The Dramatic Contribution of Lord Capulet, Romeo and Tybalt in Act 1 Scene 5 of Romeo & Juliet

The Dramatic Contribution of Lord Capulet, Romeo and Tybalt in Act 1 Scene 5 of Romeo & Juliet

Shakespeare brings these characters together in this scene to make it

more dramatic in various ways. In this scene Lord Capulet is throwing

a party to celebrate her daughter, Juliet's engagement with a very

wealthy man called Paris. Romeo, a Montague, the rival family of the

Capulet's has been persuaded by some friends to go and gate crash the

party with them to prove to Romeo that there are plenty of other great

women around due to him being depressed about him being away from his

current girl friend, Rosaline.

In this Shakespeare makes Lord Capulet speak in Blank Verse, this

suggests that Lord Capulet is a very important and wealthy character

in the play. In this Scene Lord Capulet's function is to provide a bit

of light relief for the audience and to show goodness in the scene. He

also reflects ideas of Shakespeare's time such as the father is the

leader of the family and the use of arranged marriages in that time.

Lord Capulet starts off the scene as a very happy person as his

daughter is now engaged with a man he approves of. He wants his guests

to enjoy the party as much as they can, we can see this because he

greets them and makes a joking comment to them, "Welcome gentlemen, I

have seen the day that I have worn a visor, and could tell a

whispering tale in a fair lady's ear". He addresses his guests very

formally and is very polite.

In this scene Romeo seems very dazed once he has set his eyes on

Juliet and becomes more and more interested in her. This is very

ironic because both there families hate each other and just a few

scenes before this there was a large fight between both families. He

also becomes very calm. He speaks formally because he is in love and

has a lot of feelings now and seems to have completely forgotten about

Rosaline and has cheered up a lot.