"If you ever disturb our streets again
Your lives shall pay the forfeit of the peace."
Romeo, a member of the Montague family is in love with a woman called Rosalyn who is going to become a nun. Romeo is upset by this and his friends recommend that he attend the party of the the rival family (The Capulets) to take his mind off her. Once he is there Tybalt a member of the Capulet family sees him and is furious but is told by his father to take no action in the eyes of the guests.
Unfortunately for most of the characters in the play Romeo meets Juliet and falls in love with her and some of the consequences of this are seen in a dramatically effective way in Act 3 scene 1. The party is partly responsible for sending the ball of death rolling. This affects all the characters in some way. You can also tell from the start of the play that the play is destined to have a negative outcome from the chorus.
Shakespeare sets the scene for making th atmosphere dramatically effective by creating a tension between the main characters in the rival families. Shakespeare also uses heat to increase the dramatic effect and states;
"The weather is hot"
By making the weather hot Shakespeare makes the scene tense because hot weather can be associated with short tempers and there is plenty of evidence of anger making act 3 scene 1 dramatically effective. Tybalt for example demonstrates tension between himself and Romeo.
"Boy, this shall not excuse the injuries
that thou hast done me, therefore turn and draw"
The violence is one of the vital aspects to making the scene dramatic and appealing to the audience. It does this by the tension between the characters escalating into a fight. Mercutio will not leave the streets without a brawl. This is shown in the following quotation:
"will you pluck your sword out of his plucked by the ears?"
This quote shows that Mercutio is looking for a fight and is not prepared to leave the streets without one.Eventually Mercutio gets his wish and has a fight with Tybalt;this results in Mercutio's death.
Once Mercutio has died, Tybalt retreats with Romeo pursuing him fuelled by anger and desperately wanting revenge. Tybalt is then murdered by Romeo, who after the killing retreats to a hide out and waits for more news from Juliet. Shakespeare used a technique called dramatic irony which adds a lot of tension to the play. This allows the audience to know that Tybalt and Romeo did not want to fight Tybalt but had to avenge his friend’s death in some way .The violence also makes the scene appealing to the audience. It is obviously a violent argument because of the outcome Mercutio's death. The fight and the consequences of the fight make the scene very dramatic which is also an appealing aspect of the scene.
Any entrance or exit during the scene has a dramatic impact on the play. For example, when Mercutio and Tybalt are going to fight the audience does not want Romeo to appear on the scene for his own safety. Romeo does appear and the scene becomes unpredictable in how it will end.This Makes the audience more interested and curious about the outcome of the play.
Now that Romeo is responsible for the death of Tybalt he must hide out in the city or deal with the consequences which is an execution. The prince is more lenient towards Romeo because of the circumstances; he appears to take a sympathetic view believing that Romeo did not cause the fight and felt obliged to avenge his friend's death. However, Romeo does receive punishment;
"And for that offence, immediately we do exile him hence"
The climax of Act 3 Scene 1 therefore is again dramatically effective as it creates the atmosphere for further drama in the following acts. This is shown by Romeo's view on his exile in scene 3 of the act,
“There is no world without Verona walls,
But purgatory, torture, hell itself"
