“And if we meet we shall not scape a brawl,
For now, these hot days, is the mad blood stirring.”
Mercutio taunts Benvolio calling him a quick tempered quarreller
“Come, come thou art as hot a jack in thy mood as any in Italy.”
These words turn out to be ironic as later Mercutio is the character who is easily angered by Romeo’s refusal to fight. Mercutio shows that he is not scared of the Capulets when Benvolio speaks of their arrival with his words
“By my heel, I care not.”
which is how he responds to the news of the Capulets arrival. Again this is ironic as he is soon to meet his death at the hands of the Capulet Tybalt
As soon as the Capulets arrive Mercutio tries to goad Tybalt into fighting and despite Mercuito's opinion of Benvolio he tries to keep the peace. Tybalt is only interested in fighting Romeo because of the insult to his family when Romeo gate crashed the Capulet ball .Tybalt is anxious to cause a confrontation and calls Romeo a ‘villain’. Romeos response is a tense moment as he hints of his recent marriage to Juliet because he is desperate to keep the peace
“And so good Capulet, which name I tender
As dearly as mine own, be satisfied.”
This is a moment of dramatic irony as the audience understand that he loves the name Capulet now because he has married a Capulet.
Mercutio is outraged by Romeo’s refusal to fight or be offended.
“O calm, dishonourable, vile submission!”
He challenges Tybalt and although Romeo and Benvolio try to intervene they fail to stop the fight. Mercuitio is fatally wounded and before he dies he puts a curse upon both the Montagues and the Capulets
….“A plague o’ both your houses.
They have made worms’ meat of me.
I have it, and soundly, too. Your houses!”
This curse, witnessed by the audience, it to come true later on in the pay when both ‘houses’ lose one of their children in tragic circumstances. This play has not yet reached its half way point and one of the central characters is dead with tragic consequences for both ‘houses’ and further loss of life. Without the death of Mercutio none of the later deaths would have occurred and Romeo and Juliet’s secret marriage may have been accepted by both families in time particularly if they had had a common heir.
Romeo is mortified at Mercutio's death because he knows it will have an evil outcome and only result in more violence and death
“This day’s black fate on more days doth depend
This but begins the woe others must end.”
If at this point in the play Romeo could just have accepted Mercutio’s death without seeking revenge then the play could have ended differently. Romeo, however, took revenge by killing Tybalt and this is the point in the play where the tragedy really begins. Benvolio tells Romeo to ‘be gone!’ as he is reacting to Prince Escales warning at the start of the play that whoever disturbs the peace again
“your lives shall pay the forfeit of the peace.”
Benvolio warns
.......”the Prince will doom thee death
If thou art taken.”
The Prince, Montague, Lady Montague, Capulet and Lady Capulet arrive at the scene. Benvolio tells the story of how Tybalt and Mercutio died. Lady Capulet accuses Benvolio of lying and demands Romeo’s death. Prince Escales orders that for killing Tybalt Romeo will be banished from Verona. Act 3 Scene 1 is also important because the young love of the two characters has overcome a family feud so it is inevitable that the Prince’s banishment will be broken with tragic consequences.
In conclusion Act 3 Scene 1 is central to the plot of this play set against a background of an ‘ancient grudge’ between two families .Tybalt feels that the honour of his family has been insulted by Romeo’s presence at the Capulet ball and it is in this scene that the ‘hot blooded’ young Tybalt seeks his revenge. Romeo however is unusually reluctant to fight because of his secret attachment to the Capulet family. Once blood has been spilt this is a turning point in the story resulting in the death of the ‘star-crossed lovers’.
