As the scene starts with Benvolio and Mercutio in a public place, Benvolio is beginning to get worried that the Capulets might seek a fight with them, which, if they are seen, will end in death for one of them. Benvolio’s concerned attitude is emphasised here - “I pray thee, good Mercutio, let’s retire. The day is hot, the Capulets abroad” This is showing once again the cautious, peacekeeping nature that we have seen of Benvolio thus far in the play. For example, when Benvolio pleas with Tybalt Capulet, who is a particularly ferocious and violent member of the Capulet household that was earlier in the play insulted deeply by Romeo and company attending uninvited the Capulet party, for help in stopping a fight between their kinsmen. “Part, fools! Put up your swords; you know not what you do.” and “I do but keep the peace; put up thy sword, or manage it to part these men with me.” Also when Prince Escalus asks Benvolio about the fray, Benvolio omits certain truths about Romeo and Mercutio (his friends) to make him sound more honourable and innocent then he maybe is. This is showing that Benvolio cares deeply about his friends. He will even go to the lengths of lying to the ruler of Verona to protect his friends. These, and other parts of the play, give the audience an idea of what sort of a character Benvolio is. To plea to a hated enemy in order to keep the peace is a sign of Benvolio’s willingness to keep the peace whatever it takes.
This image of Benvolio is maintained in this scene as he is once again trying to avoid a tussle between an argumentative, violent Mercutio and any oncoming Capulets. Benvolio is keen not to get caught in a fight with the Capulets as he knows this spells death for him and Mercutio (by punishment from Prince Escalus) so this is also showing a caring side to Benvolio. Even though throughout this scene Mercutio is offensive to Benvolio, Benvolio still tries to lead Mercutio away from a certain brawl. Later in the scene when, against Benvolio’s will, a fight is inevitable between Mercutio and Tybalt (because Mercutio was trying to protect Romeo’s honour as Romeo declined a challenge by Tybalt), Benvolio is still the voice of reason as he suggests that “We talk here in the public haunt of men either withdraw unto some private place or reason coldly” He is trying to give reasonable options to fight in public by suggesting they resolve their issues.
After Romeo kills Tybalt, in revenge for Tybalt killing Mercutio, Benvolio is once again the “level headed” thinker by saying to Romeo “Romeo, away, be gone… Tybalt slain stand not amaz’d. The prince will doom thee death.” He orders Romeo to leave as he knows that if he stays he will be punished by death. Once more the audience sees a caring aspect of Benvolio’s character and because of these personality traits the audience observes a great respect towards Benvolio by most characters in the play.
In contrast to Benvolio, Mercutio is an eccentric character who seems slightly out of control. The audience can pick this up from parts of the play such as when he rants on about “Queen Mab… she is the fairies’ midwife” before the Capulet party. He is obviously talking frantically of untrue fantasies giving the audience a signal that Mercutio is a little unusual and slightly “out of control” - so much so in fact, that it takes a level-headed Romeo to calm him down “Peace, peace, Mercutio peace! Thou talk’st of nothing.” Romeo is speaking to him as if he is an unruly infant which in turn shows the audience the nature of their relationship. Mercutio often acts childishly in front of Romeo even when a certain occurrence could be very important for Romeo. For instance when he poked fun at the Nurse with sexual innuendos and rude jokes showing that he does not respect his elders and is somewhat eccentric “Tis no less, I tell ye; for the bawdy hand of the dial is now upon the prick of noon” or, showing that the Nurse is offended, “I pray you, sir, what saucy merchant was this that was so full of ropery?” Although this meeting with the Nurse was influential in Romeo’s plight of marrying Juliet (obviously a very important event), Mercutio insulted Nurse and could have jeopardised Romeo chances with Juliet by wounding Nurse to the extent of her fleeing the scene. Still Romeo was not even angry with him and this shows the strength of their friendship and perhaps a certain respect that Romeo feels for Mercutio.
At the beginning of the scene Mercutio is abusive to Benvolio which gives one the feeling of his mood. He uses a great deal of puns with a hyperbolic manner in his abuse towards Benvolio because I believe he is trying to make Benvolio feel small by using clever insults. This gives the audience an idea of what kind of mood he is in as he is insulting his good friend in an obviously aggressive type of behaviour.
