The talk of fighting would have prepared Shakespeare’s audience. In those days, it was normal to have a sword so the men would all have had swords with them. They would have urged the fight on, excited and tensed at the same time, wondering what would happen. Shakespeare’s audience would have also laughed at Mercutio’s use of puns and word play and the jokes he made.
This is also the same for the ‘modern audience’ as they too will feel excited and tensed. However, Late 16th Century English and modern English is not the same and so none of it would have made sense; the modern audience would not laugh at the jokes, puns and word play used by Mercutio as they language is different.
The effect it has on me personally is quite different. The talk of fighting doesn’t really excite me unless the fight is actually happening and the only bit which I could understand was the bit where Mercutio teases Benvolio about how he quarrels with just anybody for no reason. The so-called jokes, puns and word play also did not have an effect on me and I think this was particularly due to the fact of the language used in those days.
Soon after, Benvolio sees the Capulets heading towards them, “by my head, here comes the Capulets”, but Mercutio jokes around saying “by my heel, I care not.”
Tybalt arrives, seeking Romeo: - “a word with one of you.” He was looking for Romeo, because he was infuriated when he saw Romeo at the Capulets’ banquet. Mercutio jokes around again saying why not make it “a blow”, in other words he’s telling Tybalt to hit him.
Tybalt says accusingly that Mercutio “consortest” with Romeo, that he’s friends with him.
Mercutio jokes around again and plays around with the word “consort”, because in those days ‘consort’ either meant associate with or play with. Shakespeare’s audience would have found this very amusing.
Previously, in the beginning of the scene, there was talk of fighting and since Tybalt’s arrival, Mercutio was all fired up. However, this was not a wise thing to do on Mercutio’s part, as this will infuriate Tybalt more.
All this builds up the tension and Shakespeare’s audience are sure to get a thrill from it. They really loved fights and brawls and they know that a fight is surely bound to happen with the arrival of the Capulets and they feel a surge of excitement.
The modern audience are also bound to feel this way, though not everything will make sense to them, due to the language used.
Personally, this also builds up the tension for me and I could already foresee that a fight was about to happen. I just wanted to know what the outcome would be.
On the appearance of Romeo, Tybalt heads towards him and insults him: - “thou art a villain.” The term ‘villain’, in Shakespeare’s time, meant the same as servant and it was very insulting as words came to be at that time. In Shakespeare’s time, if you were insulted like this, you had to fight, because it was the ‘code of honour’ and if you did not fight then you were dishonoured. Men from a certain class were expected to be honourable. If they were insulted, they were expected to fight back till the very end if need be or to demand an apology and this was how the masculine world was like.
Shakespeare’s audience would be expecting Romeo to fight Tybalt for his honour, but unknown to Tybalt and the other characters, Shakespeare’s audience and the modern audience both know that Romeo is now kinsman (related) to Tybalt by marriage to Juliet, so Tybalt is now Romeo’s cousin by marriage. This is dramatic irony as the audience know this, but the characters do not. Romeo does not want to fight Tybalt, because Tybalt is Juliet’s cousin and Romeo is going to have to love him: - “Tybalt the reason that I have to love thee Doth much excuse the appertaining rage.” Yet, he still does not give the reason to Tybalt of why the does not want to fight him. Tybalt insults Romeo again by calling him “boy”, yet Romeo still does want to fight him. Romeo’s words builds up the tension and excitement.
Mercutio, who does not know about Romeo’s marriage to Juliet as well, is off course inflamed by this: - “O calm, dishonourable, vile submission!” basically meaning that he can not believe that Romeo can take all that insulting.
Mercutio insults Tybalt, calling him a “rat-catcher”, which implies that Tybalt comes from a poor family, which is very provoking, because Tybalt is in fact a nobleman.
At this point, Tybalt is already incited and because he might have remembered Mercutio’s insults previously, it gets him more furious.
During the fight, Tybalt thrusts his sword under Romeo’s arm into Mercutio.
Mercutio still jokes around saying that it’s just “a scratch.” Unfortunately, it was not just “a scratch”, but in fact the wound was deep enough to cause his death.
Romeo uses strong emotion and says “O I am fortune’s fool”. He avenges Mercutio’s death by killing Tybalt and this was also common at that time. If someone killed your friend or someone related to you then you had to avenge their deaths. This also happens nowadays as people avenge the deaths of close ones.
To keep his own honour, Mercutio had to save Romeo’s honour by fighting Tybalt himself, because he is associated with Romeo and so his own honour could be tainted and tarnished. This was common in those days and even though this is slightly common in modern society, it is not done to the same extent as it would be done in Shakespeare’s society. Nowadays, it would not necessarily have to be a fight to the end, but just a little beat up until the other person has learnt their lesson.
Shakespeare’s audience would have therefore been okay with this and they would not have classified it as murder or such. Since saving the honour was very important and very common, killing someone just to save your honour was not given much importance.
On the other hand, the modern audience would be astonished that just by using words such as ‘villain’ and ‘boy’, there was an uproar which led to a fight. The only reason for their thinking would be that they would not really classify ‘villain’ and ‘boy’ as a insult, but instead these two terms are used in everyday lives and the main differences between Shakespeare’s time and modern life is the language used.
As a personal response, I also think that it’s outrageous to kill someone just to save your or someone else’s honour.
When Romeo kills Tybalt, Shakespeare’s audience expect Romeo to be executed. They remember the Prince’s words, “Once more, on pain of death, all men depart” from Act 1 Scene 1 stating that if the feud continued then the person would suffer the consequences, execution. The audience is tense and wants to know what will become of Romeo, what will happen to him.
When the Prince arrives, the tension builds up and the audience feels excited, nervous and very worried for Romeo. They hope that nothing bad will happen to him. They don’t want him to get executed and the Prince’s words kind of replay in their minds.
On the arrival of the Prince, the audience, both modern and Shakespeare’s audience all feel apprehensive and tense. They feel that the Prince is going to announce the execution of Romeo. However, this is not what happens. The Prince, instead, exiles/banishes him, which leaves Romeo sorrowful, because he considers exile like a death, as it will mean that he will no longer be able to meet or talk to Juliet.
In my opinion, I think that the reason why the Prince did not have Romeo executed is that he took revenge of Mercutio’s death and Mercutio was a kinsman (related) to the Prince. However, he could not just leave him and so he decided to banish him as he says to the citizens and both families, “Immediately we do exile him hence.”
Shakespeare’s’ audience and the modern audience will feel sorry and feel miserable that it had to end this way for Romeo and Juliet. They don’t want Romeo’s and Juliet’s lives to end like this, with Romeo being exiled, but they want them to leave happy lives.
Overall, I really would have liked to see Romeo and Juliet living happily ever after, but this scene proved to be very fatal. I felt depressed when both Mercutio and Tybalt died and it was funny that even when Mercutio was wounded, he was still joking around. At the same time, he was also cursing them “A plague a’both house!” and I do not really blame him for cursing them. None of it would have happened if there was not a feud between the two families, Capulets and Montagues. It was a very miserable tragedy and it left me feeling sad.
However, there were certain areas that I never understood nor would the modern audience, which only Shakespeare’s audience understood as the language at that time was far more different than modern language.
On the other hand, I thought that Shakespeare’s diction was fabulous and the way he built up tension and excitement just by the use of simple words really fascinated him.
Personally, I think that Shakespeare is an incredible writer and he deserves a lot of credit.