Tybalt, who is Lady Capulet’s nephew and Juliet’s cousin, has a fiery temper and has been brought up to hate Montagues, or in my case, Americans. He loves violence and is very good at fighting. Even right at the beginning we get the impression he is aggressive. For example, ‘What, drawn and talk of peace? I hate the word, as I hate hell, all Montagues, and thee’, which is the second thing he says. Tybalt is also a contrasting character to Romeo. Whenever Romeo talks of love, Tybalt talks of hate (e.g. ‘I’ll not endure him’). Therefore, he should carry a gun all the time to show how he would reach for it at the slightest provocation. He should also, to show he is a dark and aggressive, wear dark coloured clothes.
Benvolio, Romeo’s nephew and friend, is a peacemaker trying in vain to keep the families from fighting. He is the most boring character in the play and the least interesting. To demonstrate this, his army uniform will be pristine and clean. He will also act very ordinary and plain.
Finally, Mercutio who is Romeo’s friend and has a tough and has a tough and bawdy wit, contrasts with Romeo’s passion and Romance. Mercutio, in my eyes, is the cleverest character as he manages to twist everything Tybalt says. For example when Tybalt says ‘Mercutio, thou consortest with Romeo’, Mercutio uses a pun and replies, ‘Consort? What, dost thou make us minstrels’? Mercutio in my play will be an interpretator as they bridge the gap, just like Mercutio does. Also because he is witty, rich and courageous, he should wear a bright suit and a large gold necklace. He should act like he does not care about anything and like there was no tomorrow.
Act 3 scene 1 can be clearly divided into 6 sections. The first section, which is light heated, is when Benvolio warns Mercutio that there will be a fight. The second section is when Mercutio taunts Tybalt, the third, which is when the mood changes to anger and Romeo refuses to fight, plus we see how Mercutio reacts, the fourth, Mercutio’s dying speech, which adds a sense of sadness, the fifth, Romeo’s comment about Juliet and the brutal killing of Tybalt which is the most aggressive section, and the final section, section six, Benvolio’s speech to the police.
The quote ‘and if we meet we shall not scope a brawl, for now, these hot days, is the mad blood stirring’, is when Benvolio is pointing out to Mercutio that if they meet the Capulets then there will almost certainly be violence of some sort. Playful Mercutio dismisses this anxiety within Benvolio. Mercutio is being mischievous and humorous with Benvolio, which is typical of Mercutio’s role in the play, therefore he should be dancing and prancing about and playing with the water in the well. The quote ‘theses hot days, is the mad blood stirring’, is also an example of Shakespeare’s use of pathetic fallacy and will be highlighted in my production by having a large back projection of the blistering hot sun in the background. The scorching weather will symbolise the tense emotions on stage which will contribute to the apprehension in the audience.
The thing which will also be highlighted in this scene is how Mercutio’s jokes change form light heated puns, like ‘cup- draws him on the drawer’, to more pointed and serious jokes like ‘your nine lives that dry- beat the rest of the eight’. Shakespeare uses puns in Mercutio’s speech as it’s a very powerful tool in order to make him humorous but at the same time clever and intelligent. This however changes to sad jokes, like the metaphor, ‘worms meat of me’, which leaves a disgusting image in the audience’s mind and ‘ask for me tomorrow, and you shall find me a grave man’, which gives the impression he does not even take his own death seriously. These changes in humour can be highlighted by the use of lighting. For example, when we get light hearted puns, the lighting should be relatively bright, but as the Jokes become more dark and serious the lighting should gradually start to dim.
When Mercutio says ‘thou has quarrelled with a man for coughing in the street, because he hath wakened thy dog that hath laid lain asleep in the sun’, Mercutio is joking about Benvolio being moody and quarrelsome, which is on the contrary and ironic and Mercutio knows this. This atmosphere of light- heartedness is evident through the play up to this point. When Tybalt enters the scene (from the left), he is very polite towards the Montagues, as he says ‘Gentlemen, good den, a word with one of you’. In response to this politeness, Mercutio uses his humour to attack Tybalt. For example, he says in response to Tybalt’s request ‘one word with one of us’, which shows he is twisting everything Tybalt says. This helps to build up the tension in this scene because it is the first time we have seen Mercutio using his humour in an aggressive manor. This is where we lose the playful humour of Mercutio, which helps to darken the play by removing the friendliness of him. To represent this, the back projection of the sun will become a darker shade of red. Here, Mercutio actions should quicken and become more aggressive. For example, instead of light- heartedly splashing water from the well, he should be chucking whole buckets of water about, which in Baghdad would be considered quite insulting and rude, since, in Baghdad the water is very valuable.
