Romeo and Juliet

I think the main turning point in this scene is Romeo reading the letter (invitation) from the illiterate servant, Shakespeare makes this scene fit perfectly in the play by getting the party in where Romeo and Juliet first meet. The thing that stimulates Romeo to attend the party is the invitation, which had Rosaline’s name on it. Earlier Romeo was talking about her with Benvolio and said that he was madly in love with her. ‘Not mad, but bound more then a madman is’ (Act 1 Scene 2, lines 50 -55).

Capulet and Paris are in the middle of a conversation, Capulet says that he and Montague had become old and should stop the ongoing family rivalry. Paris asks for Juliet’s hand in marriage. Capulet indirectly approves the proposal but asks for two summers (two years) to pass because Juliet is still young. ‘My child is still a stranger to the world, she hath not seen the change of fourteen years’ (Act 1 Scene 2, lines 5 -10).

In lines 32 – 33 Capulet gives similar advice that Benvolio gave to Romeo, he asks Paris to look at other lades and compare them with Juliet. Capulet shows that he is a very loving father who is concerned about Juliet’s future and well – being (letting her chose who she marries) but we see a very different approach later in the play. In this scene Capulet express more love for Juliet when he states, ‘Earth hath swallowed all my hopes but she’ (Act 1 Scene 2, lines 10 -15). This might mean that Capulet had other children that had died.

