Explore How Shakespeare Creates a Dramatic Climax in the First Meeting between Romeo and Juliet Essay Example For Students

Explore How Shakespeare Creates a Dramatic Climax  in the First Meeting between Romeo and Juliet Essay The first meeting between Romeo and Juliet is a special moment in the play for numerous reasons: their love amid the hate of the feud between their families, the time of their meeting and the place in which they meet all contribute to the dramatic climax. To draw attention to Romeo and Juliets first meeting, Shakespeare uses the sonnet a complex and highly artificial verse form, popular in the 16th century and generally regarded as the proper medium for love poetry. Romeo starts with devout religious utterance: If I profane with my unworthiest hand, This holy shrine He develops the religious image for four lines, which rhyme alternately (ABAB), then Juliet picks up the same image, speaking the next four lines in the same pattern (with rhyme CBCB). A third quatrain is shared between the two (rhyme DEDE) and a final couplet is spoken the first line by Juliet, the second by Romeo, who clearly takes advantage to kiss Juliet at the end of this line. Then move not while my prayers effect I take The sonnet form is used to emphasise the lovers isolation from the society in which they live; and the way in which they share the same extended image and same verse form emphasises the harmony of their thoughts. Even so, one should notice that Juliet manages to tease Romeo a little within the solemn expression of devotion. The effect of the religious imagery is to show the strength and intensity of the relationship that is developing, as religious devotion is considered the highest devotion. The references to pilgrimage are also appropriate because in Italian the name Romeo means pilgrim to Rome. After the kiss, it appears that the lovers are about to start a second sonnet, but they are interrupted. This interruption could be seen as prophetic of the separation and ill-fortune to come. Dramatic irony creates tension as Romeo woos Juliet, unaware that Tybalt has just pledged to end his life for intruding on the Capulet celebrations. The love between Romeo and Juliet contrasts with the hate of Tybalt and the hate between the Capulets and Montagues, and this love amidst hate is one of the main themes of the play. Romeo himself says: Heres much to do with hate, but more with love The audience is challenged to make sense of this paradox. Prophetic irony is abundant in Romeo and Juliet: before they go to the Capulet ball, Benvolio tells Romeo to: Compare her face with some that I shall show And I will make thee think thy swan a crow. Romeo does, and the result is that Rosaline is forgotten and he falls in love with Juliet. However, the main purpose of prophetic irony in the play is to create tension: in Romeo and Juliet it is quite clear that the lovers have to die, that they are doomed. Shakespeare here has a simple conception of tragedy: that the lovers are the victims of circumstances. They are not responsible for their destinies: a terrible succession of twists of fate destroys them. Had any one of so many things been different, all would have been well: had Friar Laurences letter been delivered, had Juliet woken earlier, etc. These coincidences are hardly realistic, but they do serve an important dramatic purpose: because things keep going against the lovers we begin to feel that a hostile fate is working against them. Shakespeare deliberately encourages this view throughout the play. At the very beginning the chorus tells us that we are to see a pair of star-crossd lovers and from then on there are repeated ominous suggestions that Romeo and Juliet are fated to die. Even before Romeo has seen Juliet, as he is about to join Capulets party, he says: my mind misgives Some consequence yet hanging in the stars some vile forfeit of untimely death. He is, of course, right, and the audience, hearing these lines, fears as much. The moment after they have met, each lover has a similar foreboding that this love will end in disaster. When Benvolio says Away, be gone. The sport is at its best, Romeo replies Ay, so I fear, meaning he fears things can only get worse from now on. When he discovers that Juliet is a Capulet, Romeo says: Is she a Capulet? O dear account! My life is my foes debt. Juliet, on learning Romeos identity from the Nurse, says: Prodigious birth of love it is to me That I must love a loathed enemy References like these throughout the play gradually increase the air of foreboding and strengthen the impression, which the sad succession of hostile chances has given, that there is nothing Romeo and Juliet can do. One recurring kind of remark works particularly strongly to darken the atmosphere of the play. She herself first speaks like this the moment after she has met Romeo: Go ask his name If he be