Perhaps the most important theme in the scene is honour. Honour was very important in Verona where the play was set. Tybalt has honour throughout this scene and Romeo is also honourable, towards his new wife at the start of the scene when he tries to stop the brawl and at the end of the scene, when Mercutio dies he revenges Mercutio. The language shows the audience that Tybalt believes strongly in honour and would do anything to sustain his status, even if it meant killing someone. This also shows the audience that Romeo values love above personal honour. It is the theme of honour that cause most of the fighting in this scene, and so it is this aspect which would grip the audience most.
Clearly, loyalty is bound up with honour and loyalty is the main cause of Mercutio’s death. When Tybalt is fighting Romeo, and Romeo is not retaliating; the loyalty that Mercutio has for Romeo forces him to fight to protect Romeo. With the strict honour code, which binds these characters, Shakespeare is able to show the audience the dangerous nature of this scene.
It is possible that Shakespeare decided that was a dramatic necessity ‘kill off’ Mercutio and Tybalt at the end of act 3 scene one as they were no longer necessary catalysts for the drama, and if this didn’t happen then there would have been many fights throughout the play and Shakespeare would no longer be able to focus on the love story.
Further more, the theme of honour and loyalty in this scene is clearly portrayed through the character’s choices of pronouns at each stage of the scene. In Shakespearean times, ‘thou’ and ‘thee’ would be used between friends, lovers and people generally in the same class as themselves. However if you used it to someone of a higher status or class or someone whom you did not like then it would be seen as condescending. This means that it made it look like you thought you were above the other person and on a higher level, like a king was saying something to one of his servants.
‘You’ on the other hand, would be used politely to people you didn’t know, respected or who were of a higher class then you.
In this scene Romeo uses ‘thee’ to Tybalt in a friendly way as to a family member, as he is now part of Tybalt’s family. However Tybalt is unaware of this and thinks Romeo is disrespecting him, which enrages him further. The Shakespearean audiences would have been very aware of such conventions and would therefore have seen Tybalt’s reason for his anger.
Shakespeare has presented Romeo to the audience as exciting and dramatic by making him experience several emotions. He is portrayed as the peace keeper at first but after the death of Tybalt he becomes very aggressive and seeks revenge.
When he first comes on in the scene Shakespeare uses the language to show that Romeo wants peace and feels love towards Tybalt. He says to Tybalt,
‘Tybalt, the reason I have to love thee
Doth much excuse the appertaining rage
To such a greeting.’
This means that the Romeo feels love for Tybalt, due to the fact that Romeo has just married Tybalt’s cousin, Juliet, stops him from wanting to fight Tybalt. This shows that Romeo is just trying to keep the peace between the two families now that him and Juliet are married. However the ‘appertaining rage’ is how he really feels towards Tybalt, so this really shows the audience how strong his love for Juliet must be.
When Tybalt is fighting Romeo, Romeo is desperate not to start a fight and desperately pleads with Tybalt, Romeo says ‘I do protest I never injured thee’ this again shows that even though he is attacked by Tybalt he still desperate to stop the fighting, because of the love he feels for Juliet and his new in-laws. Also when Mercutio and Tybalt are about to have a fight Romeo is still desperate to stop the fighting and dreads what might happen, he says ‘Draw, Benvolio, beat down their weapons.’ This means that he wants Benvolio to draw his sword so that he can beat down Mercutio’s and Tybalt’s swords to stop them fighting. This again shows the audience that Romeo is desperately trying to keep the peace.
After Mercutio is slain though Romeo’s mood changes dramatically. At first he feels very guilty and upset about Mercutio’s death and wishes he had fought. Shakespeare has shown this by making Romeo say
‘My very friend, hath got this mortal wound
In my behalf; my reputation stained
With Tybalt’s slander’
His guilt and regret are shown in the words ‘stained’ and ‘slander’ and Shakespeare shows that his reputation has been crushed by Tybalt’s actions by using these two words.
Shakespeare then emphasis to the audience the tragedy that this scene will unfold, by making Romeo feel furious, vengeful and desperate. Shakespeare now makes Romeo want revenge for Mercutio’s death, and Shakespeare has made him forget all about his new wife and his new family so that the play can move towards it’s tragic ending. He goes in search of Tybalt. When they meet they begin to fight. Romeo says:
‘And fire eyed fury be my conduct now,’ this whole sentence shows that he is furious with Tybalt for killing his best friend. When Romeo say’s ‘for Mercutio’s soul is but a little way above our heads’
It shows the audience that he is grieving for Mercutio, and that if he is angry and grieving at the same time he could do any thing to Tybalt. At the end of his speech he says a line which suggests to the audience that he is desperate to take revenge for Mercutio’s death. He say’s ‘Either you or I, or both, must go with him.’ This means that he doesn’t care any more if he dies in the fight just so long as someone goes with Mercutio to heaven. When Tybalt is killed Romeo is over come with horror as he says:
‘O I am fortune’s fool’, in this sentence there is one main word which makes the audience think that Romeo is horrified with what he has done, this is ‘O’. ‘O’ is used for something that has gone drastically wrong or something which wasn’t meant to happen, this is exactly the context that Romeo uses it in. However this sentence also suggests to the audience that Romeo is talking about fate, he believes that it was due to fate that Tybalt was killed.
