When Tybalt and Petruchio enter (1:32) Benvolio and Mercutio react very differently. Benvolio is worried “BY my head here come the Capulets” but Mercutio is almost reckless “By my heel I care not”. Benvolio refers to his head which is connected to good sensebut Mercutio refers to his heel which I sa less important part of the body and shows that he doesn’t care. He winds Tybalt up by the way he answers Tybalt’s “… a word with one of you” with “… but one word with one of us? Coupl it with something and make it a word and a blow” Here we can see that whilst Benvolio istrying to quieten things and avoid the Capulets, Mercutio is acting like a catalyst to Tybalt’s temper. Benvolio tries to get them to argue in a less Public place.
Benvolio attempt to control events fails when Romeo enter but Mercution continues to be involved. Tybalts language shows that his control over his anger has gone. He insults Romeo “thou art a villein”. Romeo’s refusal to react and his use of contrasting peaceful words like “love” not only angers Tybalt but Mercutio also “O calm, dishourable vile submission!”. They draw and fight. Romeo’s intervention not only fails but results in Mercutio being fatally wounded as he does not see Tybalts sword come under Romeo’s arm. This was seen as very dishonourable, to strike under someone’s arm was a very cowardly way to kill or injure. Mercutio as he falls curses both families “a plague on both you houses”. Mercutio’s words show how such a feud damages people outside the families. He curses the Capulets cleary because, Tybalt has killed him and he has nothing against the Capulets. It is not so obvious why he curses the Montagues. If there weren’t in dispute then this wouldn’t of happened but also more specifically, Romeo’s refusal to fight meant that Mercutio had to defend his friends honour and Romeo’s intervention led to the fatal blow. Here peaceful words and action have the most violent consequences.
Romeo is guilty of not understanding how strongly Tybalt feels and also doesn’t realise how badli wounded Mercutio is “courage man the hurt cannot be much”. I think Romeo has chosen the wrong words again Mercutio has shown great courage, and probably think that Romeo doesn’t have any. Romeo says he thought his actions were “all for the best”. His love for Juliet and desire for peace have changed his reactions to Tybalt and caused Mercutio’s death.
Romeo realises that either Tybalt or himself must die. Romeo needs to avenge the death of Mercutio and save his own honour and Tybalt is still raging as Benvolio says “here come the furious Tybalt” Benvolio’s commentery ensures that the audience is in no doubt about Tybalt’s feelings. Honour was very important in those days and it was better to die honopurably than live dishonourably. Romeo realises this is what he has to risk. As Tybalt dies Romeo realises the irony of his situation when he says “ I am fortunes fool” He has intyended becoming friends with Tybalt but ended up killing him.
Mercutio is a kinsman of the Prince who is angry because, the feud has once again resulted in violence on the streets and has harmed his cousin. The Princes turns to Benvolio to explain what happened. Benvolio’s language favours Mercutio who he calls “brave”, “stout” and “bold”. He reminds us of Tybalts anger “unruly spleen” and his skill at fighting with a sword “dexterity” and “agile”. He also defends Romeo who “spoke him fair” to Tybalts who was “deaf to peace”. Lady Capulet is angered by Benvolios words and shouts at the Prince “He is a Kinsman to the Montagues affection makes him false” which means that Benvolio is biased. The Prince has to be fair to all and banishes Romeo.
There are moany references to blood and violence and death in the last twenty lines of the scene, “slew”, “black strife” but the Princes line “My blood for your rudes brawls doth lie a-bleeding”. Blood here also means family so the Prince’s family is made to shed blood because of the brawling between the Capulets and Montagues. The word brawl is like a fight that is pointless and lacks the dignity of a proper battle.
The language is very important to the drama of this scene but the constant entrances and exits of the characters speeds up the excitiment and action of the scene. Benvolio and Mercutio enter at the beginning. Benvolio is like a tension gauge because we know when Benvolio feels uncomfortable then we should go along with him. This trust starts with his name; Benvolio could come from the latin ‘Benvolus’ which means kind, friendly and devoted. Mercutio in this scene seems again to be the joke maker, and the jokes that he keeps on throwing at Benvolio are not making him laugh. Benvolio brings us to the attention that the day is hot, by making a comment about how the hot days make the blood boil and tempers rise, he also make it clear that he is worried that if they meet the Capulets then they will not escape having another brawl, and after the Princes threat this is the only thing he is worried about. This makes the audience apprehensive about what will happen next.
