Romeo_&_Juliet

I’ve got to say before I start that, I’ve struggled like hell with this. Its not so much the language or the play itself. I have actually enjoyed reading and understanding it, and it has shocked me how interested I have become. The problem is the question of the Dramatic Opening, and how best to answer it. I feel that so much has already been discussed and did not want to just repeat what has been already said. After studying this piece I appreciate how clever Shakespeare was with his writing. He uses such a lot of different techniques that it is hard to pinpoint the ones that make the real difference. Because of this I am going to briefly run through the story so far telling some of my views and hopefully by the end I should have answered the question. When we first started looking at the prologue, I think we were all a bit shock that he actually tell the audience what is going to happen. The more I think about it the more I feel that the prologue was a necessity rather that a choice. If you imagine being sat in the audience waiting to watch the play, all you would really know is the title and nothing more. This is in contrast with what would happen today. When we go to the cinema I’d say at least 90% of the time we have at least an idea about the plot or storyline. The prologue is necessary to speed up the play. In films of today you can flick very quickly between scenes and time frames to build up a picture and set the scene in the first 10 minutes. You can’t easily do that in a play and let’s remember that this was always intended to be a play. I do think that Shakespeare has been very clever in how this background information has been structured though. He has listed all the points that would be hard to put across on stage, without giving anything really away. At first sight it seems that he is telling the whole story but when you look at it he does not say all that much. CLICK I think the prologue can be split into two half's, the first giving you the facts that are missing on stage. CLICK No need to mention where it is set on stage. CLICK Ancient grudge from long ago can’t really be implied on stage. CLICK Feud has spread amongst innocent bystanders. CLICK What I do notice is that right from the start, for a love story it’s all doom and gloom. CLICK Blood, fatal, take their life, death The last point to make is that he has given you the ending. Two children of the raging families are going to fall in love and then commit suicide. In knowing this from the start it makes every step along the way more deeply felt. It’s a way of playing with your emotions and is dramatic in itself. The prologue also creates dramatic irony in that the audience now know more about what is going on than the characters them selves. CLICK This half tells us that the from the falling in love to the suicide And the continuance of the family feud CLICK Is what the play is about CLICK It then goes on to say whatever is not understood with become clear throughout the play. Shakespeare has deliberately left lots of blanks and questions to draw you in. This whole prologue is made very dramatic by chanting it out deeply and seriously, doom, gloom, and death. Nothing else would be happening, all is dark. It creates suspense and gets everyone on the edges of their seats waiting to see what is coming. Scene one is then a complete contrast. Its bright, happy and jovial, the servants of the Capulet's are joking and having a bit of a laugh at the expense of the Montague's. The servants are fairly unimportant to the story itself, but this scene is set up to expand on what is already known from the prologue and introduce quite a few main characters. Going back to the prologue, Shakespeare is showing Verona to be a happy, nice, place, and is introducing this old feud that we already know exists. Again it is also showing that the hatred between the Montague's and Capulet's has spread farther than just the families themselves but also the people around them as hinted at in the prologue. As we have mentioned before there is a lot of word play and innuendos here. CLICK I’ll take the heads of maids or their maidenheads CLICK It’s the maids who will feel what you mean, not take it. CLICK They’ll feel me all right. Can be taken as ‘for as long as I can keep it up’ or ‘for as long as I can stand and fight.’ Still keeping up this innuendo and word play. The mood then changes again with the entrance of two servants from the Montague’s. Samp and Greg are now stirring up trouble while trying not to break the law. This whole conversation is to provoke a reaction in the Montague’s servants. I think this is because of what had been said in joke before, now they had to save face with each other but didn’t really want a fight. CLICK Are you trying to start a fight' CLICK If you are then let’s have it. My boss is as good as yours. CLICK Asking is he not better' Because they see Tybalt coming they feel they must defend the family and so up their game and say that he is better. If it was not for this then I think that everything would have simmered down and not got out of hand. Again this in a way comes back to the families being the underlying problem in everything. They start to fight, and then Benvolio from the Montagues turns up. Now up until this point Shakespeare has been developing the tension and the lethal hatred between these two families, but he has done it in a way that allows him to start slowly introducing the main characters, while giving the audience the time to learn who they are, their personality, and their relationships to one another. We instantly see Benvolio try to stop the fight. CLICK Put your swords down you idiots, you don’t know what your doing. And then in contrast Tybalt arrives and just wants the off. CLICK What are you doing with these idiots' Turn around and watch me kill you. They exchange a few words, and in just two lines each really you have learned everything you need to know about them. Benvolio is a quite calm, passive, nice person and Tybalt is the exact opposite, being very rowdy, fiery, and aggressive. CLICK I hate the word peace as much as hell, all of the Montegues, and you, now fight me you pussy. All in just 4 lines of the play. Then all of a sudden the whole town is fighting, but they don’t care what its about their just fighting for the sake of it. It has spread into a riot. CLICK Down with the Capulets, down with the Montagues. And all this started because the two servants were having a bit of a joke that got out of control because of little more that Tybalts presence on scene. Now the whole towns fighting and along comes the heads of each house with their wives. It’s the same thing really, they say very little, yet the audience feels like they already know them. The wives are very much the same, they don’t want their husbands involved and just want to go home and forget it. The men on the other hand are very proud people and cant back down from the fight. And then the pace changes completely again with the entrance of the Prince. Another very dramatic entrance for the prince and his men. Fighting quickly stops and people leave the scene. Until now there has been very little said in the play so now is an opportunity to actually give the audience some actual facts. It’s the 3rd time this has happened. CLICK There will be consequences if it ever happens again. The line still leaving the audience to interpret the meaning for them selves. Now that the pace is suitably slow they can prime Romeos entrance. Again the pace has a lot to do with each characters personality, so the audience can feel who they are. If Romeo had arrived earlier it would have confused the audience. The conversation between Lady Mongague and Benvolio now is to prime the audience so they are already aware that he has issues and they already have a good feeling of who he is even before they meet him. It’s been a rough ride up until now. A dramatic opening, then light and humorous, then strait into fights and riots, before a sudden end with the words from the prince. And now the audience has been drawn into this feeling of sorrow and pity for Romeo before he's even said anything. This feeling is heightened dramatically because they already know that he is going to die. We learn that he is in a bad way because he is in love, but the girl is rejecting all of his advances. We’ve suddenly gone from death and hatred to a complete, overwhelming, and infatuated love for someone. Romeos language is completely different to what has been used so far. He is very sensitive and caring. His use of repeated oxymorons lead you to believe he is confused, love sick, and not rational. CLICK Brawling love, loving hate, heavy lightness, and it continues, there all opposites. CLICK Also until now death and hatred has been the theme, but now with Romeo we see love repeated over and over. During this whole conversation between Romeo and Benvolio about Romeos love that he can not have, the insight given to us in the prologue leads you to think he must be talking about Juliet. This is another example of Shakespeare playing with us and leading us to jump to conclusions.