What is the significance or importance of masks at the end of act one in Romeo and Juliet?
I believe masks are important at this point of the play for two obvious reasons as well as one that is more elusive. To begin, we have a Capulet party being attended by a Montague. The hatred between these two families is intense to the point of bloodshed. Masks were necessary for concealment. The masks were also necessary for containment. Romeo's mask was important to hide his downtrodden spirit by the rejection of his minds love Roselyn. The poem "We Wear the Masks" by Paul Laurence Dunbar touches the human struggle of the masks we choose at times to wear. "We wear the masks that grins and lies, It hides our cheeks and shades our eyes,-" is one such quote that points to the use of masks to hide the visible nonverbal reality of the lives we live. We all at times have chosen the mask we wear. To live open, raw, even naked if you will is just to intense for mere humans to endure. What mask are you wearing? When do you allow yourself to hang the mask and be real, raw, naked? Enjoy these thoughts. Peace
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