Romeo and Juliet - "The death of Mercutio is the turning point in the play". How would you direct Act 3 Scene 1 to reflect this statement?

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Romeo and Juliet coursework  

Question

“The death of Mercutio is the turning point in the play”. How would you direct Act 3 Scene 1 to reflect this statement?

Answer

To direct this scene I would first of all look at the character of Mercutio. He is a character who likes to crack jokes in any situation. Sometimes he goes too far with his jokes which tease the other characters and especially Tybalt in this scene. He is also a character who does not like Tybalt and has no fear of him “by my heel. I care not” as Shakespeare shows in the play here Mercutio ignores the danger of Tybalt coming. He also is a character has a lot of platonic love towards Romeo and wants him to succeed and he also has a lot of believe in Romeo as well “but I’ll be hanged ,sir,….go before to field….sense may call him ‘man’” as Shakespeare shows here Mercutio expects Romeo to win the dual with Tybalt. Mercutio is also a person who speaks with a lot of sexual innuendo which teases other characters “look to hear nothing….here’s my fiddlestick” as he refers here as ‘fiddlestick’ as his penis. He is also a character who changes Romeo in to a more mature man with his death “thy beauty hath made me effeminate” Romeo realises here that Juliet’s love has made him unman and Mercutio death also provokes him to go and kill Tybalt for Revenge.

I am going to direct this scene to show that Mercutio’s death is the turning point in the play is to set the scene in a open place so it is atmosphere for the fight to take place. It is also going to be in a hot environment so there is and atmosphere of anger in the play. To show that that the place is hot I will show sweat running down the characters face and them also wearing summer clothes.

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At the start of the scene Benvolio ‘the peace maker’ is afraid that something is going to happen, “let’s retire. The day is hot, the Capulet’s abroad” as in the actual play when he speaks to Mecutio asking him to retire or go away. He also makes a point that hot weather creates riots “these hot days, is mad blood stirring.” To show Benvolio’s fear I would show tension on his face and him scratching his head which will show him desperate to get out of the situation. After that Mercutio pokes fun at Benvolio in a dead pan way ...

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