Consider the dramatic impact and importance of act3 scene1 of Romeo and Juliet.

T he prince is so angry and frustrated that he ignores all pleas and excuses. His anger is constrained in the structure of his sentences. ' Nor tears nor prayers shall purchase our abuses.'

The repetition of words such as 'nor' in this sentence shows how serious he is about the situation.

Finally at the end of his last sentence the prince talks in rhyme, which shows how, he's elevated and gives a feeling of conclusion as he rounds off everything.

The next highly important character in this scene I think is Mercutio, Romeo's best friend. Mercutio's character is complex and vital to the plot as it is Mercutio's death that sets off the chain of events that leads to Romeo's banishment. And affects the tragic ending with Romeo and Juliet's death. During the first scene of Act III, Mercutio is being his regular, quick-witted self. He is very sharp in his language, but perhaps too sharp.

He deliberately annoys Tybalt, by doing things like purposely mistaking meanings of words. We see Mercutios quick-witty interruptions, with the use of puns as he picks on the phrase 'thou consortest with Romeo' and deliberately mistakes tybalt's meaning with imagery of musicians and music reflecting his sense of humour. Instances like this simply make the argument more and more heated. Mercutio is also quite quick tempered we learn this from Shakespeare as he usually reflects a characters personality out of others. This is shown when Benvolio tells Mercutio to go inside as its very hot and the heat usually stirs the ' mad blood.'

Another example of this is tybalt being good at fighting. This is reflected in other people's opinions about him, such as when Mercutio says 'a rogue, a villain, that fights by the books of arithmetic.'

Mercutio claims that Benvolio is more likely to cause trouble than he is. This is a sheer projection-Mercutio is obviously talking about himself when he refers to Benvolios quick temper. In these lines Mercutio is speaking in prose as they are in an informal atmosphere. Mercutio is also an example of great bravery as he stands up for himself and says to Benvolio 'by my heel I care not.'

We realize that Mercutio is a very fiery person and is full of youthful blood. In lines 11-13 Mercutio is playing around with words as he repeats the words more than once in 3 sentences which also projects the type of wound up mood he's in while also establishes humour for the audience. ' Thou art as hot in thy mood as in Italy, and as soon moved to be moody, and as soon moody to be moved.'

Even dying, Mercutio keeps on playing with words and punning. He's saying tomorrow he'll be dead (in his grave) but also playing on grave meaning serious, lines 92-94. Mercutio's death is a major event in this play. When Tybalt kills Mercutio, the attributes of a comedy die with him. From now on, this play becomes a tragedy. This demonstrates how Mercutio is a strong representation of all that is youthful and carefree in this play. Mercutio stays his cheerful, funny self throughout this scene until he is about to die, when he yells: "A plague a' both houses!"

This may be regarded as a change because Mercutio has never been so serious before. The curse here is taken as a very serious insult in the Elizabethan times. In the same time this curse is dramatic as he insults both Romeo and Tybalt in them. The audience here might pity Romeo, as we know his intensions were to help Mercutio and put an end to this insanity. As Mercutio curses both the Montague's and Capulets three times, with his death it comes true.

This part of the play is indeed very important as it has a huge dramatic impact on Romeo. Romeos desire for vengeance triumphs over his love for Juliet as he realizes his character has been affected by it. ' O sweet Juliet, thy beauty hath made me effeminate and in my temper soften'd valour's steel.'

Benvolio repeats the theme of untimely death as he says 'untimely here did scorn the earth.' As Tybalt comes in again with supreme self -confidence happy about Mercutios death, Romeo kept his temper no longer and killed him after a long fight. The theme of heavens and fate being against Romeo are bought back when he says ' o, I am a fortune's fool.'

This part helps make the play tenser as he has now killed his wife's (Juliet) cousin. The audience pity Romeo at this moment, as we know that Romeo is usually a peacemaker and doesn't like to fight. He has endured lots of insults from Tybalt such as the appalling appellation of villain and the term 'boy.'

Yet, being kinsman of Juliet and now carrying the name of Capulet he tries to avoid a quarrel he refers to Tybalt as 'good Capulet.'

Here Romeo's happy mood creates dramatic irony with the atmosphere and tension on stage as the audience knows that he had just got married. We also learn that Romeo isn't rational and is impulsive. Greeting Tybalt with respect and love would only cause suspicion.

In the Elizabethan times usually there would be some areas that would be looked at different from today. To decline a challenge is to declare one's loss of manhood and nobility. To call someone a villain was a very strong challenge. Romeo here is making a tremendous sacrifice for his love but it looks to the bystanders like cowardice.

Tybalt is another very important character in the play for with out him the death of Mercutio wouldn't have come about, neither the banishment of Romeo and Juliet's death. The main cause of all these tragedies isn't Tybalt but the feuding atmosphere that he has been bought up in. so when Tybalt spots Romeo at the Capulets party he is outraged with his intrusion and wants to fight him. This is nothing surprising as we learn that he his a fiery and a hot headed character. But he is confronted by his uncle who calls him a 'saucy boy.' So at the beginning of act 3 Tybalt is on the lookout for Romeo. We also have to notice that tybalts tone of speech in this scene is formal. This shows that Tybalt is acting like a gentleman and is confident with himself. Another reason for this would also be that he's not talking to his friends but to his enemies. ' Gentlemen, good den, a word with one of you.'

His sentences are always short and to the point ' I am for you' unlike Mercutio who makes witty comments and descriptions all the time including when he compares Tybalts name with a cat and goes on to talk about its nine lives. This shows that Tybalt can't keep up with Mercutio and he likes to express his feelings through his fighting and not his words.

Act 2, scene 6 ended with Romeo and Juliet getting married. This is supposed to bring the two houses together but in act 3 scene 1 all this hope is destroyed. The idea of fate and star-crossed lovers is bought up here. These Harmonious scenes following violence create suspense. The same with the ending of act 3 scene1, Romeo being banished has an impact on the next scene and leads to further consequences. It also makes us feel pity for Juliet, as she has no clue about what's going on and is waiting impatiently for Romeo to comeback. This creates dramatic irony for the audience.

Finally I conclude that act 3 scene 1 is very important. This is because the events that take place here, such as Tybalt's and Mercutio's death causes Romeo to be banished. This chain of events leads to the tragic ending where Juliet and Romeo die due to different misunderstandings.