Shakespeare has made Tybalt as exciting to the audience by portraying him as someone who is always ready to fight in order to uphold his personal honour. Therefore at the start of this scene Tybalt is again in conflict with the Montagues. This is typical of Tybalt throughout the play, when he is alive, as he is always made out to be a troublemaker. Like with Romeo, Shakespeare has also presented Tybalt as experiencing many emotions.
At the start of this scene when Tybalt enters, he is very apprehensive and says to his men ‘Follow me close, for I will speak to them.’ This suggests that he wants his men to go with him so he can cause a fight and also gives the audience an idea of his intentions.
He then becomes arrogant and sarcastic as he says to Mercutio,
‘You shall find me apt enough to that, sir,’ by apt, the Shakespearean audience would have known that he meant he is willing to fight and that he is being arrogant about it. And ‘sir’ shows the audience that he is being sarcastic because it is clear that he has no respect for Mercutio.
He then becomes very provocative as he tells Mercutio that he is ‘consortest’ with Romeo.
When Romeo comes on the scene Tybalt says to him ‘Thou art a villain’, which makes the audience feel that Tybalt is trying to start a fight with Romeo and so he is being very provocative.
After Romeo has said his first line Tybalt feels insulted, as Romeo has addressed him with ‘thee’, and as Tybalt doesn’t know why Romeo has addressed him in that way he becomes very aggressive. He calls Romeo a ‘Boy’, which degrades him and then tells him to ‘Turn and draw’, which shows the audience that he has lost his dignity and he needs to win it back by fighting.
When Mercutio defends Romeo, Tybalt is surprised and says
‘What wouldst thou have with me?’ this question shows the audience that he is surprised with Mercutio’s anger. However, this could also be interpreted by the Shakespearean audience as being an insult to Mercutio as he uses ‘thou’ which was seen as insulting.
At the beginning of this scene, Mercutio is portrayed to the audience as playful, the audience realise this when Benvolio says ‘By my head here come the Capulets’ and Mercutio replies with ‘By my heels I care not’. The almost exact repetition of the first sentence shows the audience that Mercutio is in a playful and cocky mood. However when he says ‘I care not’ it shows the audience that Mercutio is also in an arrogant mood and that he is willing to fight if necessary.
When Tybalt enters Mercuio is extremely haughty towards him. However when Tybalt says ‘Mercutio thou consortest with Romeo’ Mercutio becomes very insulted and angry as he says ‘Consort? What dost thou make us minstrels?’ the emphasis on ‘what’ shows the audience that he is extremely angry. He also says ‘thou’ which is intended to insult Tybalt.
Enraged, Mercutio becomes arrogant and stubborn, he says
‘Men’s eyes were made to look, and let them gaze;
I will not budge for no mans pleasure, I’, when he says ‘Let them gaze’ and ‘I’ the audience feel that he is being arrogant and when he says ‘I will not budge’ they are made to feel that he is stubborn.
As Romeo is unwilling to fight until towards the end of this scene, Mercutio has to stand in Romeo’s place. However, as he does this, he feels disappointed that Romeo has let his family down by not fighting but he also feels angry that his good friend is being attacked. The audience can see this by Shakespeare’s use of words when Mercutio says ‘O calm dishonourable vile submission’ the word ‘dishonourable’ in this sentence shows that Mercutio is disappointed with Romeo for letting his family down and the words ‘vile submission’ emphasis to the audience the strength of his anger.
He then tries to provoke Tybalt, by saying ‘Tybalt you rat-catcher, will you walk?’ when he calls Tybalt a ‘rat-catcher’ he tries to use insults to wind up Tybalt, and when he says ‘will you walk’ he is asking Tybalt to fight.
Even when Mercutio lies dying after being stabbed by Tybalt, Mercutio is still portrayed as comical by saying his fatal wound is ‘but a scratch’. This refers back to the line where Tybalt calls himself the ‘King of cats’ and so Mercutio is still trying to insult Tybalt by saying that his wound is a mere ‘scratch’ from the ‘cat’.
In conclusion to the question I think that Shakespeare has made the scene dramatic and exciting for the audience in a number of ways. Firstly he has given the main characters several moods so that the scene would always be changing from one mood to another. Secondly he has made the mood of some characters very aggressive so there would be a lot of action. And lastly he has made two people die in the scene so that there would be a sense of dismay and justice.