The atmosphere at the beginning of the scene is noticeably irritated and this is emphasised by Benvolio and in turn disregarded by Mercutio, who uses endless humour to try and diminish the mood. Mercutio’s character is that of a joker so his attitude to this cantankerous mood is one of a casual nature. These two different attitudes to focal points prove important as the characters are split in the sense, that some see the rational, severity and yet others are complacent and use humour to disguise the reality to the situations which proves fatal in the latter stages to the plot.
Mercutio parades his confidence and complacency when confronted with Tybalt.
Benvolio states the arrival of the Capulet’s and Mercutio replies with” By my heel I care not”. This shows arrogance, a witty defiance of his friends warning.
Shakespeare cleverly related the names of his characters to their personalities for example, “Bene”, is Latin for good, “Mercutio” similar to the word mercurial which is a potentially dangerous chemical and “Tybalt” which is similar to tyrant which means someone who torments or bullies others.
The characters of Mercutio and Tybalt repel in a way which creates a sense of amusement, Tybalt fuels Mercutio by insulting him and Mercutio replies with humour, his well known retaliation. Tybalt enters politely with “Gentlemen, good den; a word with one of you” and Mercutio replies with, “Couple it with a word and a blow” which is offensive, but at the same time funny to the crowd watching. Mercutio is very much an actor in the sense he plays to the crowd, which could also be seen as a front in which he hides his insecurities and cowardice.
The relationship between Mercutio and Tybalt is that of a rally of words at the beginning of Act three, scene one, It is only when Romeo appears that their relationship escalates in severity. This Time instead of the polite greeting he gave to Mercutio he resorts straight to insults with Romeo. “Thou art a villain!”
When Romeo does not reply with anger, but with love, this fuels Tybalt’s rage as he sees his words as mockery as he is unaware of his marriage to his cousin.
The audience of the day would have been riveted as fight scenes were not as common as they are today and all the emphasis on the build up will have created a tremendous atmosphere as the audience will have been aware that a fight would take place shortly and they would be eager to see the outcome.
Upon receiving the challenge of a fight from Tybalt, Romeo is even more determined to create peace, stating that he loves Tybalt “More than thou canst devise,” which clearly states Romeo’s intentions. Mercutio dismisses the intentions of Romeo and tries once more to create a violent situation by calling Tybalt a “rat-catcher” in relation to his name,(tyb, means cat). Once again Romeos efforts to calm the situation and create peace have back fired, and it is when he intervenes in Tybalt’s and Mercutio’s fight that his actions become fatal to Mercutio.
When Mercutio dies he cries “ A plague on both you houses” and tries to blame Romeo and Tybalt’s for his death when it was Romeo who tried to prevent this from happening and was trying to promote Love and Peace to a deaf Mercutio and who’s naivety lead him to believe Love and peace were a way of bringing the houses together. Romeo’s words “Oh sweet Juliet, thy beauty hath made me effeminate, and in my temper softened Valour’s steel,” I think indicates that he has been blinded by his love for Juliet, not reading the situation which has proved costly before.
The reappearance of Tybalt indicates a change in Romeo, he has seen that True love does not conquer all and has replaced peace and serenity, with anger and malice directed toward Tybalt. “Away to heaven respective lenity”, Romeo realises here that there is no turning back on the now inevitable path of death; this is ultimately throwing away his love for Juliet, but with the replacement of the blinding of love with the blinding of rage, he has lost rationality like Benvolio had and has changed to a character more associated with the late Mercutio.
“Fiery Eyed Fury” Is a harsh and effective alliteration that underlines the anger coursing through Romeo at that moment. He indicates that he must either kill Tybalt, or die, by saying “Either thou or I, or both, must go with him.”
This has great impact on the audience as it informs them that either Tybalt or Romeo, or even the possibility of both of them perishing in the oncoming battle to the death.
When the fight ends Romeo’s fit of blinding rage ends and he realises the consequences of his actions. This is signified by Romeo crying out “Oh, I am fortunes fool” This is a focal point in the play as this confirms the fate of both Romeo and Juliet due to the actions of Romeo. This is also a great indication of male dominance as it was purely the actions of Romeo that sealed both his and Juliet’s fate.
The scene ends with the arrival of the prince and the Montague and Capulet families arriving at the scene of the fight. Benvolio is questioned and Romeo is Banished, This also shows the inevitability of a tragic end to both Romeo and Juliet. In Conclusion I think this is one if not the most important scenes for the audience to grasp Shakespeare’s contrast in character and his blatant route to a tragic end for the “Two star crossed lovers”, as it goes into depth about the relationships between the characters and the underpinning issues beneath the surface of their relationships and show the relativity of the ending.
