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First Act of William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet
First Act of William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet
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First Act of William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet
Shakespeare interests his audience through showing the universal theme
of love and conflict. He uses different grammatical devices to
demonstrate this.
The first time the audience encounter the protagonists is in the
prologue. The prologue reveals to the audience the conflict that is
taking place between the Capulet's and the Montague's. The prologue
also states that
Romeo and Juliet
are also doomed. This is shown by
their relationship being termed as a
'death-mark'd love'
showing that their relationship's fate has already been set out for
disaster. This creates a sense of sympathy in the audience for the
protagonists. It also creates some suspense because although the
audience already knows that Romeo and Juliet are doomed, they want to
know how they will get together in the first place if they are in
enemy families.
After the prologue, the play opens with a dramatic conflict. This
stresses how much hatred there is between the Capulet's and the
Montague's. This creates interest in the audience about how the
protagonists will meet and fall in love.
The first time we hear about Romeo is from his mother after a fight
took place. She says
'Right glad he was not at this fray.'
This could imply to the audience that Romeo is a gentle person and so
his mother is worried about him, or that Romeo is usually in fights
and his mother is thankful that he was not in this one.
From line 112 to line 149, Romeo's family are talking about his mood.
They are afraid that his mood could get dangerous because Montague
says
'Black and portentous must this humour prove,
Unless good counsel mat the cause remove.'
This shows the audience that his family really cares about Romeo
meaning that he is a respectable person otherwise his family would not
care about what is disturbing him.
From line 158 Benvolio and Romeo are having a conversation about what
is disturbing Romeo. Romeo says that that he is still in love.
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