Throughout the play, Mercutio shows a great deal of respect for and admiration for Tybalt, especially for his sword fighting skills. But because Mercutio is good friends with the Montague family he is not fond of him by any stretch of the imagination! As this shows “Good King of Cats” or “Tybalt, you rat-catcher” although there is a definite compliment, Mercutio is also using a play on words to insult Tybalt as well.
The audience will perceive the reason for Mercutio attacking Tybalt to be a mixture of Tybalt’s offensive behaviour and language towards Mercutio’s good friend Romeo or because of the mood that Mercutio was in. This mood was very argumentative, aggressive and violent “Tybalt: Gentleman, good den; a word with one of you.
Mercutio: And but a word with one of us? Couple it with something; make it a word and a blow” Tybalt was being perfectly polite but Mercutio replied incredibly rudely which in turn started the fight. To be fair Tybalt thereafter does get provoked easily and without struggle.
When Mercutio is finally struck down and Tybalt flees he makes a comment “A plague a both your houses” this is an extremely significant and relevant remark. As it is showing yet another life is ruined by the hate shared between the two houses (Capulet and Montague) both alike in dignity. Mercutio curses both the families because their eternal hatred has ended up being the death of him even though he was not a member of one the families. This point is reinforced with this quote “They have made worms’ meat of me” he is referring to Capulets and Montagues as “they”. Mercutio is very angry towards Romeo at the end of his life as he knows that if it was not for Romeo than he would still be alive but instead of blaming Romeo individually he blames Capulets and Montagues. “A plague a both your houses” basically means that both houses deserve a terrible disease upon them both for the hurt and death their fighting has inflicted not only on Mercutio but the whole of Verona - which is a view the audience can relate with.
When Romeo first arrives in this key scene, Tybalt challenges and taunts Romeo “Thou art a villain” to provoke him into a fight but Romeo reacts very calmly and doesn’t get angered by these attacks. This is probably because (although Tybalt Capulet does not know) Romeo is now related by law to Tybalt due to his marriage with Juliet. This is a very sensible reaction which we have seen from Romeo throughout the play such as “Peace, Peace, Mercutio peace! Thou talk’st of nothing” this comment is made after a particularly “passionate” rant; it is a very calming influence on Mercutio. Another time that we, the audience, have seen Romeo acting maturely and sensibly is when a further Capulet/Montague brawl breaks out; Romeo is wisely far away from this conflict.
Romeo is, understandably, distraught by the death of his friend Mercutio and this leads him to a rage. Part of this rage is also directed towards himself because I believe he feels that he is to blame as Mercutio was hit under his arm. In the play the audience can see this clearly as it is said by Romeo himself. Not only is it said but the rhetorical device of alliteration is used to describe Romeo’s deep anger “And fire-ey’d fury be my conduct now!” he is saying that it is only anger that drives him at this moment in time. The audience might see part of his anger and frustration as retaliation towards the anger he feels for the hatred that divides his and Juliet’s families. There is a vast change in Romeo’s manner towards Tybalt; before Mercutio’s death he was taking Tybalt’s abuse, but now it is Romeo hurling it at Tybalt.
For these reasons Romeo attacks Tybalt, but also the attack is revenge, the revenge of Mercutio’s death. Romeo soon loses all of the reason that he had employed to avoid a fight with Tybalt in the first place - probably due to being “fire-ey’d fury” being his “conductor”. Although Romeo feels much remorse after killing Tybalt, he feels stronger towards the feeling that he has been tricked by fate “O, I am fortunes fool!” and that this was always going to happen. This is when he realises his relationship with Juliet is in much jeopardy.
However after Act 3 Scene 1 the audience start to see Romeo’s rational behaviour deteriorates very quickly as the grief sinks in that his best friend is dead and he will never be able to live in Verona with his wife, Juliet, because of his resulting banishment. This uncharacteristic behaviour is shown when Romeo will not leave the scene of Tybalt’s death, even though he will probably be killed if he is found there. It eventually takes a consistently sensible Benvolio to persuade him to leave - “Romeo, away, be gone the citizens are up, and Tybalt slain. Stand not amaz’d. The Prince will doom thee death if thou art taken. Hence, be gone, away!” It happens again when Romeo buys poison and he will use it if Juliet is dead. This is extremist behaviour as he could still live on and have a good life without her, but I suppose it is a sign of the power of their love.
