Fryer
Discuss how Shakespeare uses dramatic devices in Act III, Scene 1 of ‘Romeo and Juliet’ to lead the play towards tragedy.
Romeo Montague and Juliet Capulet are teenagers who fall deeply in love but their families are bitter enemies. They seize the moment and marry in secret, making every effort to conceal their actions but these end in tragedy when Romeo, Juliet, Tybalt, Mercutio and Paris all die. The themes in Romeo and Juliet are “fate”, “conflict”, “love”, “honour” and “tragedy”. These themes are all relative to tragedy as they assist with the lead up to Romeo and Juliet’s bitter demise and increase the sense of tension throughout. Tragedy is a form of drama that deals with human actions and issues. Most tragedies in literature show the collapse and death of a great man or woman, written with the intent to prove to the audience, the dilemma that not everything in life ends happily.
Tragedies raise deep philosophical questions about morality and the control human beings have over their fate. It was inevitable that the lives of the two rebellious young lovers would end in tragedy due to the nature of 16th century society as children were expected to listen to their parents and to marry who they were told. Romeo and Juliet portray rebellious teenagers and to a 16th century audience their rebellious actions left them no other path but one filled with tragedy. Fate is an important theme in Romeo and Juliet; this however would be more important to a 16th century audience than a 21st century one. In the sixteenth century superstition was widely and strongly believed in.
Act III Scene 1 creates tension and the chain of events towards Romeo and Juliet’s death at this point in the play. This is because as the fight scene is after the marriage scene, Romeo is already married and does not want to fight as Tybalt is now his family. If the fight had occurred before their marriage then Romeo may have fought as it was a man’s honour to fight and his reputation would have been tarnished had he not. Therefore the placement of the scene in the play is vital to reach the ending with Romeo and Juliet both dying. Act III, Scene I is the pivotal point of the play and start a chain of events which lead up to Romeo and Juliet’s death. Shakespeare establishes the sense of tension straight away in this scene with initial dialogue between Benvolio and Mercutio. The tension is already heightened by the setting of the scene “a public place” this is because of the Princes warning to the two families in the first scene ‘If you ever disturb our streets again, your lives shall pay the forfeit of the peace’. Shakespeare then plants a seed of tension in Benvolios’ opening four lines stating “For now, these hot days, is the mad blood stirring”. This creates a sense of drama as it makes a reference to the heated feud between the two families. Benvolio’s words “mad “ and “stirring” emphasise his fear of the dangerous effect this heated tension could have if the two families were to meet. This tension may come as a surprise to the audience as it is contrasting to the previous scene. The previous scene, the marriage of Romeo and Juliet, was joyful and happy as the audience may think that they have been able to override the fate destined to them in the Prologue and are finally together to live happily ever after. This is then contrasted by Act III, Scene I in which tension is immediately sprouting and the whole tone of the play changes. The tension in this scene is gradually built up and in places displaced by comedy, relaxing the audience, and increasing the drama of the fight. Shakespeare accomplishes this by using different dramatic devices throughout the rest of the scene such as his use of entrances of the characters.
