Dramatic devices are used in order to engage the audience. Shakes-peare creates an atmosphere to set the scene at the beginning of the act. Benvolio who is known as the narrator of the play starts the act off by referring to the weather and saying ‘the days are hot’ which is an example of pathetic fallacy since it is used to show human feelings. The mention of the weather is important because the day is hot, so people are going to be twitchy and agitated, ‘the mad blood stirring’, which foreshadows what will happen later on in the scene. Both families will come to blows in the hot weather.
The aggressiveness is in contrast to what happened in the scene beforehand. In Act 2 Scene 6 Romeo and Juliet were very much in love ignoring the fact that they come from two opposite families. They were ‘two star-crossed lovers’ who would reach their destiny at one point. This foreshadows what will happen later on, they would do anything for each other, even die. They were a couple who were optimistic, warm and romantic. Destiny and fate is also a main theme in the play. Romeos fate comes to blow in act 3. We see dramatic irony in Romeo when he refuses to battle Tybalt. We, the audience already know that Romeo and Juliet are now lovers, who are married. Therefore Tybalt being Juliet’s cousin, Romeo cannot abide in a duel with him. However before all the fighting The Prince of Verona warns anyone who is involved in a fight will be hung. Romeo knew of this but still went on to killing Tybalt. Although Romeo was getting married to Juliet he still had hatred towards the Capulets. The fact that Juliet was a Capulet didn’t stop Romeo from killing Tybalt for what he had done to Mercutio. Rage and anger had taken over him, forgetting that he was killing his beloved wife’s cousin. Romeo then goes on to say ‘oh I am fortunes fool’ which links back to the theme of fate and destiny. Romeo tells the audience that he is merely following destiny and his tragic path. Mercutio’s death is seen as the specific perpatia in the play. Everything that was hoped to happen later in the play was slashed because of this death. The comedy from the play was taken away. Mercutio was seen as the comic relief in the play, he saw the funny side of things. He was very witty and came back at Tybalt when they were exchanging words. ‘Mercutio, thou consort’, Mercutio replies quickly and cleverly ‘Consort! What does thou make us minstrels?’ Mercutio intentionally miss-interprets Tybalt’s words to ridicule him and to infuriate him to fight. Mercutio even picks on Benvolio who is the quietest, yet smartest person in the play. Mercutio tries to indicate that Benvolio is the one who is aggressive when he clearly is not. Benvolio is simply a peacemaker who tries to solve the fight between the two conflicting families. Mercutio’s death is marked as the down fall, this is when everything that was building up, falls down. He has a big exit where he puzzles the audience by repeating the phrase ‘a plague on both your houses’, this is telling us that both Montague’s and Capulet’s are to blame for all the hatred in Verona. Both families should be punished. This curse links back to the idea of destiny because both families were destined to come together at the end of the death.
In conclusion I think that Shakespeare created an atmosphere through dramatic devices. Having big characters killed of and the mark of destiny. Act 3 scene 1 is the most important part of the play, because the whole play changes around it. Each character provides a frame to Romeo and Juliet’s destined love. Mercutio’s exit was the pivotal moment of the play.
The tragedy in Romeo and Juliet is also an indirect result of the decisions and actions of several characters. Fate brought Romeo to his detiny.
