This scene is a turning point in the play because it creates the need for Juliet to leave Verona to escape the arranged to Paris. This leads to Juliet faking her own death towards the end of the play. The banishment of Romeo from Verona creates distance between the lovers, resulting in Romeo thinking that Juliet is actually dead because he did not receive the letter informing him of the faking of her death. Because Romeo thinks that she is dead, he decides too commit suicide as he cannot bear to live without his beloved Juliet. The play precipitates to tragedy.
Act 3 Scene 1 is important as it is the first time the characters are put through hardship, so we can see whether or not they are consistent with the rest of the play. Benvolio is seen to be a peacemaker and he has stayed true to his character in this scene. Tybalt on the other hand is a hot-headed show off who hates the Montagues with the fire of a thousand Suns.He refused to help Benvolio stop the servants fightng in Act 1 Scene 1. In this scene, he is determined to fight Romeo – after getting annoyed with Mercutio, Tybalt ignores him and goes after Romeo. Mercutio is a provocative joker, even at the hour of his death. He is determined to maintain his honour. This is why he became so angry when Romeo backed down from a fight with Tybalt. In Act 3 Scene 1 we see a shift in Romeo’s character, from being a lover – very passive, almost effeminate – to a lethal avenger, when he kills Tybalt. He becomes so overcome with anger that he does not think of the consequences and he ruins his chances of living ‘happily ever after’ with Juliet.
In the film version of Romeo & Juliet, Baz Luhrmann’s (the director) dramatisation of this scene is exceptional. A close-up at the beginning of the scene makes clear the worry on Benvolio’s face. As the Capulets arrive on the scene the camera focuses on their shiny silver guns, making it obvious that they are armed and dangerous. Mercutio is portrayed as a preening provocateur by Harold Perrineau as he mocks Tybalt. Th next part of the scene is staged as a western ‘high-noon’ shootout. It is a very clever and interesting portrayal of the confrontation between Tybalt and Romeo. In the film, Luhrmann added a brutally vicious attack on the passive Romeo by Tybalt that was not actually in the play. This was a very good idea as it adds more drama to the scene, envoking the audience. There is a drastic change in the weather just as Mercutio dies and says, “a plague o’ both your houses! They have made worms’ meat of me…”. The sky becomes dark and overcast with clouds, it begins to rain and there is thunder and lightning. The play the takes a turn for the worse as Romeo avenges Mercutio’s death by murdering Tybalt and it’s all a downward spiral from there. This mirroring of the events by the weather conditions is known as pathetic fallacy.
This is certainly an unfortunate series of events, but who is to blame? The obvious choice would be Tybalt as he is violent and temperamental by nature. He committed the first murder in the play – Mercutio’s murder. Perhaps Mercutio is to blame for provoking Tybalt and stepping in when there was clearly no need. Although, one could also argue that Romeo should take the blame for backing down from Tybalt’s challenge, then Mercutio would not have felt the need to fight for him. He also made things even worse by murdering Tybalt. If he had just left him alone, the Duke would have banished him or even had him put to death. Maybe he should have just told everyone about his relationship with Juliet and avoided this whole mess. Perhaps it was fate and it was all out of their control. The events just spiralled into tragedy and there was nothing they could do about it.
Act 3 Scene 1 shows all the key themes of the play – love, hate, rivalry and fate. The love theme comes through as Romeo backs down from Tybalt’s challenge because his love for Juliet has made him less of a man. The hate comes through as Romeo murders Tybalt because he hates him for killing Mercutio, as well as when Tybalt says, “Peace, I hate the word. As I hate hell, all Montagues.” That quote also shows the rivalry between the Montagues and the Capulets. This petty fued, however, has drastic consequences as shown in this scene. The whole fued is just childish antagonism up to this point, but the realisation of their actions converts it into genuine adult grief. The play is typical of its time in that religion is very important – the priest plays a key role in the play by arranging the marriage of Romeo and Juliet. The men are bound by honour. When Romeo backs down from the fight he is seen as effeminate because he is not being honourable and accepting the challenge. Juliet is being forced to marry Paris – arranged marriages were very common back then. This scene is of great importance to the play as, were it not for this scene, the deaths of Mercutio and Tybalt would not have occurred, Romeo would not have been banished, there would not have been the double suicide of Romeo and Juliet, and everyone would have happily ever after – and let’s face it, no one wants that!
