therefore turn and draw.”
Romeo will still not fight Tybalt and this angers Mercutio, so Mercutio fights Tybalt. While Mercutio and Tybalt are fighting Romeo steps into the way of Mercutio to stop him fighting. Tybalt stabs Mercutio under Romeo’s arm. While Mercutio is dying he blames Tybalt and Romeo for what has happened to him
“Help me into some house Benvolio, or I shall faint. A plague on both your houses! They have made worms meat of me. I have it and soundly too. Your houses!
Romeo goes after Tybalt who has fled, they fight and Romeo slays Tybalt. Romeo flees to the friar’s house and the Prince arrives where Tybalt has been found. The Prince asks Benvolio what has happened.
“O noble Prince, I can discover all
The unlucky manage of this fatal
Brawl. There lays the man, slain
by young Romeo, that slew thy
kinsman, brave Mercutio.”
The Prince declares that Romeo is banished from Verona and he may never return
The four main characters in Act 3 Scene 1 are, Romeo, Tybalt, Benvolio and Mercutio. First I will talk about Benvolio. Benvolio is the calmest and most sensible character in the play and this is shown at the start of the scene when he is wary about the Capulets.
“I pray thee good Mercutio, lets retire. The day is hot, the Capels are abroad and if we meet we shall not scape a brawl, for now these hot days, is the mad blood stirring.”
His calmness is shown when he doesn’t react to Mercutio’s teasing about his temperament.
“Am I like such a fellow?”
When Tybalt and Mercutio start to fight he tries to calm them both down and ask them to go somewhere else, encase the police come.
“We talk here in public haunt of men. Either withdraw into some private place, and reason coldly of your grievances, or else depart; here all eyes gaze on us.”
When Mercutio has been killed and Romeo has taken revenge and killed Tybalt he quickly advises Romeo leave before the police arrive.
“Romeo, away be gone.”
And it is Benvolio that tells the Prince the exact truth about what has happened.
“This is the truth, or let Benvolio
die.”
Romeo is sensible and level headed. He doesn’t want to fight Tybalt because he is related to Juliet, who is Tybalt’s cousin.
“Villain am I none, therefore,
farewell.”
And he tries to make peace with Tybalt.
“And so good Capulet.”
Romeo causes the death of Mercutio when he intervenes in his fight with Tybalt
“My very friend hath got this mortal
hurt on my behalf.”
When Tybalt flee’s after stabbing and killing Mercutio, Romeo follows him and avenges Mercutio’s death by killing Tybalt
“There lays the man slain by young
Romeo.”
When the Prince arrives and Benvolio has explained what has happened the Prince punishes Romeo by banishing him from Verona.
“Immediately we do exile him hence.”
Tybalt is a very hotheaded character and gets angry very easily. He wants to fight Romeo, and has no quarrel with Benvolio or Mercutio.
“Gentlemen, good den.”
And he is polite to them despite being provoked by Mercutio.
“May peace be with you sir, here
comes my man.”
How angry he can get is shown when Romeo refuses to fight him, he wont accept no for an answer.
“Boy this shalt not excuse the
injuries that thou has caused me,
therefore turn and draw.”
When Romeo refuses to fight, Mercutio becomes angry and offers to fight Tybalt. He accepts Mercutio’s invitation to satisfy his honour,
“I am for you”
and he fatally wounds Mercutio under Romeo’s arm.
Mercutio is a very cocky character, and finds it hard to control himself when he is angry, and this eventually results in his death. At the start of the scene he is teasing Benvolio about who is most likely to start an argument. Mercutio retorts that Benvolio is a fine one to talk; he is as much a troublemaker as anyone.
“Come, come, thou art as hot a Jack in thy mood as any in Italy, and as soon moved to be moody, and as soon moody to be moved.”
When Tybalt arrives he immediately picks a fight with him, even though Tybalt is being polite to them.
“And but one word with one of us? Couple it with something, make it a word and a blow.”
When Romeo arrives, Tybalt wants to fight him. Romeo refuses to fight. Mercutio cannot bear Romeo refusing to duel. He gets so worked up that he fight Tybalt himself.
“Tybalt, you rat catcher, will you walk?”
After being wounded by Tybalt, he is still making jokes, and this show that he does not like to look weak in front of other people.
“Ask for me tomorrow, and you shall find me a grave man.”
If I were directing the play, I would set it in modern times. This is because the main audience would be teenagers and youth’s, and a more modern play would appeal to them. Also by setting they play in a modern time, I would be able to adjust the jobs from that time to modern day.
The characters costumes would be contemporary and would wear cloths that fitted in with the style at the time. The characters would have distinguishing costume, so that it is easier to tell them apart and so I can expand the level of costume design for different characters. For example, Romeo would have much more expensive and elaborate clothing than a priest or a maid.
The dialect would be different than in Shakespeare’s play, where he uses the Old English language, which is hard to follow and understand. Also this would increase interest into the play, because people would find it easier to follow the story.