The audience have not seen a great deal of Tybalt in the play before this scene. Nevertheless what they have seen of him is a violent, peace-hating (an oxymoron used literally several times by Tybalt “Peace I hate the word”) and a person who enjoys showing off his fighting skills - in a word he is “jack the lad.” The audience have witnessed Tybalt showing much hatred towards any members of the Montague family “As I hate hell, all Montagues, and thee” this was directed to Benvolio who had quite innocently asked him to help him break up brawl between their kinsmen.
Tybalt was especially keen to challenge Romeo to fight because he feels Romeo personally offended him by attending the Capulet party uninvited. Little does Tybalt know that at this point in the play Romeo has already married his close relation Juliet. This is an example of dramatic irony that is used for the audience’s entertainment as it can bring suspense for the moment when the secret is unleashed.
Tybalt’s reaction to Mercutio’s death is one of cowardice and fear as he flees. Also I believe he must feel some embarrassment because he only managed to strike Mercutio when his guard was down due to Romeo trying to protect him. On the other hand, when Tybalt comes back into the scene, he does not seem too affected since he continues to come back at Romeo “Thou, wretched boy, that didst consort him here”; also this comment does not carry much remorse or respect for the dead Mercutio. The audience are made to think of him as a “real life villain” mostly because he is “going for” Romeo (the title/main character) from almost the outset of the play.
There is a definite mood change from Act 2 Scene 6 and the end of Act 3 Scene 1. Act 2 Scene 6 brought about a great amount of hope and joy in the play because Romeo and Juliet’s marriage was a sign of a new beginning for a life of happiness for Romeo and Juliet and also for the Capulet and Montague families. But unfortunately it doesn’t turn out this way.
Romeo has gone from ecstatic about his marriage at the start of Act 3 Scene 1 to being an emotional “wreck” at the end of it. He is now grieving the lose of his best friend and also the lose of his “perfect” marriage with Juliet as he knows after killing Tybalt Capulet they struggle to be together at all. Juliet is also in grieving (not for Tybalt death as her mother suspects) for the lose of their new found marriage. This is in great contrast to the bliss she felt when they got married.
Act 2 Scene 6 gave the audience an expectancy of great joy for the newly married couple. Also the audience expected that the marriage would bring the two families together. Little do they know this is the start of a series of tragic events that can only be stopped by a miracle! Although Friar Lawrence concocts a plan to bring Romeo and Juliet back together his careless planning brings about more hurt and destruction then before.
After this vital scene Romeo escapes to Mantua but not before spending the night with Juliet. Later that day Juliet is told by Lord Capulet that she is due to wed Count Paris (a wealthy and eligible bachelor). Juliet is extremely distraught as she is already married to the one she loves. She seeks guidance from Friar Lawrence who informs her of his plan. The plan is to sedate Juliet for forty hours whilst her family think she is dead. Then she will wake up in her family tomb, after being placed there for her funeral, and she will be reunited with Romeo. Friar Lawrence sends a messenger to Mantua to update Romeo on his plan however the message does not reach him and his servant Balthazar has reported on Juliet funeral. Unknowing that Juliet is not actually dead he goes back to Verona to her tomb with a bottle of poison. When he sees her simulating death he believes that she is really dead so he drinks the poison and dies next to her. Friar Lawrence turns up but he is too late and he runs away from his mess of a plan. When Juliet comes to seeing Romeo dead she also commits suicide. However, these tragic events do bring together Montagues and Capulets in the shared grief for their dead children and finally ends the fighting.
The audience would probably blame Friar Lawrence for the inevitable tragedy because his plan did not come off and it resulted in both Romeo and Juliet’s deaths. However according to the play it was fate that was to blame for their deaths as from the beginning both Romeo and Juliet made comments about the stars spelling their deaths “Some consequence, yet hanging in the stars shall bitterly begin his fearful date” or “A pair of star-cross’d lovers take their life” these are both references to the deaths of Romeo and Juliet even though they are in love.
Act 3 Scene 1 is dreadfully important because it is a turning point in the play; it is when tragedy starts to unfold. Before this scene life and love were going well for Romeo and Juliet; they had just got married and were set for a happy life together. But when the events of this scene take place it changes the whole logistics of the play. The audience also witness a change in Romeo’s character which outlines how important this scene is. Without this scene the audience would not be watching a tragedy but a love story. This is the scene where fate (tragedy) takes its path and tragedy becomes inevitable although it was certain from the prologue. This is also the scene where Romeo and Juliet’s fate becomes clear; they will both die.
