arrived at this tragic end. Overall, this prologue creates a negative and depressing impression on the audience. The contrast between the prologue and comedic parts in Act 1, Scene 1 causes the reader to be more easily amused by the humorous aspects as it is unanticipated. The audience expects the to be desolate and miserable because that is the tone the prologue sets for the beginning of the play.
Sampson says, “I will take the wall of any man or maid of Montague’s,” This is an example of humorous banter between Sampson and Gregory in the first scene. He is saying that he will kill any Montague man and rape any Montague woman. Historically, in Shakespearean times, the audience would find this tremendously amusing. This is because the mentality of people in those days were less sophisticated, therefore their humour was more simpler in contrast to ours. Their banter is related to power as they are joking about serious issues that can cause great offence to the Montagues resulting in quarrels. This is also an example of innuendo-Smapson and Gregory are demonstrating that they don’t have any fear against the Montagues, their banter could also be a way to conceal their fear.
From the short section focused on Sampson and Gregory, at the beginning of the scene, the audience can tell that the servants of the Capulet household are in an aggressive mood. The audience are able to notice this because the phrases these men are using are violent and intense, e. g. “I will be civil with the maids, I will cut their heads off.” Even from this brief conversation between the Capulets, the audience would have almost immediately come to the conclusion that the two men were all-talk, big-headed and incredibly boastful. However, Shakespeare also portrayed these characters as cowardly, timid and only hostile on the surface. We can tell that Sampson is timid because when he sees two Montague servants approaching, instead of fighting them himself, he backs off and asks Gregory to be the one who starts the fight: “quarrel, I will back thee” Sampson is definitely trying to be the most aggressive out of the two males, because he explains that he would take on any Montague, whether male or female, even though the ongoing feud between the families is between the men only: .”..
I will be cruel with the maids… .” With the arrival of the Montagues (Abraham and Balthasar) in act 1, scene 1, the atmosphere quickly turns from a comedic mood into a tense environment. “Part you fools! Put up thy swords,” the argument between the servants of the two households soon turns into a viscous fight. The dialogue turns from ridicule to aggressive, for example “me they shall fear when I am able to stand” and “thou villain Capulet! This intrigues the audience as they are eager to know the outcome / consequence of the fight. The conflict seems to disrupt the peace of Verona which results in the arrival of the Prince. This increases the suspense and tension of the scene.
The audience is further more engaged in the story as they are speculating what the Prince is going to say as he is an important authority figure. The prince interrupts the brawl and makes a speech, “If ever you disturb our streets again, your lives shall pay the forfeit of the peace,” and says if either the Montague or Capulet disturb the peace of Verona again they will receive the death penalty. Shakespeare obviously wants to make the Prince look important and respected by the citizens of Verona, so he uses blank verse, by writing lines of ten syllables, with a repeated even pattern of weak and strong ‘beats’. Blank verse has also been used from when Ty balt approaches Benvolio. These characters speak in blank verse because Shakespeare is trying to portray them as noblemen, as opposed to servants. The second half of the opening scene is a great contrast in terms of the themes, characters and language used…
Montague and Lady Montague stay behind to speak with Benvolio. Lady Montague explains that she is glad that Romeo did not have anything to do with the disorder in Verona and asks if Benvolio has seen him. Benvolio begins his answer by saying: “Madam, an hour before the worshipped sun Peered forth the golden window of the east, A troubled mind drive me to walk abroad… .” Benvolio then goes on to describe how he spotted Romeo in a grove of sycamore, and how Romeo, when he caught sight of Benvolio, retreated further into the woods. Montague is worried about his son and says that Romeo has got into the habit of avoiding light. Benvolio and Montague both refer and speak of sunlight as holy and healthy, they consider Romeo’s preference for the dark as a dangerous sign of depression.
The theme of ‘Light and Dark’ becomes a primary issue. Light symbolises what Romeo’s parents expect of him regarding his behaviour. They expect him to be happy and jovial as would any other parents. Dark symbolises Romeo’s negativity and how he actually feels.
Romeo’s melancholic behaviour captivates the audience as they are eager to know why. The story of Romeo and Juliet is more to do with love than hate. Nearly every scene of the text has love conveyed in them in some way. From the pain Romeo suffered from the rejection of Rosalyn, to the first scene where the two lovers meet, the only scene in the whole story where love isn’t portrayed is the very first scene. This is where we see the first conflict between the Capulets and the Montagues. I think this scene was designed to stand out so it would give some balance and element of surprise to the whole play, because if Shakespeare decided to make the first scene go straight into the elements of tragedy, then the audience would have lost interest as that is what they expected and predicted after hearing the prologue.
Shakespeare contrasts the elements of comedy (Sampson and Gregory), tension (the brawl) and melancholy (Romeo) in the first scene in order to achieve that ‘hook’ over the audience, which is how the first scene “sets up” the rest of the play. By contrasting these themes, Shakespeare engages the audience and constantly surprises them.