Tybalt is quite a different character to Mercutio. He is a good fighter and knows he has done wrong but would never really admit that to anybody. He is a far too proud character and would never admit defeat. Mercutio merely thinks as Mercutios death as an accident. He could be described as an egoistic. Tybalt is similar to Mercutio in the way they both are always looking for trouble, picking fights. However Tybalt has no sense of humour whatsoever, he hates to be made a fool of and doesn’t take it as a joke. He always has to win and be the best. A real competitive, clever character. The other characters recognise this too, Benvolio says: ‘Here comes the furious Tybalt back again.’ They know he is quite a dangerous character, in a way like Romeo, unpredictable. Mercutio is not like Tybalt as Mercutio is a real joker who loves to make people laugh and be the centre of attention. Mercutio talking to Tybalt, ‘Good king of cats, nothing but one of your nine lives, that I mean to bold withal’ He makes everything a joke and doesn’t care and doesn’t think too closely about what he is saying.
Obviously the killings of Tybalt and Mercutio contribute the dramatic aspects of the play but the situation with Romeo and Juliet is much worse.
A dramatic aspect would be the secrecy. Romeo and Juliet don’t follow conventions; they break away from tradition but in a very secret way, telling the least of people that is possible. Do you believe in love at first sight? Could you trust somebody so much even though you have only met them a handful of times?
These are all the questions which Romeo and Juliet leave you thinking. Romeo and Juliet first meet at the ball and instantly have chemistry going on between them.
Romeo and his friends gatecrash the Capulet party wearing masks as a disguise. Tybalt recognises Romeo and goes to inform Capulet of their unwelcome guests but to Tybalts surprise Capulet is unconcerned. Tybalt is to the point of fury and shows his fighting side which later leads to the killing of Mercutio.
This night Romeo sees Juliet and straight away is drawn to her and falls in love. ‘What lady’s that which doth enrich the hand of yonder night?’ Romeo asks a servant immediately on the sight of Juliet. He gets her attention and Juliet is quite taken in by Romeo and his eloquent language. ‘It is the east, and Juliet is the sun. Arise, fair sun, and kill the envious moon, Who art more fair than she… It is my lady….. Oh, it is my Love!’
This also brings up the controversial element of whether Romeo is in love or is it just love? Could it just be the excitement of it being a secret and the sneaking around?
I think Romeo is really infatuated by Juliet but whether he loves her is a mystery. The situation is magic, the sentiments, the language used, the purity and the power of promise id just perfect. It all seems such a perfect situation.
However, it sounds cynical, but realistically that wouldn’t happen. It can’t all be that perfect, it must be too good to be true. This makes you think it will end in tragedy.
We will never know if it really could have worked, whether they could have committed long term and given everything up for one another. Could it just have been excitement? It could have been an act of boredom or rebellion? It’s like you want what you can’t have. Maybe if they had got it in an ideal world they wouldn’t want it any more and become uninterested. In today’s society some people are still made to have arranged marriages so this tragedy still could happen 450 years after it was written. Some aspects obviously would be much different. One example of this could be how formal it was back then and how it would differ in a modern society.
Thinking about whether Romeo and Juliet were really in love is a hard question to come to terms with. They seem extremely devoted to each other, they have one hundred percent trust and this is a true definition if love.
They have a lot of commitment, they commit everything, in the end even their own lives. They are young and in love and instant marriage seems perfect.
We, as the audience are supposed to think that Romeo and Juliet have genuine love and aren’t supposed to question this. We are asked a lot of questions and given a lot of questions and given a lot of messages to consider the main one being ‘love is blind!’
Coming back to Romeo, the chance of him and Benvolio keeping the peace was very slim. As they were up against Mercutio and Tybalt; two very argumentative characters.
Mercutio is really the opposite of Romeo, Mercutio is unbalanced, and he doesn’t accept romance and is very cynical towards love. He could be described as bitter and he only sees the physical side of relationships. He is insecure unlike Romeo.
Romeo lives for romance. He loves women and knows just what to say to them, he always wants to be in a relationship.
Romeo proves his love for romance as he takes his own life for love and heartache. He lives for the day and is quite unpredictable.
Mercutio and Tybalt really don’t have the time for romance and just seem to look for trouble. Benvolio is Romeo’s best friend and doesn’t like arguing. They are quite the opposite but all of them like the rivalry. Romeo feels like he is in an awkward position as he is a Montague but has married a Capulet. He never thought that he would do this, but the dramatic contribution; love his driven him to this. He can not control his love for Juliet and obviously does not want to. The only reason he met Juliet was by crashing the Capulets party, out of hate and spite. That hate and spite turned out to be love and romance, in the form of Juliet. The two deaths would eventually bring both families together; Romeo and Juliet were symbols of peace and love. They both gave their own lives for one another and both families would see this. ‘Oh brother Montague, give me thy hand. This is my daughter’s jointure, for no more can I demand.’ Love and hate are the main emotions running throughout the play, love for Romeo and Juliet and hate of both families.
Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy and all the dramatic elements make it what it is. It is still a classic love story today. The secrecy, love, conventions, excitement, hate, fighting and trust all contribute to the dramatic elements.
