This is important to the play because the climax is Romeo’s change in character, how he quickly wants revenge on Tybalt and to pay for what he did “Either thou or I, or both, must go with him” Romeo says to Tybalt that Mercutio isn’t going on his own. This surprises the audience because one minute he is submitting and refusing to fight “Therefore farewell; I see thou know'st me not.”, after Mercutio is killed there is a dramatic change in Romeo’s character and straight away he wants revenge on Tybalt: “Thou late thou gavest me; for Mercutio’s soul is but a little way above our heads, staying for thine to keep him company, either thou or I, or both must go with him”, this builds up a lot of tension because the change is unexpected and happens in such a short period of time, for all the previous scenes he has been a very different character. Romeo then kills Tybalt and as we already know that the prince of Verona said that if the Montagues and Capulets fight again then they will be killed, this leaves the audience thinking Romeo will be killed which then leads up to another climax by doing this Shakespeare is building up a lot of drama and tension and leaves the audience wanting to know what’s going to happen to Romeo.
In Act three, Scene one a lot of events go on this causes a lot of contrast in characters. A good example of this is when Mercutio is provoking Tybalt to have a fight and Romeo enters, Romeo is in a good mood because he has just married Juliet. Tybalt is quick to insult Romeo: “thou art a villain”. Romeo does not react to it and backs down. Mercutio doesn’t like this and calls Tybalt a “rat catcher” This is when Tybalt reacts and starts to fight, Mercutio is still very confident “come, sir, your passado!” until Tybalt stabs Mercutio. Mercutio is quick to blame the wound on someone else “I am hurt. A plague o’ both your houses! I am sped. Is he gone and hath nothing” this is a big contrast in character because before this Mercutio was asking for a fight and now he is feeling sorry for himself and blaming the fight on the two families. This is important to the scene because this then leads to many more contrast in characters for example Romeo feels guilty, regretful and wants revenge on Tybalt he quickly starts a fight and kills Tybalt. This then leaves Lady Capulet distraught with the death of her cousin. You can see that when Mercutio and Tybalt fought it lead to many more problems creating lots of tension.
We are told by the Prince after the first fight in act 1, scene 1 that if there is any more fighting between the Capulets and Montague’s “they will be killed”. This makes the end of Act three, Scene one very tense because the Prince has to decide what to do with Romeo. The Prince makes Benvolio explain what had happened. Benvolio tells the story by being truthful but making Romeo sound like he is a good person. “There lies the man, slain by young Romeo, That slew thy kinsman, brave Mercutio” If I was to direct this I would have Benvolio with his head in hands and saying this very dramatically. Benvolio is still telling the truth but makes it sound like it was more Tybalts fault “Tybalt deaf to peace”. Lady Capulet tries to defend Tybalt “Affection makes him false; he speaks not true”. The Prince decides what he is going to do: “And for that offence, immediately we do exile him hence” The audience are relieved to know Romeo isn’t going to be killed but the Prince banishes Romeo from Verona.
The Families both react to the deaths by wanting revenge and not feeling guilty. Lady Capulet refers to her family by saying “Tybalt, My cousin! O my brother’s child! O prince! O husband! O the blood is spill’d of my dear kinsman! Prince, as thou art true, for blood of ours shed blood of Montague O cousin, cousin” The repetition of “O” emphasises the shock of the situation and the referral to family members strengthens the drama of the loss of the family member. In comparison to this the Montagues are fearful for their family member Romeo and therefore the reaction to the death of Mercutio is less important. If I was to direct this I would leave the families in separate groups to show the hate between them and have Mercutio dead in front of the Montagues and Tybalt dead in front of the Capulets I would do this to build more tension at the end of the scene.
The end of the scene begins to create doubt for the safety of Romeo as the Capulets seek revenge for the death of Tybalt. The Prince has banished Romeo from Verona which we know is going to have consequences on his marriage to Juliet. As the scene closes we are left wondering what the outcome of Romeo been banished is going to be.
The Scene is positioned in the Centre of the play because it needs time before to introduce you to the characters to let the audience know who the good characters are and who the bad characters are and build up a relationship. It also needs to set events off which could easily lead to tragedies a good example of this is when Romeo marries Juliet secretly. The play also needs time at the end to have an outcome of tragedy; the outcome of ‘Romeo and Juliet’ is the two families make friends when they see what has happened and what they have done.
In Conclusion to this Shakespeare creates a very good play building up tension and drama throughout. This scene helps this by creating a tragedy which leads the two families into making more tragedies.
