The Impact of the Opening Quarrel between the Servants in Romeo and Juliet

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The Impact of the Opening Quarrel between the Servants in Romeo and Juliet You can examine the dramatic impact of the opening quarrel between the

servants . Show how the petty quarrel that they don’t understand

immediately creates an atmosphere of dissension and violence. Look at

the sordid jokes that these uneducated men make and explain that the

whole effect is one of ignorance and increasing unrest.

Trace the way that the quarrel escalates into something much more

serious: this shows us the way that a meaningless feud can spread to

all sections of society and cause more and more difficulties. Show how

the silly bickering of the lowest members of the social hierarchy

leads to the much more significant and frightening confrontation

between Tybalt and Benvolio.

Then you can go onto show how we are introduced to the quarrelling

houses in the context of the street brawl. This helps to mould our

opinion of the whole feud, making us see that it demeans the dignity

of the older generation by bringing them to the same level in public

as their servants.

Describe the violence of the fight between Tybalt and Benvolio,

explaining the impact on the audience of this one to one combat early

in the play: we feel apprehension for the future as such an event

takes place. The whole atmosphere of spreading antagonism is created

quickly and effectively, and we also get to know the qualities of the

main characters very quickly: Old Capulet is immediately shown to be a

silly, interfering, old man, for instance.

So the opening is effective,...

... middle of paper ...

...s again they will be put

to death. Obviously, this is in the back of the audience’s mind when

Tybalt challenges Romeo to a duel, and both Mercutio and Tybalt are

killed. We fear that Romeo will be killed for his involvement, yet he

is only banished. As it turns out, the banishment leads to his death

anyway.

The violence in Act 1 is designed to be contrasted with the love in

the play. The fury of the first scene is set against Romeo’s

unrequited love for Rosaline. As an opening, the fight draws the

audience immediately into the play, and because we don’t know much

about the characters we don’t have sympathy on either side of the

feud. Once the fight has been stopped, then we want to learn about

what could have possibly caused it. The little argument at the

beginning was so trivial, but it had massive consequences.

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