Act One of Romeo and Juliet Essay -- English Literature

Act One immediately engages the audience. Do you agree with this statement? How does Shakespeare achieve this? Act One of 'Romeo and Juliet' by William Shakespeare does indeed immediately engage the audience. Shakespeare does this by using several language techniques to create an interesting opening scene. Shakespeare uses humour, action and romance all in Act One and it is this variation that keeps the audience's attention. The play begins with a prologue that is written in the form of a sonnet. The Prologue gives a summary of the play but does not give away too much of the plot, in order to keep the suspense. Shakespeare tells of the great tragedy that will follow. The sonnet form is used because it is more interesting when performed on stage than simple prose. Shakespeare uses clever language in the Prologue to build suspense. For example, on line four he writes, 'From ancient grudge break new mutiny.' 'Ancient grudge' suggests that the disagreement between the Montague and Capulet families has been going on for a very long time and the mutual hatred between them has grown stronger and stronger. The word 'mutiny' is used to mean a sudden outburst of violence, which suggests there will be an exciting, action-packed scene somewhere in the play. Then, on lines six and seven, Shakespeare writes about the 'misadventured piteous overthrows' of the 'pair of star-crossed lovers'. He uses this to suggest there will be several unfortunate tragic accidents involving Romeo and Juliet throughout the play. Furthermore, on line twelve of the sonnet, Shakespeare writes that the play will be 'the two hours' traffic of our stage', meaning that the play will last two hours which will not be long enough to bore the au... ...says. Then finally, they ask each other if they should kiss. They kiss twice but are then interrupted by the Nurse. It is at this point that the couple find out that they come from different sides of the rift between the two households and the audience realise the problem the two lovers face. Act One does immediately engage the audience due to the variety that it contains. Shakespeare uses humour, in particular sexual innuendo, to great effect. The act full of exciting speeches, especially Mercutio's entertaining explanation of 'Queen Mab'. Also, he uses fight scenes for moments of action. There is also lots of emotion displayed by the characters, like Romeo's depression and love-sickness while pining for Rosaline in the opening scene. Shakespeare creates an intriguing opening act that grabs the audience's attention and keeps it well into the next acts.