Question – Answer Types of Adjacency Pairs in the Modern Script of Romeo and Juliet Movie
there are 15 occurrences of request – refusalacceptance adjacency pairs. Three of them are described as follows.
4:07
JULIET: Oh, do you think we’ll ever meet again? ROMEO: I have no doubts. All these troubles will give us stories to tell each
other later in life.
P : 1. Romeo, 2. Juliet
S : Juliet Balcony LF : Request-Acceptance
APACT-3S5P3R-FA+R The conversation above is between Romeo and Juliet. It is the usual secret
meeting between them under the Juliet’s balcony. They always have their romantic time at night, when all people sleep and no one knows that Romeo slips
into Juliet’s house. The first part of the conversation is more likely a request rather than a
question. Juliet says “Oh, do you think we’ll ever meet again?”. Juliet’s statement can be interpreted as a request to Romeo that they should meet again in the future.
By asking whether they will meet again, Juliet puts her hopes that Romeo would see her again.
As a response, he has no doubt that they will meet again and he is willing to face troubles just to meet her. The second part is Romeo’s acceptance of
Juliet’s request and ensures that they will meet every day in the same time and at the same place.
The conversation
clearly indicates
the request-refusalacceptance
adjacency pairs. The first part of the conversation is the request and the response or the second part is the acceptance. To have more details about request-refusal
acceptance adjacency pairs, the following is another conversation taken from the movie that contains adjacency pairs.
The following conversation is between Peter and Lady Capulet. They talk during a party in Capulet’s house.
4:08 PETER:
Madam, the guests are here, dinner is served, people are calling for you, people have asked for Juliet, and in the pantry,
people are cursing the Nurse. Everything’s out of control. I must go and serve the guests. Please, follow straight after
me.
LADY CAPULET: We’ll follow you.
Juliet, the count is waiting for you. P
: 1. Peter, 2. Lady Capulet S
: The Party LF : Request-Acceptance
APACT-1S3P5R-FA+R Peter is Capulet’s servant and he is talking to Lady Capulet that all the
guests have arrived and wanted the party to begin. At that time, in Capulet’s house, there is a dinner party to introduce Juliet to all men from all families in the
town, except Montague family. Peter meets his Lady and requests her to meet the guests who have long been waiting for her and Juliet. First, Peter tells his lady the
condition of the party and then he requests her to follow after him to the ballroom where the party is conducted. Peter says “Please, follow straight after me”. As a
response, Lady Capulet accepts Peter’s request by saying “We’ll follow you”.
From the analysis, it can be said that the above conversation is an adjacency pair in the form of Request – AcceptanceRefusal because the first part contains the
request and the response contains the acceptance. Another example of Request – AcceptanceRefusal adjacency pair can be
found when Romeo and Mercutio have a conversation during the party in Capulet’s house. The conversation is as follows.
4:09 ROMEO:
Give me a torch. I don’t want to dance. I feel sad, so let me be
the one who carries the light.
MERCUTIO: No, noble Romeo, you’ve got to dance.
P : 1. Romeo, 2. Mercutio
S : The party
LF : Request-Refusal APACT-1S4P1R-FA-R
The context of the conversation is during the party in Capulet’s house. At that time, Romeo and Mercutio dress as “maskers” and slip into the party along
with five or six other “maskers” while carrying drums and torches. Romeo requests a torch because he does not want to dance in the party. His reason is that
he is sad and unable to dance cheerfully. Unfortunately, Mercutio, his friend, refuses to give him a torch and forces him to dance along with hundreds other
guests in the party. The analysis shows that the first part of the conversation between Romeo
and Mercutio is a request from Romeo to his friend to get him a torch but in the second part of the conversation, Mercutio refuses the request. Thus, as mentioned
in Chapter II, a conversation is an adjacency pair in the form of Request –
AcceptanceRefusal. There are 12 more conversations in the movie that have similar pattern like the three examples above.