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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