When Romeo enters the scene there is emphasis put on the theme love vs. hate, for example, ’But love thee better than thou canst devise, till thou shalt know the reason of my love’. This is an example of dramatic irony which at this stage helps to heighten the atmosphere. We know that Romeo and Juliet are married, although nobody else does. Romeo is subtly hinting about their relationship (e.g. ‘the reason that I have to love thee’) but Tybalt does not pick up on this. Romeo is forced to be civil with Tybalt so he can carry on his relationship with Juliet in secret. To show this Romeo will not face Tybalt whilst he is talking to him. Instead he will look away, perhaps at the audience, as it is the audience after all, who knows Romeo’s secret. Love vs. hate is also portrayed through Romeo. He tries to love the Capulets because of Juliet whilst still having to hate them because of their ancient family feuds. E.g.’ and so, good Capulet, which name I tender as dearly as mine own, be satisfied’. It is also shown in this scene that love and hate cannot co- exist in peace.
Mercutio goes mad and is disgusted that Romeo would not fight, as he says ‘O calm, Dishonourable, vile submission!’ Within this adjective, Shakespeare is still making Mercutio witty, but instead of using his wittiness to be absurd (as he was with Benvolio) he is now using it to be cruel. So to highlight this quote, Mercutio should punch Romeo in the arm to show how angry he is and that he wants Romeo to fight.
Mercutio then continues ‘good king of cats, nothing but one of your nine lives’. Here, Mercutio is making jokes of Tybalts name, and again referring to the theme of names. So, to highlight this line, Mercutio will harass Tybalt by circling Tybalt closely whilst repeating ‘Good king of cats’.
Mercutio and Tybalt then fight on the dusty road. Romeo attempts to pull Mercutio back, but does not succeed. Benvolio has his hands covering his face, as he cannot watch and Tybalts men are encouraging Tybalt by shouting ‘Fight! Fight! Fight!’ over and over again. This will cause a lot of tension and should make the audience sit on the edge of their seats with anticipation.
Romeo, who is now panicking, says to Benvolio ‘Draw Benvolio. Beat down their weapons….forbid this bandying in Verona streets’. To symbolise Romeo’s panic, Shakespeare uses short sharp phrases. As he says these lines, he has grip of Benvolio’s arm shaking him frantically.
Romeo then decides this has gone too far and steps between them. He grabs Tybalt’s gun and says ‘Hold, Tybalt! Good Mercutio!’ But as Romeo grabs Tybalt’s gun, the trigger is accidentally pulled shooting Mercutio in the arm. Everything goes silent and everyone freezes to give a sense of disbelief and shock at Mercutio who is on his knees holding the wound.
Mercutio ends up slain because of Romeo’s peacekeeping act. Mercutio knows this is why he is going to die. He holds this against Romeo and quotes in his anger ‘a plague a’ both houses!’ This quote form Mercutio is the point that I feel really turns the play to one of Tragedy and sadness. It is a very serious and direct speech, which does not usually happen when Mercutio speaks. Also to make it even more dramatic, he should whilst stumbling up the mosque’s steps, cough up blood and announce his dying speech in front of everyone.
The last line of Mercutio’s speech is ‘why the dev’l came you between us?’ Here he is blaming Romeo, but Shakespeare has cleverly made the audience think and decide, Depending on their view of each character, whether it is Romeo’s, Tybalt’s or Juliet’s fault, or simply the work of fate.
With Mercutio dead, Romeo’s feelings are in turmoil. In his rage he attacks Tybalt for what he has done to his best friend. When Romeo says ‘either thou are I, or both, must go with him’, we realise Romeo is prepared to risk his own life to kill Tybalt because of his actions towards Mercutio. I will show this by him taking off his body armour. As the audience we know that if Romeo does kill Tybalt then he will be sentenced to death although if he walked away from the situation, then the prince would sentence Tybalt to death. We know this from a quote in act one scene 1, ‘If ever you disturb our streets again, your lives shall pay the forfeit of the peace’. This really involves the audience because we know what will happen if he carries out the actions that he intends to do. We know that this will end in Romeo losing everything he has had.
