This scene has a lot of dramatic impact on an audience as it has a lot of changes in the atmosphere. This scene starts light hearted with Mercutio and joking around and Benvolio convincing him he was wrong wanting a fight. The audience feel anxious and anticipation as they wait for the fighting to start. The scene then moves to a tragic where the audience feels foreboding, sympathetic and worried for the future of Romeo and Juliet.
This scene is also important because the audience learns a lot about the characters. When Romeo first enters he is happy, peace keeping type of person. He changes a lot during the scene it starts once Tybalt has killed Mercutio he changes from peace keeping to an angry feisty person and wants revenge. He says
“Again, in triumph, and Mercutio slain?
Away to heaven, respective lenity, and fire ey’d fury be my conduct now!”
He then run across the town and finds Tybalt down a back street where he fights in revenge and anger with Tybalt and for revenge of the killing of Mercutio. After this Romeo has a feel of guilt and feels worried about what he has done. He feels like the whole world is against him. Saying
“O, I am fortunes fool”
Tybalts character adds a lot of dramatic force in the scene. He enters the scene ready to fight and asks Mercutio where Romeo is.
“Mercutio, thou consortest with Romeo.”
Tybalt wants to know, as he is so keen to fight with Romeo, as he is annoyed with him after appearing at the party and Romeo having been with Juliet. Mercutio then persists to be sarcastic and Tybalt still acts matcho and big but challenges Mercutio to a fight.
“I an for you”
Tybalt doesn’t change at all in this scene he continues with his matcho and big large feel about him during the scene.
Mercutio is the most interesting character in the scene. When he enters with Benvolio he is witty and relaxed waiting for the Capulets as he came out looking for a fight. Benvolio persists to try and convince him it is a bad idea Mercutio is playing and sticking well to his character during the whole of this scene the funny guy and is always being sarcastic and puling jokes once Tybalt enters he is fooling around and trying to wind him up. He continues with this until Tybalt offends him and then he starts to call Tybalt names
“Rat-catcher”
And
“Vile submission!”
Once he challenges Tybalt he becomes provocative saying
“And but one word with one of us? Couple it with
Something, make it a word and a blow”
He is doing this to try and start a fight. He then fights with Tybalt and gets stabbed from underneath Romeo’s arm. He then jokes about being hurt shouting out
“ay, ay, a scratch, a scratch, marry, ‘tis enough.”
He continues to joke around until he changes into a worried condition and says
“They have made worms’ meat of me”.
Benvolio has a small part in the scene. He is the peacekeeper and starts by trying to persuade Mercutio to go back inside at the start of the scene. He also becomes a peacekeeper by telling the prince of Verona what happened between the characters at the end of the scene this shows his mature and sensible side.
Baz Luhrmann directed an exciting and modern version of Romeo and Juliet in 1997. It starred Leonardo di Caprio as Romeo and Claire Danes as Juliet. It was set in Mexico because of its “hot, sexy violent catholic country” where there was a gang culture, lots of armed people and a real gap between rich and poor. He used this because of its parallels to old Verona/Shakespeare time. Baz luhrmann used different techniques to create atmosphere and suspense such as music and lighting. Where there is a confrontation between Romeo and Tybalt he used loud clashes of thunder and strobes to create a feel of danger. He also used close up shots on the faces of the characters during the fight scenes as it showed more emotion. The characters are more aggressive in this version an example of this is the middle of the scene where there is a lot more arguments and a lot more fighting between Romeo and Tybalt.
In the Zeferelli version of this film screened in 1968 there is less suspense as the atmosphere is a lot different where Baz Luhrmann used lighting and sound to create atmosphere Zeferelli didn’t and stuck to the feel of old Verona and use less of the shots such as close ups and concentrated on the overall position of the scene. He used wide shots to show all of the characters in the scene. The fight scenes also contained less violence and also less suspense. This technique showed the characters emotions much better though.
In conclusion this scene is very significant and dramatic because it is the turning point of the play. Before this the play was joyful with romance and the meeting of two characters with love at first sight. Then it changes to suspense and tension with main characters dying. We also learn a lot about two of the main characters, Romeo and Mercutio. This scene is full of powerful lines and text and so the whole play is still popular today. This play has also been made into films because of its excitement and its dramatic effect on the audience as it is still popular and is able to be updated as is shown in Baz Luhrmann version.
