As Mercutio dies he uses puns in his language. He uses the phrase “A grave man.” Meaning he would be dead, or down beat. This is important because in Shakespearian theatre the actors could not die on stage, this was because the bodies could not be taken offstage. It was important they stated they were dying, or that the character had died so the audience realised because the death is only heard, not seen.
Mercutio is the joker. He uses comical language and puns, even when he is dying. He is melodramatic; he likes to be the centre of attention so he is loud and lively.
When Romeo chases Tybalt the fight starts, this is interesting for the audience because there is action. The fight would be choreographed so it would look good to people watching it. This shows the hate between the two families is still very much present. Also with the fight comes the lash of the tongue, as well as sword, on both parts.
There is a mixture of characters in this scene; this gives a good contrast and some friction. Friction is important as it creates an atmosphere, this would draw the audience into the action, as something vital (Mercutio’s death) is about to occur.
Benvolio is the natural peacekeeper. He tries to avoid confrontation and also tries to stop them fighting even quarrelling. He is the one who suggests they leave when the Capulets turn up. “By my head, here come the Capulets!” This shows he was worried about what might happen if they stay. Mercutio is his contrasting character, he is fiery and up for a fight, when Benvolio starts to worry, he doesn’t, “By my heel, I care not!” He is very passive, as Mercutio mentions in his speech about why Benvolio would fight. He is the total opposite to Tybalt, who is one of his enemies, so there is friction between them.
Romeo is a romanticist; he falls in and out of love very easily. This is shown in the beginning of the play, when he is “in love” with Rosaline. He says he would not love another, but he falls straight out of love when he meets Juliet. He has a good imagination and does things purely on impulse, this is shown in killing Tybalt. He did not think his actions through and regretted it the second after he did it. His marriage to Juliet is another example of Romeo acting on impulse, he rushed into it and it was rushed. He did not want to fight, but when Tybalt killed Mercutio he was beside himself with anger. There are some hints of Romeo and Juliet’s marriage as Romeo refers to Tybalt as his “cousin for only an hour.” This will make the audience feel like Tybalt might find out. It will add more tension, and the audience will, yet again, be drawn into the action. The audience will be thinking that Tybalt might get suspicious of him, but he doesn’t. This is because Romeo is dropping hints about his marriage, but they would not be noticed by anyone who wasn’t aware of the events. Romeo also talks about how he loves the name Capulet as it was his own, this is secretly proclaiming his love for Juliet, but Tybalt does not know this. The fact the audience know something that most of the characters don’t. The audience may anticipate the fight, making the scene more intense as they envisage the outcome.
This creates tension because you begin to envisage Tybalt, and the other Capulets to be curious as to his suggestions. They may think that Romeo is secretly taunting them with something they aren’t yet aware of. This marriage becomes in danger of ending when Romeo kills his wife’s cousin, but in the end the star crossed lovers die, the way they wanted to, together, but in unwanted circumstances.
In the scene the themes that are evident are love, because of Romeo’s recent marriage, he talks about his
“Sweet Juliet. ” Another sign of Romeo walking round with his head in the clouds.
He tries not to fight with Tybalt through love for his wife.
Hate is also present, in the fight, and the dialogue leading up to it. You have the hate of the Montagues and Capulets, but there is also hate between Mercutio and Tybalt, but that starts off as a playful hate. This later develops into a more serious hate as the fight progresses. At the beginning of the fight, Tybalt was taunting Romeo, but later, it ends in death of Mercutio. Romeo gets angry and another death occurs, so an even more serious hate is present with the death of two main characters.
This scene has many references to love, but there is a contrast with the presence of hate. There are references to the marriage and this makes the audience sympathise with Romeo because he tries to make peace with his wife’s family. Mercutio is killed because the play turns at this point from light heartedness to grief and sorrow, so the comic character has to leave. Shakespeare marks the death of the comical character with a very dramatic scene. This is important because the play turns around here. It goes from a romance to a tragedy.
There are lots of different uses of language in this scene. As I mentioned before, Mercutio uses puns and irony often in his conversation with Benvolio. Benvolio shows he can keep calm under pressure by not retaliating, and just laughing.
Later on he keeps repeating the phrase
“A plague o both your houses.”
This makes the audience remember that he said it, if he only said it once it wouldn’t be as symbolic.
This is ironic since Romeo and Juliet both die under tragic circumstances, therefore this is bound to happen and can be looked upon as a witches curse. This implies that fate has a major role in this play, as this seems to be more than coincidental, and in the prologue it says that Romeo and Juliet are “star crossed lovers.”
In this scene we have the deaths of two of the main characters, quite opposite in personalities. This may be because the storyline is changing with a tragic slant. Also there needs to be a reason to banish Romeo and the scene is therefore positioned well in the text.
Shakespeare has a habit of killing off the main characters suddenly and quite unexpectedly and twisting the tale giving a different context on the play.
Also Shakespeare likes to move freely from one emotion to a complete opposite such as playful banter to death.
Any member of the audience knowing how the plays are written will expect a variation of emotions and death of characters. This scene gives both.
