Look closely at Act 3 Scene 1 of Shakespeare's 'Romeo and Juliet'. Comment in detail on the dramatic effectiveness of this scene, both through the action and the language,

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Carly Ridout

English Coursework:

Look closely at Act 3 Scene 1 of Shakespeare’s ‘Romeo and Juliet’.  Comment in detail on the dramatic effectiveness of this scene, both through the action and the language, and the impact that it would have on an audience, both contemporary and in Shakespeare’s time.

In this essay I will be concentrating on Act 3 scene 1 of Shakespeare’s ‘Romeo and Juliet’.  I will be commenting on the dramatic effectiveness of this scene, through both the action and the language and also the impact that it would have on an audience, both contemporary and in Shakespeare’s time.  My main focus is Act 3 Scene 1 because this scene is the climax of the ‘Romeo and Juliet’.  This scene displays key events such as the death of Mercutio, who is a key comic character.  His death is the result of the feuds going on between the Montague family and the Capulet family.  Mercutio’s death symbolises the end of the romance comedy and shows that the play is going to be a tragedy.  Also, there is Romeo being banished, which means the end of Romeo and Juliet’s relationship.  Tybalt is killed and his body used as a symbol that the play is going to end in disaster.  The key message emphasised is the seriousness and consequences of feuds and hatred.  This is shown through the death of both Tybalt and Mercutio.

        The scene before, Act 2 Scene 6, contrasts dramatically to Act 3 Scene 1.  The themes are the exact opposite of one another.  Act 2 Scene 6, is a romantic scene where Romeo and Juliet get married. The main theme for this scene is love, where as Act 3 Scene 1 is the exact opposite theme, hate.  This is dramatically effective because scene 6 is calm and romantic in contrast to Scene 1 in Act 3, where there is lots of action, a big fight with a result of two people dying and Romeo being banished.  These two scenes show just one of the contrasts with the play as a whole.  The mood and action in the two scenes change very quickly from a calm slow-moving, relaxed wedding, to a fast-moving, exciting and violent fight in Act 3 Scene 1.    The audience watching would be very calm and relaxed after watching the marriage as Romeo and Juliet commit their lives to each other, so going into a big fight scene with 2 deaths, shocks the audience and creates irony.  Also, the audience would recognise the dramatic irony because they know that Romeo and Juliet have just got married and none of the other characters in the fight scene know.  This also adds to the dramatic suspense and effectiveness of this scene.

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Compared to Act 2 Scene 6, Act 3 Scene 1 is going to be very fast moving with lots more happening and lots of entrances and exits.  This makes the Act 3 Scene 1 more compelling and exiting for the audience to watch as it is unexpected after the slow moving scene before.  A lot happens in a short time in scene with two deaths and one banishment.  Furthermore, the fight scene has lots more props and uses varied styles such as blank verse, prose and rhyming verse.

Act 3 Scene 1 contrasts dramatically with the scene before and ...

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