During the fighting between the Capulet and Montague, another character by the name of Benvolio is introduced to me. He makes a striking speech “Part, fools! Put up your swords; you know not what you do.” This statement given by him gave me the impression that he also is against violence, and what's more, that he is a very strong peacemaker. Straight after Benvolio is introduced, Tybalt (Juliet’s cousin) is brought into the play. He is literally the complete opposite of Benvolio. As soon as he is introduced, he does not do the right thing and try to break up the battle, but instead he goes and challenges Benvolio. This told me straight away that he was obviously a trouble maker and enjoys nothing more than having a fight and stir up trouble. “What, art thou drawn among these heartless hinds? Turn thee, Benvolio, look upon thy death” These words that came out of the mouth of Tybalt told me one thing…all Capulets are alike. Benvolio tries to back out of the challenge given by Tybalt and replies “I do but keep the peace: put up thy sword, or manage it to part these men with me.” I had also noticed that the Montagues speak in a polite and manner full way compared to the Capulets, who have to shame on how they speak to whomever. Tybalt replies “What, drawn, and talk of peace! I hate the word, as I hate hell, all Montague and thee: have at thee, coward!” This added insult to injury on Benvolio, and was sure to push him over the edge. I noticed that it was always the Capulets who were the challenges and the beginners of the fighting, and the Montagues would always back out and try to calm down the situation. The mood at this point is at a boiling point, and you could almost feel the fighting, and it does break.
Throughout the fighting, I notice that several members of the public join in as well. This told me that even the citizens were tired of the feud, and wanted to put an end to it, once and for all. They also don’t care whomever they attack, as long as they attack some one “Down with the Capulets! Down with the Montagues!“ shouted one of the civilians. Also as the fighting went on, Lord Capulet and Lady Capulet are introduced. “Give my long sword, ho!” This gives me the impression that they are as bad as their servants and also encourage fighting, where as Lady Capulet does not want her husband to go join the battle field and says “A crutch, a crutch! Why call you for a sword” A crutch is given to fairly old people who have trouble and doing a certain activity, and for Lady Capulet to say this to her husband tells me that she thinks of her husband as and elderly man. What’s more, Lord Montague and Lady Montague are just as bad as the Capulets; he also encourages the fighting, just like Lord Capulet which lets me know that they are just as bad as one another.
The Prince is introduced to me during the fighting. The Prince is like the leader of Verona and the one who makes the decisions for the city. He makes a huge impact with his presence and also delivers an imposing speech. “What, ho! You men, you beasts,” Instead of calling them human beings and people, he describes the people involved in the fighting as animals, and their action as being animal related. This suggests that the scenery was so horrific and vicious that it seemed as if animals had created the chaos. “With purple fountains issuing from your veins” I really like this comment made by the prince because purple is the colour of royalty and pure. To describe it as coming out as fountains tells me that it is continuous and never ending, just like the feud between the Capulets and Montagues. The mood and atmosphere is a very angered one for the prince, but at the same time, a very scared and frightened one for the people, because they don’t know what their punishment will be for their actions. The prince continues his speech. He lets us know that this was not the first fight that broke loose in Verona. “Three civil brawls bred of an airy word” This also tells me that most of the fighting started from nothing “airy word”. By making this powerful speech, the prince lets me know that he is sick and tired of the battling and the wars going on between two families. He finishes his statement by saying it loud and clearly “If ever you disturb our street again, your lives shall pay the forfeit of the piece” This comment would make some sort of impact to any human hearing it, but it is also very ironic as well. In the end, it was the death of Romeo and Juliet that finally brought the families and created piece, which is very ironic.
After the Princes speech, we have a very formal and peaceful conversation between three people, compared to before when there was just shouting and screaming. Lord Montague says “Speak, nephew, were you by when it began?” Note that Lord Montague is saying this very calmly and patiently, it’s almost as if he want all the gossip of the days latest. Benvolio then explains to Lord Montague how the carnage began and what happened, but then suddenly, Lady Montague pops out with “O, where is Romeo? Saw you him to-day?” This lets me know that she is not really bothered with the violence and brutality, but more interested about her sons where about. Also, I sensed that mood changed dramatically here from before to a slower and relaxed pace. She also explains that she was glad that her son was not present during the battling, which tells me that she is also a very caring mother. Benvolio explains to Lady Montague that Romeo was awake very early “An hour before the worshipp’d sun” This tells me that Romeo may not be in such a good state and that something may be not right. Benvolio also explains that he did see Romeo but left him on his own and didn’t want to disturb him “I, measuring his affection by my own,” For him to say this to Lady Montague tells me that he is a true cousin to Romeo, and would like nothing more than to see him pleased. Lord Montague then also explains that he has also seen Romeo before dawn. This tells me more that this problem has been going on for a long duration and has had a huge impact on him. This changes my impression on what kind of a person Lord Montague is. When the fighting was taking place, he was a very vicious and madman like person, but when it came to solving his son’s problems, he became very peaceful and calm. I also find out that no body know any of Romeo’s problems “My noble uncle, do you know the cause?” asks Benvolio “I neither know it not can I learn of him” replied Lord Montague. This suggested to me that Romeo is a bit like a closed book, you don’t anything about him. If a doctor doesn’t know what your illness is, he cannot cure you; it is the exact same situation here with Romeo. However, I do find out that his father would like nothing more than to sort out this son’s problems. “We would as willingly give cure as know” This lets me know that not only is Lord Montague is an elderly fighter, but he is also a loving father. During their conversation, Romeo is spotted by Benvolio, but not brought into the play by person. As Romeo approaches, Benvolio say “See, where he comes: so please you, step aside; I’ll know is grievance, or be much denied” What this told me was that Benvolio would like handle the situation and for Lord and Lady Montague to be out of sight, this tells me a lot about Benvolio, and that he cares a great deal about Romeo.
Romeo is introduced to the play as a bit of a romantic fool. The first thing Benvolio say to Romeo is “Good-morrow, cousin”. He says this in a very polite way, but I feel as if Romeo answered very rudely, he says “Is the day so young?” He does not reply to him by saying good morning back to Benvolio, but quickly jumps to another subject. This also tells me that Romeo is in such a bad state, he doesn’t even know what time of the day it is. After Benvolio gives him the time, Romeo replies “Ay me! Sad hours seem long”. This is completely true, because when you are having fun and enjoying yourself, time seems to fly by, but when you got nothing to do and you’re board, time seems to drag; this is the similar case with Romeo. Also, this part of the play is very relaxed, compared to the beginning. There is also a lot of word play at this stage as well “Not having that, which, having, make them short.” says Romeo. There is also a short series of short sentences at this point as well “In love?” “Out---““Of love?” This also gives me a slight feeling that Benvolio is trying to put himself into Romeo’s position to work out his crisis. Benvolio eventually figures out Romeo’s problem by what he says, and realises its love. Benvolio then says “Should, without eyes, see pathways to his will” He says this trying to tell Romeo that it is not the end of the world and that there’s plenty more fish in the sea, but again Romeo acts very rude and replies “Where shall we dine?” This gives me the impression that Romeo is a very bad-mannered person and just ignores any advice given to him by anyone. I also really admire Benvolio for trying to help Romeo, because if Romeo acted like this to me, then I would just leave him. By saying this, Romeo does however change his way of speaking later on in the play. When he meets Juliet, he speaks very maturely and romantically “Thus from my lips, by thine, my sin is purged” compared to “Where shall we dine? O me! What fray was here?” This is more aggressive-like and impolte.