In the scene there are other aspects which also make it extremely apprehensive and tense. One of these things is the personality of the characters itself that cause this. Mercutio, Tybalt and Romeo- the three main characters of the scene are involved with all kinds of action. As Mercutio dies, Romeo, the once peacemaker now full of anguish and revenge, turns to kill Tybalt. Mercutio, being the first character present, is the origin of the fight and scene. He causes Tybalt to get angry by saying “Alla stoccata carries it away” which means in modern day English a fencing move, when your sword's point is at your opponent's will, its implying that Tybalt would lose, he is carrying Tybalt away with his blade. This enrages him and he gives into Mercutio’s demands for a fight. Innocent blood spilt as a result of a few petty words.
Shakespeare uses a lot of dramatic devices within the play, most of which appear in Act 3, Scene 1. One of these is dramatic irony which is present at the start of the scene when the audience have been shown the marriage of Romeo and Juliet but the characters such as Tybalt are unaware of this and therefore cannot understand why Romeo has much unexpected love for him even though he is a Capulet. Also since we are aware of the love between the ‘loins of these two foes’ we are scared about what may happen to them now that Romeo has been banished and Juliet’s own cousin has been murdered by her husband. The suspense that builds up during the scene makes it more and more exciting and dramatic for the audience.
Shakespeare used language to his advantage when writing the script for this scene. The themes are shown to the audience by the language used and also it makes it more interesting for the spectators. “Zounds, consort!” shows the theme of anger and hatred as he tells Tybalt how he feels for him. The anger and hatred is really brought out by that phrase as ‘Zounds’ means real detestation and ‘consort’ meaning partner refers to Tybalt. However the theme changes from affection to hatred again when Romeo says “And in my temper soften’d valour’s steel!” portraying to the audience how much Juliet has made an impact on him and that she changed him so much that he couldn’t stop his most beloved friend from dyeing and is therefore going to change back to how he was before go fight Tybalt. Leaving the audience anxious and petrified to find out what may happen to Juliet and how she will act towards Romeo knowing that Romeo is not the person that she married and murderer of her cousin. There are also parts in the scene where there is a lesson to learn. “O, I am fortune’s fool!” this phrase teaches us that we are not always in control of our lives and therefore we should try and do the right thing and not regret later when it is too late – think before acting or the consequences may haunt you. It also denotes to this being result of the whole story in the play as a being uncontrollable. This was inevitable but could have happened to anyone thus Romeo is the fool of his actions of killing Tybalt.
In conclusion, this scene is the most epic and crucial scene to make the whole story fit together. The devices used by Shakespeare and the different actions that are involved make it seem very real and life like and the audience are gripped by the action that is preformed before them.
