Romeo and Juliet

The opening scene is also an immediate fight which is on a Sunday and it is between the Caplets and the Montague's. We can see from the opening fight that there will be more fight to come because it is a common occurrence. After the initial fight fortunately, nobody gets killed but Prince walks in and dictates "if ever you disturbed our streets again, your lives shall pay the forfeit of the peace.", using that evidence and the knowledge that someone will die, "doth with there death bury their parents' strife", we can draw the conclusion that the there will be a form of violence in act three scene one.

It is evident that there would be violence in act three scene one in the prologue, it mentions "where civil blood makes civil hands unclean", it is easily seen that there is a high chance of violence in act three scene one because of the word "unclean" this word infers that the hands are unclean because blood has been spilled. This foreshadows violence in act three scene one by having it before any thing happened and the fact that know one dies in the first scene.

Another clue that there will be violence in act three scene one is that it says "from ancient grudge to new mutiny" in the prologue. This shows there has always been a grudge between the two families and that there is going to be new conflicts between them through out the five days it is set. This phrase could also mean "ancient grudge" which represents the parents of the two families, and "new mutiny" which represents the younger member such as Romeo, Mercutio, Juliet and Tybalt.

Tybalt is a Capulet, this means he rivals with Montague and Romeo, throughout the play he is an aggressive character and "hates the word peace". Tybalt does not die throughout and in almost every scene he is in, there is a fight, this clearly foreshadows the fight between him and Mercutio. Every time Tybalt enters the stage with a Capulet he I always willing to start a fight or an argument. This also foreshadows the fights in act three scene one.

In act three scene one you can predict the fight before the actual fight begins because we know, ironically, Tybalt and Romeo are now related. Tybalt has never liked Capulets and now he is related to one, and at that point you can predict a terrible and unforgivable conflict starting between the two families once again.

In act one scene one there is an immediate repartee between Tybalt and Sampson and Gregory this later on escalates into violence between the two families. "What art thou drawn among these heartless hinds?", This is an aggressive statement form Tybalt after the initial fight. This prepares the audience by showing immediately how quickly violence between these two families can occur.

One of the easiest ways to foresee violence is the sheer fact that the two families are two opposites, one is very sarcastic and the other is more firm and strict. The Capulets are more sarcastic in the way they speak and have less control in the fights in arguments, whereas the Montagues are more firm with what they say and do, as Tybalt says "I am for you [drawing]", like he always ready to fight compared to Mercutio when he says " as soon as moddy to be moved". This foreshadows violence because there can not be two opposite families on the same side as each other.

Shakespeare builds the tension in this scene by showing us aggressive sides to each of the characters for example Shakespeare makes Romeo try and befriend his enemy which enrages Tybalt who then fights Mercutio in place of Romeo and gets killed, Romeo is then enraged because of the death of his best friend and reacts to this by killing Tybalt. The audiences having already seen this know that it can only end in tears for everyone.

In conclusion, the opening scene and the prologue to Romeo and Juliet foreshadows the violence in act three scene one by showing us firstly, the initial fight. Secondly, Tybalts reaction's. Thirdly, the "ancient grudge" and "star crossed lovers". In my opinion I think that Act 3 Scene 1 is by far the best scene in Romeo and Juliet because it shows many sides of the characters like Mercutio who is most of the time making a fool of someone he fought against Tybalt for Romeo, Romeo shows a loving nature towards Tybalt because he has just married Juliet, Tybalt's cousin and does not want to start a fight between them and Tybalt not knowing this begins to think that Romeo is mocking him it is also the main turning point of the play because it ends with the banishment of Romeo from Verona by the Prince