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After reading the letter and the strong urge from Benvolio, Romeo decides to go to the party (in the next scene). Different events unfold step by step, some of which are predictable while others come as an extensive surprise. The audience get an ounce of an idea that Romeo is going to meet Juliet at the party.The feeling of risks, guilt and suspense begins to creep in this scene; there was a street fight at the beginning of the play, but that was quite ordinary due to the ongoing family feud. This scene changes the whole plot of the story because if Romeo had never read the invitation then he wouldn’t have attended the party. The heart of the drama is the conflict between the two families and the love between Romeo and Juliet.Both Romeo and Juliet have to conquer a mental war; ‘desire versus responsibility’. For Romeo who is an adventurous and emotional young man, who is also quite immature at the beginning of the play, his desire overcame his responsibility. He is vastly unpredictable because at the beginning of the play it seems that he is madly in love with Rosaline and he won’t give her up, but later we find out that he looses all his feelings towards her when he meets Juliet. I think he was quite irresponsible when he didn’t have a second thought towards Juliet, he should have thought about all the complications and the consequence. Later in the play Romeo takes some responsibility when he tried to make peace with Tybalt. He took great risks and truly loved Juliet. He is also quite emotional, and a little bit softhearted looking for the easy way out when he thought he lost Juliet.Likewise Juliet who is very young (less then fourteen years) is a very obedient and conventional upper class daughter and is loyal to the father. When she falls in love with Romeo she dramatically changes. She begins to show a very practical side to her character and proves to be very determined and independent minded. She is intelligent and perceptive, possibly more so then Romeo. She is utterly loyal to Romeo and defies the whole world for him. She easily could have chose Paris was a gentleman but stayed loyal. She is prepared to risk taking a very dangerous drug to fake her death so that she could be with Romeo. She accepts death willingly when fate had turned against both of them at the end.This scene creates the whole plot and storyline in the play. The scene also creates many problems and opens a path for further things to come. For example the indirect approval of Paris’ offer to marry Juliet creates a massive problem for Romeo, Juliet and especially Friar Lawrence. The party hosted by Capulet is where Romeo and Juliet met.In the earlier scene Romeo was expressing his love for Rosaline, which was the sheer reason of him attending the party. In the next scene when he attends the party, he briefly meets Juliet and each of them learn of each other’s love and identity.I’d say there are three main parts in this scene:; The conversation between Capulet and Paris; When the servant is wondering what to do with the letter; When Benvolio and Romeo are talking to each otherHowever it is possible to break these scenes down to smaller parts.At the beginning of the scene Capulet admits that he is willing to keep peace. ‘For men so old as we to keep the peace’ (Act 1 Scene 2, lines 1-5).Capulet and Paris enter in the middle of a conversation where they were discussing the peace. After some time in the conversation Paris starts to flatter Capulet with his speech and asks for Juliet’s hand in marriage. ‘But now my lord what do you say to my suit’ (Act 1 Scene 2, lines 5 -10).Capulet replies by saying that Juliet is too young to get married and still is a stranger to this world; he is also replying Paris for the second time. ‘But saying o’er what I have said before’ (Act 1 Scene 2, lines 10 -15).After getting an indirect acceptance of his proposal from Capulet, Paris still requests that the time is right. ‘Younger then she are happier mothers made’ (Act 1 Scene 2, lines 5 -10).Capulet still believes that Juliet is too young to get married and renews his thoughts to Paris. Capulet invites Paris to a feast saying that there will be many attractive women and he should compare them to Juliet. Paris is very keen to marry Juliet and on the other hand Juliet is totally against the idea (after meeting Romeo). She is not willing to exchange Romeo for Paris who is a well-respected Gentleman.I think Juliet is too young to even think about getting married. Although in the olden days girls probably used to get married younger; thirteen years is far too young to make the kind of decisions she made. She took many risks and followed her heart. At this age, one would assume she would give up one passion (Romeo) for another (Paris) but she didn’t. Before here meeting with Romeo she seemed to be a very obedient daughter, but later all this changed dramatically.Capulet suggests that old men are better to keep the peace than young men and better to keep their tempers then young men. And in act this proves to be largely true. It is young men who lose their tempers and get involved in stupid fights. However it is also true that Capulet and lady Capulet show them selves of keeping their tempers with Juliet.Shakesphire shows the issue of behaving moderately more concerned with old people who can behave responsibly, where as young people are to challengeable and passionate.Friar Lawrence is constantly arguing immoderate passions but without success.In Romeo and Juliet the parents don’t come out as responsible people, especially Juliet’s parents, who are more concerned with social success, prestigious marriage for their daughter, then they are in making them happy. At the beginning of the scene it seems that Capulet is a very carrying and considerate father who will let Juliet decide who she will marry, but we find out differently later in the play. I think Juliet has the right to decide whom she gets married to. Capulet tells Paris that his agreement will only be a part of the decision for Paris to marry Juliet, and that Juliet will have to also agree.Capulet plays a larger role then Montague in the play. He is shown to be very understanding but as a matter of fact is quite aggressive, especially towards Juliet near the end of the play.The characters that participate in this scene are Capulet, an unpredictable father; Paris, a smart gentleman who wants Juliet’s hand in marriage; Capulet’s servant who is illiterate and not very cleaver (he muddles his words up); Romeo, an adventures young man and Benvolio his friend.I think the impression we got from this scene was misleading because Capulet is shown to be calm and considerate but we learn otherwise and Romeo seem to be very irresponsible and quite straight forward but isn’t.The characters that are at the heart of the scene are Capulet, Paris and Romeo. Capulet and Paris do most of the gossip while Romeo shares his feelings with Benvolio. The servant played quite an important role because if Romeo didn’t read the invitations then the story could not have proceeded.Although Juliet does not participate in this scene she is greatly the main subject of speech between Capulet and Paris. When we discover that Romeo is going to attend the party we have a suspicion that Romeo will meet Juliet.I think every main character is affected by the events of this scene.Romeo – Door opens to meet Juliet, gets banished and commits suicide.Juliet – Door opens to meet Romeo, rejects proposal from Paris and commits suicide.Capulet – looses loyalty from his daughter, gets aggressive, makes peace with Montague.Montague – Looses his son and makes peace with Capulet.Tybalt – Fights with Romeo and gets killed.Paris – doesn’t marry Juliet and gets killed.Friar Lawrence – gives drug to Juliet, explained what happened.There are not many arguments in this scene; Paris is flattering Capulet in order to gain approval of his proposal to Juliet. Romeo and Benvolio are talking to each other like normal friends.This scene shows that Romeo is a normal young man who is madly in love, he uses many metaphors in his speech such as, ‘Not mad, but bound more than a madman is’ (Act 1 Scene 2, lines 50 -55). Romeo is quite adventures and not as hard hearted as most of the characters. Romeo is shown to be a very irresponsible person but that dramatically changes in the play. We learn just how much he loves Rosaline, even though we learn later that his love for Rosaline is very shallow. This can cause a doubt over the extant of Romeo’s love for Juliet, but I think his love for Juliet is as deep as he claims it to be because he dies for her at the end.Some conflicts can be resolved. When Romeo refused to fight Tybalt he thought he had a solution to the problem, he accepted looking like a coward. However his solution didn’t work; instead he later ended up killing Tybalt due to the fact that Tybalt killed his friend Mercutio.’An underlying problem’, Romeo and Juliet are trying to live in an idealistic way in a society, which is not idealistic at all. They are practicing love in a society, which is full of hate. They are Romantic in a cynical society, which is focused on wealth and sex.We get to know the characters by their speech, especially Paris. Paris is shown to be a smart person who is very intelligent and persuasive. However unlike Paris, Romeo is shown to be a person who is not concerned in worldly matters except love. His metaphors are not connected with each other. Benvolio is a good friend to Romeo who gives him advice; he also cares for his well-being.Romeo talks in contradictions, for example when discussing love with Benvolio he says, ‘not mad, but bound more then a madman is: shut up in prison, kept without my food, whipped and tormented’. (Act 1 Scene 2, lines 50 -55).The image of stars; Capulet talks about stars walking the earth, what he means is that women walking around as beautiful stars. Shakesphire uses the image of stars quite often. Later, when Romeo is desperate thinking Juliet has died, he defies the stars, but this time the stars mean something quite different. When he is defying the stars, he is defying the heavens, which in those days was thought of as the place where God lived, and so he is really defying God.Capulet uses some figures of speeches, which are rather typical of shakesphire’s writing when he makes comments about all his other children that are dead and have been buried.In Act 1 Scene 1 the immediate thing that happened leading up to the scene was Romeo and Benvolio talking about Romeo’s love. This scene (Act 1 Scene 2) sets up the whole storyline in the play and makes other events unfold in due time (e.g. the party).I think Juliet’s Parents are trying to do what they think is best for her. If there had not been a family conflict then they would possibly have had no problem with Juliet meeting Romeo; except maybe for the issue of age. Juliet is motivated and very determined to follow her inexperienced heart.I conclude by saying that this scene is one of the most important scene in the play. It changes the whole flow of the story changing everything, creating dilemmas and causing characters to take desperate risks.