Tybalt is very aggressive at he beginning of the play; he is foregrounded because later on in the play he starts the fight. The audience would be very gripped and concentrated for the rest of the play, this opening was to warm the audience that the two families are enemies.
In act three scenes 1 Mercutio is killed by Tybalt due to the family feuds. The language of violence does not reflect mercutio at the beginning, “O calm dishonourable, vile submission; Alla staccato carries it away! Tybalt, you rat catcher, will you walk?”
These words spoken by Mercutio clearly state that he wants to fight Tybalt. Romeo’s words of love in this scene confuse and probably disgust both Tybalt and Mercutio. “Tybalt the reason that I have to love thee, doth much excuse the appertaining rage to such a greeting; villain am I none, therefore farewell, I see thou knowest me not.” The dramatic irony is that the audience know that Romeo is related to Tybalt and that is why he wont fight. When Mercutio is stabbed he says “ A plague o both your houses, which means his angry at both Romeo and Tybalt, he has cursed their houses.
Also, in this scene Romeo kills Tybalt. The audience know that Tybalt is his wife’s cousin, Romeo and Tybalt are related, although Tybalt did not know this. We also know that Romeo will be in trouble for killing Tybalt, Romeo is then banished.
In this scene Capulet thinks that Juliet is crying because Tybalt has died, but that is not true, because Juliet is crying because Romeo has been banished. Capulet tries to comfort Juliet but what would that do if they were both sad about two different things. Juliet says of her marriage “I have bought the mansion of love but not possessed it, and though I am sold, not get enjoyed. This coincides with later on in the play, her father calls her a “baggage” this signifies that she is property to be bought and sold. At the time Romeo and Juliet was written daughters from rich families had their marriage arranged for them by their loving fathers. Lord Capulet reaction to Juliet’s refusal to marry Count Paris is amazing, he earlier on says Juliet is too young to marry and should be given abut two more years and now wants her married as soon as possible.
Lord Capulet uses language of hatred towards his daughter- “Mistress minion you”, “ you green sickness carrion, you baggage, you tallow face.” Lord Capulet is a powerful man and Juliet refusing to marry Paris really does insult him because she is under estimating his power, he thinks Juliet should be seen and not heard. This also links with women in the Elizabethan era, they had two roles in life: domestic servants in their own home and child caring. Husbands were allowed to beat their wives, women could not act on stage, and young boys would play female roles. Women did not earn money, and not many had any education. The audiences reaction to the rage fro m Capulet must be confusion, as Capulet not so long ago in the play said to Paris Juliet was not ready, Capulet contradicts himself here.
The scenes were Romeo and Juliet meet is the most important, and the most dramatic, these two people fall in love at first sight. The language of love used in this scene really does express the feelings felt by Romeo and Juliet, Romeo describes Juliet “ the brightness of her cheek would shame those stars”, he compares Juliet with some of the beautiful things in the world, and Romeo sees Juliet as an angel. Romeo loved Juliet at first sight, Juliet would be willing to give up her name to be with Romeo forever, “ and I’ll no longer be a Capulet. There is a connection between this scene and act 1 scene 1 when Romeo is rejected by Rosalyn, there is a lot of language of war used by Romeo “A right good marksman” words used are associated with war, “well armed, siege, encounter, target, cupids arrow.
The ending in Romeo and Juliet is highly dramatic and sad for some people. It is also very frustrating because Romeo sees Juliet lying down thinking she is dead, so Romeo sitting by Juliet drinks the poison and just about as Romeo is going to die. Juliet wakes up, as her poison has wore off, they both look to each other as Romeo dies, Juliet then kills herself.