married My grave is like to be my wedding bed. Time and again, Shakespeare introduces the idea that Juliet will be the bride of Death. William Shakespeares Hamlet EssayThe other noticeable change in Romeo is best illustrated by Mercutios remarks: Why, is this not better now than groaning for love? Now art thou sociable, now art thou Romeo; now art thou what thou art, by art as well as by nature: for this drivelling love is like a great natural, that runs lolling up and down to hide his bauble in a hole. Romeo had been downhearted and melancholy whilst pining over Rosaline, but once he meets and falls in love with Juliet, his friends notice that a marked change in him, in that he is witty and sociable, and himself again. Juliet also undergoes a change, but she is never presumptuous and silly like Romeo in the earlier part of the play. She is modest, subdued, and quite without knowledge of the nature and power of love when we first meet her. When her mother suggests that Paris might make a good husband, Juliet simply replies: Ill look to like, if looking liking move. But no more deep will I endart mine eye Than your consent gives strength to make it fly For Juliet, the meeting with Romeo is an awakening to what love is, and with this she discovers a new resolution: she flatly contradicts her promise of obedience by marrying Romeo secretly. She emerges as a strong and practical personality far more so than Romeo. In the balcony scene, she addresses Romeo directly and plainly, asking down-to-earth questions to which Romeo replies with elaborate images. When she discovers that Romeo has overheard her confessing her love for him, she does not deny it, but with startling and winning directness dismisses all the forms of courtship: But farewell compliment! Dost thou love me? I know thou wilt say Ay. And I will take thy word. Shakespeare admired this kind of honesty: it is Juliet, one notices, who first mentions marriage and sets Romeo on to arrange it. Thus, both hero and heroine undergo a clear change. It is to make this plain that Shakespeare does not bring them together until the end of the first act. By then, we have got to know their characters and situation and can better appreciate the transformation that occurs. Seeing it, the audience cannot but admire their love, believe in its power and sympathise with the lovers predicament. The beauty of the scenes in which the lovers meet is in itself proof enough that Shakespeare wants the audience to respond wholly and totally to this love. Did he not want this, he would not have made it sound so attractive, nor would he have made Romeo and Juliet such appealing people. However there is a further significant element in the play which affects the audiences response. The parents that Romeo and Juliet defy are engaged in a feud. The love of the hero and heroine is set in a context of hate. This is an extremely important point to grasp. The plays first scene is concerned with this feud; we are made aware of it before ever we meet Romeo and Juliet. Indeed, it is the very first thing the Chorus mentions in the Prologue: Two households, both alike in dignity In fair Verona, where we lay our scene, From ancient grudge break to new mutiny, Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean Throughout the play the audience is constantly reminded of this feud. Although it is not revealed what began it (and so the audience cannot take sides) it is of very long standing (an ancient grudge). There is a reason that Shakespeare spends so much time on this feud: although everyone else in the play may be full of good sense, they are all also engaged in a feud which is the opposite of love. The audience cannot prefer their way of life to that of Romeo and Juliet, who want nothing to do with the feud. In short, the world of Romeo and Juliets love seems a haven of peace and love removed from all this brawling and hate. There are many factors that contribute to the dramatic climax at Romeo and Juliets first meeting. By the end of Act 1, Shakespeare has fully engaged the audience in the love story of which the first meeting is the beginning, yet it feels like a climax given its context and nature. The prologue tells the audience at the very beginning of the play that this is to be a great and tragic love story, and thus the lovers first meeting at the end of Act 1 is long-awaited and -expected by the audience, creating dramatic tension. The first meeting is short but intense private yet in a public place and tragedy immediately threatens. The young lovers are presented sympathetically, encouraging the audience to believe in the prospects of the relationship, even against their better judgement, and to rejoice at their happiness. The meeting also creates anticipation for the rest of the play, as the audience wonders what will become of Tybalt, the feud, and most importantly of Romeo and Juliet.