Consider how the dramatic impact of act 3 scene 1 of Romeo and Juliet would have affected the audience

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Oliver Flint, Romeo and Juliet Coursework

Shakespeare

Romeo and Juliet

 Consider how the dramatic impact of act three scene one of Romeo and Juliet would have affected the audience

Act three Scene one has a major impact on the flow of the play, up to this point the play has been of the romantic genre, but Shakespeare chooses this moment to decisively change the plot from romantic, to a tragic one. The cause of this is the exile of Romeo by the Prince. This would have come as a major shock to the audience as Romeo and Juliet have just got married, setting up that they were going to have a generic ending of “happy ever after”. The play had just reached a balancing point, and exile of Romeo causes the play to lose equilibrium.

The best way to understand the play is to know the characters and plot so I will give a brief description of each character, the role this character plays and the influence this character has on the other characters:

The plot of this scene is as follows: Mercutio and Benvolio are having an argument. This is a strong contrast to the peace and serenity observed in the previous acts this would make the audience aware that something was going to happen and build a sense of tension and foreboding with phrases like “these hot days are the mad blood stirring” implying heat, anger and passion, the meaning of this particular phrase is that the heat of the days is making everybody in Verona irritable and more likely to fight. Shakespeare also uses this line to use sensory imaging the image of blood and the feel of heat both strong negative, almost ominous images. A stark contrast from the prior acts, jokes and joviality. This would make the observer, from the start, begin to think that something was about to happen.

Then the two close friends Benvolio and Mercutio were squabbling which suggests they are irritable and willing to argue and fight. Mercutio goes into a large speech about Benvolio’s readiness to fight that in the end turns into a rant. About petty things Benvolio did such as a “tailor wearing his new doublet before Easter” (the new fashions were released in Easter in Shakespearian times).  This speech would be very expressive and possibly aggressive and end in Mercutio getting angrier and more wanting of a fight

When Tybalt arrives Mercutio may have seen this as an opportunity to challenge him and challenges Tybalt “make it a word a blow” this is in response to Tybalt civil comment about having a word with one of the two friends. Tybalt remains uncharacteristically calm and responds with “apt enough to that sir, and you will give me an occasion” this means quite concisely that he will only fight with Mercutio if Murcutio gives him a reason. Mercutio returns this then Tybalt says “ thou consort’st with Romeo,” this means he is friends with Romeo but Mercutio decides to take it as an insult to his class, as if he were a mere minstrel. This convinced me that Mercutio is clever very quickly he worked out he could use this to start a fight and make it look like it was Tybalt’s fault. Because of the warning the prince gave earlier in the play, Mercutio may be slightly protected from this because he is a kinsman of the Prince. And draws his sword but calls it his “fiddlestick” this is the other side of Mercutio fast, sharp and witty.

Next Romeo arrives at this point the audience knows that Romeo has married Juliet in the last scene, whereas Tybalt doesn’t. This creates an atmosphere of tension as the audience knows Tybalt has come looking for someone to fight and Romeo will not fight him. But Tybalt unknowing comments “well peace be to you sir here comes my man”. Tybalt who might possibly be nervous at this point. He came to fight Romeo and if he did Mercutio might step in and despite being a good duellist “the very butcher of a silk button” he could not defeat Romeo and Mercutio at once. This is possibly why he addresses Mercutio with an offer of peace

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But the second par of this could be interpreted in two ways, firstly as meaning the man he wants but it is much more like likely that he meant it as an insult. “My man” is a very possessive term ad could mean he thinks of Romeo as a manservant or lower class. This is the way Mercutio decides to receive the comment as Romeo is his friend and he is already looking for a fight with Tybalt and is not letting this opportunity to fight Tybalt slip and returns with a very aggressive comment “I’ll be hanged before ...

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