" I will withdraw, but this intrusion shall
Now seeming sweet, convert to bitt'rest gall."
Meanwhile Romeo has seen Juliet and fallen deeply in love. Obviously at this point he does not know that Juliet is the daughter of his foe. When they actually do get near each other we have the lovely ' If I profane…' sonnet, which subsequently leads in their kissing each other. After the kiss we have an intrusion by Juliet's nurse who informs Juliet that Romeo is in fact a Montague and she is bitterly disappointed. Romeo also hears the bad news. This all happens in Act 1.
In Act 2 the Montagues decide to leave the party and Romeo heads to go with them but changes his mind and heads off to find his new love Juliet. They meet (the lovely balcony scene) and vow to get married the next day. They depart eventually after lots of 'goodbyes'.
The next day Romeo goes to see Friar Laurence to ask if he will wed Juliet and him. Friar Laurence agrees as he thinks it will end the family feud.
At the end of Act two the young couple get married. Friar Laurence takes the service and Juliet is accompanied by her nurse, the only other person who knows about the union.
Now, that background information is very important when looking at Act Three Scene One. Clearly the ancient grudge is still very much present what with the brawl at the start of the play and the Montagues turning up to the Capulet party. Tybalt is still extremely annoyed at the Montagues, especially Romeo, for turning up at the Capulet party. He however does not realise that Romeo has married or even that Romeo knows Juliet, his cousin. That is important to bear in mind.
Firstly I shall study Benvolio. Benvolio is a Montague boy and a close friend of Romeo's. He is a peacemaker and we are made aware of this from the first time he speaks. He says:
' Part fools, put up your swords for you know not what you do.'
The second thing he says is:
'I do but keep the peace.'
It is clear to see that Benvolio does not agree with fighting and is aware of the consequence of the two houses actions, even if the other do not: 'you know not what you do'. This is also interestingly what Jesus said on the cross. The second quote is self-explanatory.
This is why Benvolio's actions are hardly surprising in act Three. He is the first speaker in the Act. This is what he says:
' I pray thee good mercutio, let's retire.
The day is hot the Capels are abroad,
And if we meet, we shall not 'scape a brawl,
For now, these hot days, is the mad blood stirring'.
These are wise words from our sensible Benvolio. When he refers to the 'capels' he is talking about the Capulets. He knows that if they meet there will be another fight and he evidently remembers what Prince Escales said about the punishment. He is also being intelligent. He knows that in hot weather people get agitated and more likely to fight. As the weather is hot he is expecting this to happen so wants them to 'retire' or go home. Unfortunately for him his friend Mercutio is the complete opposite of our level-headed Benvolio. He teases Benvolio about being an argumentative person when it is quite clear to Mercutio that he is most definitely not! I quote something Mercutio says jokingly to Benvolio:
' Come, come, thou art as hot a jack in thy mood as any in Italy, and as soon to be moved to be moody and as son moody to be moved.'
Later on in the scene, when the capulets have arrived and Benvolio can see a fight is imminent he says:
' We talk here in the public haunt of men.
Either withdraw into some private place,
And reason coldly of your grievances
Or else depart; here all eyes gaze on us.'
This is again Benvolio being the man he is. He is saying that they should either go somewhere in quiet so they can just talk it out rationally or else just give it up completely. I believe he is again thinking of the results if Prince Escales finds out.
Once the fight between Tybalt and Mercutio/Romeo starts Benvolio keeps rather quiet. I suspect this is due to his nature of not getting involved with fights and arguments. However he does return to speak again when he sees his friend Mercutio has been hurt. The next time he properly speaks is when Romeo has killed Tybalt and he advises Romeo in these words:
'Romeo, away be gone:
The citizens are up, and Tybalt slain,
Stand not amaz'd, the prince will doom thee death,
If thou art taken, hence be gone away.'
Here Benvolio is being a very good friend to Romeo. He is advising him to run away for obvious reasons which I do not have to repeat.
