romeo + julet

In this paragraph I will discuss that Mercutio`s death changed the play. The play pivots on the line” O Romeo, Romeo brave Mercutio is dead.” The play changes from comedy to tragedy because Mercutio is the jester of the play so when he dies all the jokes also die. Characters change at this point, Romeo the Romantic becomes Romeo the violent.Romeo`s revenge on Tybalt shows that tragedy will follow. We must consider the prince’s warning “Your lives shall pay the forfeit of peace.” as Mercutio was the kinsman to the prince he banished Romeo instead of having him killed. Mercutio curses both the families “A plague in both your houses”. Elizabethan audience believed in curses, they believed they had potency, particularly the curse of a dying man.

In this paragraph I will discuss that the play is now tragedy in Act 3 Scene 1. This can be seen through the speech used. After Romeo has killed Tybalt he realises what he has done “O, I am a fortunes fool”, he blames his fate. Juliet is very confused when she finds out what Romeo has done. “And death not Romeo take my maidenhead”. Romeo realises he is banished .Juliet is confused and scared because she has to drink poison to pretend that she is dead because she does not want to marry Paris. “What if be poison to have me dead”. She is scared that what if Friar Lawrence gave her the poison to kill her. She also thinks fate is against them, “Me thinks I see thee now thou art so low as one dead in the tomb.” “Where bloody Tybalt, yet but green in earth, lies festering in his shroud”. These quotes show how determined and scared she is.

The play is an oxymoron because two opposite have been used to show confusion e.g. “O brawling hate! Loving hate”. “My only love sprung from my only hate”. This quote shows that Juliet is confused because the only person she could love was from the family which her parents hate. The fact that the play is an oxymoron can be seen as Romeo loves Tybalt at start of scene and kills him at the end and Mercutio loves Romeo but curses him at the end.Mercutio fights hate because of the love he has for Romeo.

So we can see that Act 3 Scene1 is an important scene because it shows where the play changes from comedy to tragedy and its important because characters change. It’s also important because Shakespeare changes the language to show the difference in comedy and tragedy.