Note for R&J (Act 1, scene 1)

I read through the Act One Scene One for Romeo and Juliet in this weekend, and I didn't really understand the text of the play. This play used all the original text from Shakespear and contains lots ancient English which doesn't make sense to me.

Character Chart


Character
Status
Relationships
Personality
Other details
Romeo
Montague
The youngest son of Montague family
Sensitive, brave, naive

Juliet
Capulet
The daughter of Capulet family
Naïve, full of passion towards love, brave

Gregory
Montague
A servant in the Montague household.


Benvolio
Montague
Romeo’s close friend.
Caring and willing to take challenges.

Capulet
Capulet
Juliet’s father, the leader of the Capulet family.
Calm, caring

Lady Capulet
Capulet
Juliet's mother, the wife of Capulet.
Worrying, sensitive

Montague
Montague
Romeo’s father, the leader of Montague family.
Calm

Lady Montague
Montague
Romeo’s mother, the wife of Montague.
Kind, caring

Sampson
Capulet
A servant in the Capulet household.


Abram
Montague
A servant in the Montague household.


Tybalt
Capulet
An upper-level member of Capulet.
Aggressive

Prince Escalus

The most powerful person in the town.
 imperatorial



In act 1 scene 1, it talked about the background of the two families-Capulets and Montagues-and the hatred between them which lasted for years. One day, when two Capulet servants went to exchange banters, they saw some Montagues. Because of the rule of Capulet which requires the Capulets not to start fights with others, they were trying to make the Montagues angry by biting thumb in front of the Montagues. The Montague servant was angered and started the fight. Suddenly, Tybalt, the aggressive member of Montague showed up and joined the fight. That made the fighting dangerous. Luckily, before bad things happen, the prince and the heads of the two families showed up and stopped the fight. The prince was angry. He decided to make a rule which states that whoever fights with the members of the another family shall pay their lives to the fight. After that, everyone was dismissed. Then, the lady Capulet asked Benvolio where Romeo, the youngest son of the Capulet family, is. She noticed that he is blocking himself with everything else these days and was worried about him. Benvolio told her not to worry and went to find Romeo. As he found Romeo, he asked why Romeo was sad. Romeo told him the reason-he's in love, but the woman that he's in love with doesn't love him. Benvolio told him not to worry about him and encouraged him to go and seek for another woman as his lover.

Important Quotes:

Prince: If ever you disturb our streets again, your lives shall pay the forfeit of the peace.

Romeo: Tut, I have lost myself, I am not here; This is not Romeo, he's some other where.

Benvolio: By giving liberty unto thine eyes: Examine other beauties.


Personal ideas:

It is difficult to know where the scene took play because there is no background in the acting. They only had a background for every action. Also, the leaders of the two families are not powerful enough. At least, in my opinion, the way they speak is too weak. Maybe that's what made Romeo and Juliet disobey their parents easily.

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