Once Romeo has fled away from the scene it was just Benvolio and Prince Escales left. Benvolio is asked to tell what he saw. He goes on to give an honest account about what happened explaining that Tybalt killed Mercutio:
'An envious thrust from Tybalt, hit the life
Of stout Mercutio, and then Tybalt fled.'
He then explains that Romeo with his 'newly entertain'd revenge' killed Tybalt and then he' turn and fly'. He then swore on his life that that was the truth. This showed that Benvolio was a very honest and truthful character and even though he was loyal to his friend this did not come over authority.
The next person who plays an important role in this act is Mercutio, another of Romeo's friends and another Montague. Mercutio is one of those men who do not take life seriously at all. He laughs and jokes about at every possible opportunity and doesn't seem to care about others opinion of him. In Act three Scene One Benvolio advises him to go as the 'capels are abroad'. Mercutio however does not care and instead starts up some silly tease/discussion with Benvolio about people who argue about small, unimportant things. When Benvolio announces that the Capulet men have come:
' By my head here come the capulets.'
Mercutio replies with:
'By me heel I care not.'
When Tybalt politely asks 'for a word' with one of the Montague men Mercutio decides to stir up a bit of trouble for the sake of it and replies: -
'And but one word with one of us, couple it with something,
Make it a word and a blow.'
This is making it clear to Tybalt that Mercutio is not in the mood for being civil but wants some action- a fight. This is why I believe Mercutio turns everything Tybalt says and finds some way of making that mean that Tybalt wants a fight. Mercutio talks about Mistrals (wandering musicians) and continues to use music analogy such as 'fiddlestick' and 'dance'.
Anyway, Mercutio gets what he wants, that being that he provokes Tybalt with his remarks and behaviour.
When Romeo comes into the scene and starts being nice and polite to Tybalt Mercutio is astounded by what is going on. He naturally does not know that Romeo has just married Juliet and so is very much puzzled by his behaviour. When Mercutio sees that he has nearly lost the chance of a fight as Romeo is taking up the limelight he decides to insult Tybalt, calling him a ' rat-catcher'. This re-starts the fight. Mercutio makes it clear that he would like to injure Tybalt talking about him loosing one of his nine lives, as he is a Capulet also known as cats (get it?) He then brings his sword out and makes it obvious that he wants Tybalt to do the same.
' Will you pluck your sword out of his pilcher by the ears? Make haste, lest mine be about your ears ere it be out.'
The next thing you know there are a few spoken words including Romeo encouraging them to stop and then Tybalt has Mercutio under his arm and wounds him. Tybalt flees and it is just the Montague boys left.
The way Mercutio reacts is, I think, very interesting and perfectly in keeping with his character. Even though he is clearly injured he makes a joke of it all and acts as though the wound is nothing calling it a 'scratch' and describing it ' 'tis not so deep as a well, nor so wide as a church door; but tis enough, 'twill serve.' By this he is saying that yes, it isn't huge but it is enough to kill him. I love it when he says:
' Ask for me tomorrow and you will find me a grave man'.
This is a good pun. Anyway, he repeats a few times ' a plague o' both your houses'. This simply means that he is blaming both houses for the feud. He also says to Romeo
' I was hurt under your arm.'
Which means that it was Romeo's fault that he was killed by Tybalt. He thinks this as Romeo made Tybalt mad and that is why Tybalt turned on Mercutio.
Tybalt is a nasty character. He ' hates the word peace' and seems to always want a fight. He is especially mad due to the party incident and is not in the mood to be nice to anyone involved with the Montagues. However when he comes to the place where the Montagues are he is surprisingly polite. He talks to Mercutio quite nicely until Mercutio responds in his rude way and he goes a bit mad. But Mercutio is not who he wants to meet with, it is Romeo. He is immediately insulting him calling him a 'villain'.