When Romeo cries out ‘fire- eyed fury’, (an example of alliteration and a metaphor), I get the impression Shakespeare is trying to make this line stand out, as it is showing how Romeo is losing his temper and turning from a lover to a hater. Therefore, the lighting on him should turn to a blood red, to illustrate how he is changing to a fiery character.
Romeo forgets what the prince says in his rage and chases Tybalt up to the top of the mosque where he shoots and kills Tybalt. Tybalt then falls from the top and lands onto the dusty road, not to far form where Mercutio was shot. Everything goes silent again and everyone looks at Tybalt’s corpse. At this point we know that the rest of the play is going to be very dark and is going to be tragic because whatever punishment Romeo gets will mean that Romeo and Juliet cannot be together. To illustrate Romeo’s tragic position and how emotionally unstable he is, he will violently rip off his name badge and his cross around his neck. This will also show how he is losing everything, including his sanity. We know he is emotionally unstable as he blames Juliet for what he has done; (‘hath made me effeminate’.) as he thinks being married has made him a wimp.
When we find out what punishment Romeo will serve it is obvious that the play will have to end in some sadness or Tragedy. This is emphasised by the prince saying ‘immediately do we exile him hence’. If Romeo is banished from Verona then this means that he cannot be with Juliet, therefore for them to be together something major would have to happen in their lives for them to be able to see each other, adding to the tension and suspense.
This makes the scene significant by showing the separation that is growing in the play. Everything is moving apart, making a dark and tense atmosphere throughout the rest of the play. This could be shown by all the characters spreading out and having the characters in the background being gradually blacked out.
One major theme in this scene is the juxtaposition of love and hate. This is best shown when Romeo says, ‘Tybalt, the reason that I love 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’. He hates Tybalt deep down but his love for Juliet is much stronger so actually love has the upper hand. There is also confusion as Juliet loves Romeo as a person but hates him being a Montague. This is clearly shown when she says, ‘my only love sprung from my only hate’. Her only love is Romeo and only hate is that of him being a Montague, which is an example of an oxymoron, as love and hate both contradict each other.
‘I do protest I never injured thee, but love thee better than thou canst devise’. Here Romeo is arguing against Tybalt. Tybalt cannot understand how love and hate can co- exist and Shakespeare uses adjectives such as ‘Injured’ to give further ideas of hate, trouble and pain. This scene is also about tension, confusion, conflict and turmoil. This also creates tension within the audience, so dramatic impact is created through the story.
Ignorance is another theme in this scene and takes place a few times throughout. An example of this is when Tybalt says, ‘Romeo, the love I bear thee can afford no better than this’. Here Tybalt does not know or give Romeo a chance to prove why they should be friendlier towards each other. He does not bother to find out the facts as he dies before he can even do so.
I think one of the most important themes brought out in this scene is fate. For example Romeo says, ‘o, I am fortune’s fool’, which suggests he is blaming fate for what has happened. Another example of Romeo blaming fate is ‘this day’s black fate on moe days doth depend, this but depend, this but begins the woe others must end’. Here Romeo fears that evil outcomes (‘black fate’) of today’s violence lies in the future (‘moe (more) day’). I would argue that this is the turning point in the play where the tragedy really begins. Here Shakespeare uses the language of ‘Revenge Tragedy’. This type of play was very popular in the 1590’s when he was writing ‘Romeo and Juliet’. In revenge tragedy, the main character is a ‘revenger’, and his language is high sounding and portentous, therefore, Romeo’s lines should be spoken in a declamatory way, rather than in a conversational tone. Shakespeare has done this in order to make Romeo’s speech a lot more serious and important.
It took a Tragedy for the feuding families to do something and make up. I think Shakespeare wanted to make this point in order to make the audience think and wonder what they would do if they were in the same situation. The emotions experienced by the characters are universally recognisable and the consequences of actions arising from intense feelings, for example death, are as relevant today, as they will be in the future. So the situation described by Shakespeare set in Iraq suggests that human nature has changed little over the ages and the actions and consequences of feuds have and will continue to profoundly influence the lives of people in many ways.
Oliver Lee Romeo & Juliet Page
