romeo and juliet first meeting essay

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Analyse the dramatic importance of Romeo and Juliet's first meeting and the fight scene.

Taibah Rehman 10E        

“Romeo and Juliet”

Analyse the dramatic importance of Romeo and Juliet’s first meeting and the fight scene.

This essay will analyse the dramatic importance of Romeo and Juliet’s first meeting and the fight scene. The play shows the fate of two lovers victimized by the disputes and misunderstandings of their elders and by there own quick temperament. Shakespeare borrowed the tragic story of the two young Italian lovers from a long narrative poem, the story was originally written by English writer Arthur Brooke. Shakespeare however added the character of Mercutio and increased the roles of the friar and the nurse. The two scenes in Romeo and Juliet are dramatically important because the two scenes are the major causes of the story line. The first scene this essay will be analysing is Act 1 Scene 5; this scene is where Romeo and Juliet first meet. The other scene the essay will be analysing is Act 3 Scene 1 this scene is where Tybalt challenges Romeo to fight but refuses, so Mercutio challenges Tybalt which results in his death. Within the play they portray love and conflict in negative and positive ways. In Act 1 Scene 5 Romeo and Juliet’s passion for one another over comes the fact that they belong to families that hate one another. The religious imagery in their speech indicates the depth of their feelings. However, in this scene the aggression of Tybalt’s language shows how love and conflict sit side by side in this play. in Act 3 scene 1 Tybalt is bursting with aggression and is determined to pick a fight, even Romeo feels he must fight his cousin (by marriage) when Mercutio is killed. The violence contrasts with the peace, surrounding the lovers whilst they are together. The love between Romeo and Juliet is so deep and passionate that it is more powerful than hatred or death.

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 Death is constantly predicted in the play. At the beginning of the play the prince threatens to put to death anyone found fighting in the streets. In Act 1 Scene 5 Juliet says she will die if she cannot marry Romeo. In Act 3 Scene 1, Mercutio and Tybalt die violently, this event ensures that Romeo is banished and eventually brings about the death of Romeo and Juliet. Families at the time this play was written were very traditional family units starting from the father as the head of the house then downwards. People were very religious and believed in natural order, so when Juliet disobeyed her father the audience thought to it as unnatural  

Act 1 Scene 5 is dramatically important because Romeo and Juliet first meet. This scene is also where Romeo realizes he does not love Rosaline ‘ Did my heart love till now, forswear it sight, for I ne’er saw   true beauty till this night.’  Romeo does not think at this point because he is in true love he speaks his heart, Shakespeare fills there conversation with religious language and imagery.

Romeo: “have not saint’s lips, and holy palmers to?”

Juliet: “ay, pilgrim, lips that they must use in pray”

By using this language and imagery, Shakespeare is emphasizing to the audience that Romeo and Juliet’s love for one another is true love. And an innocent one. This is very different from the detailed and carefully though-out language that Romeo used earlier in the play when talking about Rosaline.

 The scene then goes on where Tybalt spots Romeo, but when he goes to tell Lord Capulet, Capulet allows Romeo to stay, forbidding Tybalt from making any scene in front of the guests, ‘he shall be endured, what Goodman here or you? Go to, you’ll not endure him.’  At this point the argument between Tybalt and Lord Capulet confirms the audience’s views that Tybalt is very aggressive. Tybalt now has a concrete reason to hate Romeo. The scene at this point is very dramatically important because it is the development of Tybalt’s character showing aggression which foreshadows the fight in Act 3 Scene 1. Tybalt’s exit after the threat makes the threat hang in the air, and more aggressive.  In this scene the key themes in play include love, where Romeo and Juliet meet and death where Tybalt vows revenge. In this scene Romeo’s characterization is of a fair person who shows his affection, and real feelings no matter what the consequences. Juliet’s character is of a respectful person who also shows her affection and is not afraid to speak her mind.

Act 3 scene 1 is also dramatically important because it is the pivotal point of the play and ends in consequences. The mood of the start of the scene is a change from the rest of the scenes in the play; the scene is all about love and fun, with two rich families and no major aggression. At the beginning the plays mood is playful, from the comedy of Mercutio and the Nurse. The scene sees Mercutio joking at Benvolio’s expense. Here Shakespeare emphasizes that Mercutio is party a comic character because he uses pros and cons, “thy head is full as quarrels as an egg is full of meat, and yet thy head hath been beaten as addle as an egg for quarrelling”.

However, when Tybalt arrives Mercutio reverts to using blank verse showing that both characters are high up in society.  When Romeo arrives he too uses blank verse. Tybalt shows that he is an aggressive character when his immediate greeting to Romeo is, “ Romeo, the love I bear thee can afford, no better term than this: thou art a villain”. This is a turning point in the play and a shocking point in the play because Romeo’s refusal to fight makes the audience tense and also the audience and Romeo know that he is now related to Tybalt by marriage. Romeo shows how genuine a character he is and how his love for her by trying to make peace with her cousin Tybalt. “ Tybalt the reason I have to love thee doth much excuse the appertaining rage to such a greeting ”. Mercutio’s involvement immediately increases the tension, the fight between Tybalt and Mercutio is dramatic because Mercutio has already insulted Tybalt by making fun of his name: he calls him “ a rat catcher ” and “ king of cats” , but this becomes ironic when he calls his fatal wound a “scratch” . Mercutio continues to joke, even though he knows that he is fatally wounded, and his language then turns in to a religious tone. He says that the wound is not as “ wide as a church door ” but if Romeo tries to see him the next day, he will find him a “grave man” Mercutio even till this point carries on using pun.

Romeo’s self conscience snaps and we see another side to Romeo’s personality, his language also change considerably in the scene, “this days black fate on moe days doth depend, this but begins the woe others must end”      

  His language has been initially forgiving towards Tybalt but has a threatening feel after Mercutio is killed. After Tybalt kills Mercutio, Romeo’s many emotions are in turmoil and the strength of his grief and anger are plain for the audience to see,”  Away to heaven, respective lenity and fire-eyed fury be my conduct now! ”

This is understandable and supports the view of the audience that Romeo is a character who wears his heart on his sleeve and is to an extent ruled by his emotion in the play. In this scene the key themes involve all death, conflict and love. The scene ends on an awful note to the prince banishing Romeo to Mantua.

Both scenes are dramatic in there own way, because the two scenes are the storyline of the play. If these two scenes were not as dramatic as they are, the play wouldn’t be as popular as it is. The play dramatizes life’s conflicts and shows that no matter how much deep the hatred is love will over come it. After the death of their only son and daughter they agree to make up, however if this wasn’t the result they wouldn’t have made up showing that death had to bring them together. Throughout the play, the dramatic quality improves because the scene starts to include more tension towards the audience within the play.        

Document Details

• Word Count 1411
• Page Count 4
• Subject English

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