I shall also talk about Romeo here as it is between Romeo and Tybalt that an interesting conversation takes place. Romeo is all ' loved up' after his marriage to the beautiful (Capulet) Juliet. No one else apart from himself, Friar Laurence, Juliet and the nurse know of the union. When Tybalt tries to start a fight Romeo responds in a happy way, which annoys Tybalt even further. When Tybalt insults Romeo by calling him a villain Romeo is perfectly relaxed and calm and brushes off the insult saying '
'Villain am I none.'
He also says he loves Tybalt! This is definitely not what Tybalt wants to hear. After Romeo's respond to the insult Tybalt he answers back implying that Romeo isn't going to get out of it that easily as revealed by
'Boy, this shall not excuse the injuries
That thou has done to me, therefore turn and draw.'
When Tybalt talks of injuries he is not talking about a wound, he is talking about his humiliation at the party. Romeo protests very pleasantly that he did not injure Tybalt and that '' good Capulet, which name I tender as dearly as my own, be satisfied.' This incomprehensible to Tybalt as he does not know that he tenders the name as dearly as his own as he has just married someone with the name Capulet and therefor has a bit of Capulet in him.
Romeo is forced to take a backseat in the proceedings as Mercutio and Tybalt re-start their fight but when he sees that a battle may take place he steps in taking the usual place of Benvolio telling them to stop and warning them of Prince Escales threats.
Once Tybalt has done the deed, which changes the play so dramatically, he flees. Romeo is obviously bewildered at what has happened to his friend but begins speaking again when Mercutio says it is Romeo's fault that Tybalt did this to him. Romeo remarks with 'I thought all for the best' which means he did not mean to do it and thought he was doing good.
After Mercutio eventually dies Romeo talks to himself about what has happened thinking of his love Juliet and of Tybalt who ' that an hour hath been my cousin'. He is obvious so shocked words cannot describe.
Tybalt returns (which is a big mistake on his part) and Romeo says that as he has killed Mercutio and Mercutio is in heaven 'either thou or I, or both must go with him.' By this he is saying that one or both of they must die. It is important to remember that Romeo is feeling severely guilty as he feels it is his entire fault that his good friend was killed. This is why he acts very quickly without thinking and kills Tybalt. Everything happens so fast that I expect Romeo does not really know what he has done or the effect of his actions. This is why Benvolio says 'stand not amaz'd, the prince will doom thee death'. This is when Romeo runs away bewildered at what he has just done and I should imagine worrying what will become of him now.
Act Three Scene One is an extremely important scene in the play, if not the most important. It al happens so quickly, the two people getting killed, yet those few minutes affect the course of the play completely. In acts one and two the play is a romance, with a hint of action (such as the brawl at the start) and some hint at a bit of nastiness (with Tybalt vowing revenge). From Act Three scene one the play dramatically turns into a tragedy. At the end of Act two, when the couple got married there was a glimmer of hope that maybe, just maybe, the houses could unite for the sake of the children and that there would not be any more fighting. Unfortunately with the deaths of Mercutio and that of Tybalt this is no longer a possibility. There is too much bad feeling on both sides and can you imagine what Juliet's parents would say if they found out about her secretly marrying the killer of their nephew? It would be indescribable. Moreover, poor Juliet is sitting at home and she hears the news that Romeo, who she has only just married, is due to be killed because he killed her dear cousin. She must be feeling shocked and awfully distressed as far as she is concerned she will never see Romeo again. She would not know who to be loyal to, her husband or her family? If Mercutio and Tybalt had not been killed I feel it is unlikely that Romeo and Juliet would die at the end. Why? Because if Romeo hadn't been 'on the run' Juliet could have just been honest with her parents and then she could have run away with Romeo but instead she had to take the sleeping potion… and we all know that things go downhill from then on.
So I hope you now understand that Act Three Scene One is the turning point of the play. The course of events had to change then; there was no other option. The partnership of Romeo and Juliet could have been a good thing but instead it was a truly awful thing.
Megan Burgess
9P
