How Shakespeare Engages the Audience in the First Act of Romeo and Juliet

How Shakespeare Engages the Audience in the First Act of Romeo and Juliet

"Romeo and Juliet" is one of Shakespeare's most famous plays. Perhaps

part of the reason for this is because of how well he manages to grab

the audience's attention in the first act. After all, if the first

part was boring, nobody would bother to read the rest. One of the main

factors which Shakespeare uses to interest the audience is with humour

and puns, which is why the play may not seem as appealing today as it

did in Shakespeare's time, since we don't understand most of the

jokes. Even the jokes we do understand may not seem very amusing by

modern standards. Here is such an example from the first page of Act

One:

SAMSON: 'Tis true; and therefore women, being the weaker vessels, are

ever thrust to the wall. Therefore I will push Montague's men from the

wall, and thrust his maids to the wall.

In terms of modern English, Sampson is saying that he will kill all

the men of the Montague family and rape the women. For those who have

read Shakespeare's work before, the joke is not very difficult to

decipher; but even those who do know what he is saying are unlikely to

find it funny. There are various other similar instances of

'Shakespeare humour' in the first act, as well as the rest of the

play.

The very first factor you are likely to notice when reading the play

however, is that 'Fate' plays a large part in the outcome of the play.

An example of this is shown at the beginning of the play in the

prologue. Shakespeare wants us all to realise straight away that

"Romeo and Juliet" isn't going to be a joyful romance story with a

'happily ever after endi...

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...audience. However, it is quite interesting how in the

first act of the play, Shakespeare seems to be trying to make it look

like the Capulet family are more in the wrong than those in the house

of Montague.

For example, at the beginning of the play, it is the servants of

Capulet who start a violent quarrel in the street. Romeo's cousin

Benvolio (which is Latin for 'Peace loving') tries, and nearly

succeeds in ending the fight peacefully. It is at that point that

Juliet's cousin Tybalt (which is Latin for 'War-monger') steps in, and

his presence causes the fight to escalate to the point where Prince

Escalus (the Prince of Verona) has to be called in to halt the brawl.

All the points I have listed above, and possibly others, show how

Shakespeare manages to engage the audience in the Act One of "Romeo

and Juliet."