When Tybalt arrives, Mercutio and Benvolio are in the town square of Verona. It is midday which is also the hottest part of the day; this is the same as Act 1 Scene 1, this therefore echos the events that took place; the calm before a fight. We know that it is this time of because Benvolio tells Mercutio, “I pray thee, good Mercutio, let’s retire: the day is hot, the Capulet’s abroad.” This quotation shows that Benvolio is hot and it is easily irritable and if other people are irritable there will be a fight. Also the Capulets will be near by, Benvolio understands that if they are irritable and others are also irritable then there will be a fight, and with the princes threat of punishment for those who fight again, Benvolio wants to stop anything from happening, this makes him both a responsible and reliable character in the play.
At the beginning of the play the atmosphere is light-hearted and jocular. One way the scene id light-hearted is the way in which Mercutio uses prose. Another way the scene is made light-hearted is the way in which Mercutio makes fun of Benvolio; “Thou wilt quarrel with a man for cracking nuts, having no other reason but because thou hast hazel eye.” This quotation is saying that Benvolio would fight with anyone just because they have hazel eyes. It shows that Mercutio is making fun of Benvolio because we already know that Benvolio is the peacemaker of the play. In this scene Mercutio is acting very peculiar and slightly angry, he replys to Benvolio, “by my heel, I care not.” This comment shows that he does not care that the Capulets are coming and that Tybalt seems like he wants to fight. Mercutio acts similarly to this in Act 1 Scene 5 when he starts talking about when Queen Mab coming into his dreams and also when he takes drugs before attending the Capulet’s masked ball.
In this scene Benvolio tries to keep the peace between the Capulets and the Montagues. When Benvolio says, “We talk here in the public haunt of men: either withdraw unto some private place, and reason coldly of your grievances, or else depart: here all eyes gaze on us.” It shows us that Benvolio is a peace keeper and that he is trying to save both the Capulets and the Montagues; he knows what will happen to them if they fight in a public place. He reminds them of what the Prince earlier said to them.
When Tybalt enters this scene Mercutio’s mood is very light-hearted and jocular. Mercutio starts to antagonise Tybalt with his jokes and quick- thinking. “Heres my fiddlestick; heres that shall make you dance.” At this point Mercutio is jocular and referring to his sword as a fiddlestick. This is a pun because a fiddlestick is used to play the violin, so when Mercutio says this he is saying that his sword will make Tybalt dance. This shows us that Mercutio’s attitude towards Tybalt is very light-hearted and does not think much towards him.
At the beginning of this scene Tybalt is angry. He is angry because of what happened at the Capulet’s masked ball; Tybalt had discovered that Romeo has had the turned up to the Capulet’s masked ball. This makes Tybalt mad because he feels as if he has been made a fool of by his enemies attending a place where he could not show his anger, therefore they undermined him. Tybalt says “He shall be endur’d, what, Goodman boy! I say he shall. Go to!”, this shows how frustrated he feels, this adds to the increasing tension before Act 3. Mercutio contributes to Tybalt’s bad mood by antagonising him; he mocks him uses his wit against him. The level of tension between Mercutio and Tybalt is very high and the atmosphere becomes quick awkward. On the outside it just seems like funny banter but we know that Tybalt does not enjoy being laughed at and that Mercutio really dislikes Tybalt. The audience can tell what is going to happen as they have seen how Tybalt has reacted to this kind of behaviour before. Benvolio’s reaction is to try and keep the peace between the two of them and to stop the banter as he knows that there is bound to lead to a fight between the two. Benvolio tries to stop the arguments between the two feuding families, “We talk here in the public haunt of men: either withdraw unto some private place, and reason coldly of your grievances, or else depart: here all eyes gaze on us.” From we can tell that Benvolio does not want anybody to be harmed and he wants to keep peace.
When Romeo arrives, the level of tension is increased once again. The level of tension increases as Romeo is the person that Tybalt is looking for, it is also increased because Romeo refuses to fight Tybalt as he knows that Tybalt is now is family. The tension is increased because the audience waits to see what the reaction from the already tense Tybalt. When Romeo refuses to fight for this reason Tybalt becomes angry because he doe not understand what and why Romeo is saying, “Good Capulet,-- which name I tender as dearly as my own,-- be satisfied.” Romeo is telling Tybalt that he loves the Capulets as much as he does his own family and refuses to fight him. Tybalt does not understand this comment as he doesn’t know that Romeo and Juliet, his cousin, are married. Shakespeare uses dramatic irony; allowing the audience to know that Romeo and Juliet are married, which creates tension as the audience is waiting for a reaction from the other characters. The way in which Romeo refuses to fight Tybalt makes him mad as Tybalt is not in control of the situation, in the rest of the play he has always been seen as the leader of the Capulet boys, now he does not know how to react, this makes him feel threatened making him mad. Tybalt is frustrated by this because Tybalt has set out to fight Romeo.
