Romeo and Juliet - Comparison of Act 2 Scene 4 and Act 3 Scene 1

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Romeo and Juliet – Comparison of Act 2 Scene 4 and Act 3 Scene 1

‘Romeo and Juliet’ is a play of contrasts. It is split into two parts; the first half which includes 2.4, this half is positive full of love and word play, and the second half where the tragedies happen, 3.1 is a pivotal scene in this half.

In Act 2 Scene 4 Romeo and Mercutio use puns and jokes to laugh at eachother at the beginning whereas in Act 3 Scene 1 Benvolio makes an ominous comment about anticipating a fight. At this point Shakespeare uses pathetic fallacy “These hot days, is the mad blood stirring” He says the heat is making people angry. He’s scared if they stay there will be a fight.

The locations in which these scenes take place are significant, Act 3 Scene 1 more so. They both take place in a public place, this is important because in 1.1 Prince declares “If ever you disturb our streets again/ your lives shall pay the forfeit of the peace” This proves to be true.

The key themes of the two scenes lead on well from their beginnings. The humour of 2.4 lasts for the whole scene, except when Romeo organises the wedding, contributing to the positive feel of the first two acts. In contrast to this 3.1 has unexpected twists like the death of Mercutio. Violence is a key theme also shown in the death of Tybalt. The avenging of Mercutio’s death is a matter of respect, another key theme. If Mercutio didn’t have so much respect for Romeo he wouldn’t have fought Tybalt and led to the tragedy.

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Tybalt’s anger towards Mercutio was partly due to him being aggravated by his puns and twisting of his words. This shows that Mercutio can’t resist joking even though it contributes to his death. Shakespeare designed the character this way, even his name comes from the word mercurial meaning lively and quick-witted. When Mercutio is dying he continues to joke about being a “grave man” whereas in 2.4 Romeo stops joking when the top of Juliet is breached by her Nurse. The effect is that Romeo takes his marriage more seriously than Mercutio takes his own life.

Romeo changes his attitude ...

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