In lines 32-51 the scene seems to pick up pace, and tension grows with the entrance of Tybalt. We know that Benvolio is scared of meeting the Capulets, but he is not only meeting the Capulets he is meeting Tybalt, the renowned ‘Prince of Cats’, and as we have seen so far the metting between these two have caused argument and brawls because, of the violence of Tybalt. We soon find out that Tybalt is not looking for a fight with Benvolio, but he wants to find Romeo and Mercutio being the joker makes a joke about how Tybalt will find Romeo. It is at this part when Tybalt finally loses his patience and shouts at Mercutio ‘Mercutio, thou consort'st with Romeo,--‘ , this makes Mercutio lose his patience for the first time in this play and he starts towards Tybalt.
It is only when Romeo enters that the audince realise that the argument will develop into actuall violence and Benvolio has no further influence. When Romeo finally enters Tybalt turns away from Mercutio sayin ‘Well, peace be with you, sir: here comes my man’ , this again angers Mercutio because, Tybalt no longer is interested in this argument when Romeo enters, he retaliates with ‘But I'll be hanged, sir, if he wear your livery’ . Romeo says ‘Tybalt, the reason that I have to love thee, Doth much excuse the appertaining rage’ , this confuses the characters in the scene because, instead of Romeo reacting back with another insult and anger, he says that he loves Tybalt in a way no one can know. This momentarily diffuses the tension but Tybalt is made more angry, frustrated and danegerous by Romeo’s refusal to fight.This is when Mercutio draws his sword onto Tybalt, and Tybalt agrees to the challenge. When they start to fight Romeo shouts to Benvolio to get out his sword and stop the fight, however he does not stop the fight and Romeo tries to stop it but, Mercutio is stabbed by Tybalt underneath Romeos arm.
After Tybalt and his Partisans have ran off the stage, Mercutio makes his you have made worms meat of me speech and put the plague on both the Capulets and Montague houses. There is some bitterness in the death of Mercutio because, he was not of either of the houses, but he has fell victim of their on going feud. This turns the mood of the whole scene to sad because of the wasting of Mercutio’s life. This is turning of Romeos mood he changes from peaceful towards Tybalt to a vengeful and angry. Benvolio takes Mercutio off stage and at this point only Romeo is on the stage, and he reminisces over how Mercutio was not included in the feud between the Capulets and the Montagues. This is the only thing that could change Romeo’s determination to be peaceful because he has tto avenge Mercutios death.
When Benvolio re-enters and tells Romeo that Mercutio has actually died, Romeo vengeful mood seems to increase. When Tybalt finally comes back on to the stage Romeo vengence overpowers his need to be friends with Tybalt so they fight and Tybalt is then killed. Benvolio manages to persuade Romeo to leave the stage before the citizens arrive and there are witnesses to Tybalts death.
After Romeo flees, the Prince and the Old Montagues and Capulets enter, and the judgement is passed that Romeo should not be killed but be exiled. The Prince gets all the information about the past event from Benvolio, because Benvolio who is overcome with despair for Mercutio cannot lie to protect Romeo. This is another change of mood. The summary of the action makes the audience re-live it and the Prince’s judgement is like a court with the Capulet’s and Montague’s presenting their defence.
Act 3 scene 1 is a crucial and dramatic point in the play. Shakespeare uses Benvolio as a cementation, who controls the audience reaction up to the point where Tybalt’s anger boils over. HE also uses the entrances and exits of Chracters to build and release tension. Benvolio warns us that the Capulets are abroad and Mercutio is lively and joking, but nevertheless builds Tybalt’s anger further. Then Romeo enters, who instead of fighting frustrates Tybalt with his talk of peace. This also affects Mercutio who draws his sword for the first time and is slain by Tybalt. The final calming, judgement by the Prince ends the scene, which has been like a play within a play because there has been so much action.
The tension in this scene is built by the entrances and exits iof chracters and is only finallt relieved when the Prince enters and passes judgement but two have died and one is banished. However. Shakespeare’s use of language make the action more effective by describing the weather, Benvolio sets the scene for ‘hot’ tempers. Romeo’s peaceful words instead od calming Tybalt aggravate him. They do form a contrast through showing that Tybalt’s need to punish Romeo wont go away. The reall dramatic effect is that Romeo’s desire for everyone to live in peace led to increased anger from Tybalt and Mercutio, drawing his sword to defend Romeo’s honour because, he could no longer listen to Tybalt’s insults. It also resulted in his banishment and the 1st od series of events and misunderstandings leading to the tradgic deaths of Romeo and Juliet.
