Romeo & Juliet

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Faiza Osman        Romeo & Juliet        10G

Romeo and Juliet

William Shakespeare remains the most loved and admired play writer in history. Shakespeare’s most popular play even today is ‘Romeo and Juliet’.

‘Romeo and Juliet’ is set in Italy, Valencia. It is about two lovers who are from two families that have a grudge against each other. Juliet, a Capulet, falls in love with Romeo, a Montague. They just want to always be together, however they have to live their romance secretly so that the feud between the families would not get out of hand. Unfortunately, not everything ends up as they had planned and they end up dying.

Act 3 Scene 1 is vitally important to the rest of the play. It is the turning point and pivotal scene. At the end of the scene, the outcome of the play has changed. If Mercutio had not died then Tybalt would not have died and the deaths of Romeo and Juliet would have been prevented. It would have ended as a comedy rather than a tragedy. If this scene had not taken place then maybe Romeo and Juliet would not have died and this is the reason why the scene is very important to the rest of the play. This scene has essential ingredient of drama, conflict. In this scene, there is a build up of tension, excitement and interest.

In contrast to this scene, by the end of scene 2, the audience were left in a state of happiness as the mood of love filled the air, with Romeo and Juliet wedded.

There’s also a contrast of humour and tragedy.

At the beginning of this scene, Mercutio is having a conversation with Benvolio. Benvolio points out to Mercutio that members of the Capulet family are about in the streets. “And if we meet, we shall not scape a brawl; For now these hot days, is the mad blood stirring.” This shows that Benvolio is tensed and scared, because he knows that a fight is about to happen. He’s worried and just wants to get out of the area: - “I pray thee, good Mercutio, let’s retire.”

However, Mercutio laughs at his fears and accuses him of being a quick-tempered quarreller: - “Come, come, thou art as hot a Jack in thy mood as any in Italy, and as soon moved to be moody, and as soon moody to be moved.” He taunts him more by stating that Benvolio will quarrel with someone with any reason and accuses him of being short-tempered and critical. “Thou wilt quarrel with a man for cracking nuts, having no other reason, but because thou hast hazel eyes.” Mercutio gives other useless reasons why Benvolio quarrels with someone. However, the audience all know that this is not true about Benvolio but rather that Benvolio is known as ‘the peacemaker.’

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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 ...

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