The characteristics of Tybalt’s and Benvolio is totally opposite as Benvolio is a peace maker and Tybalt is the totally opposite, he is a man that likes to creates fight. The Verona Citizens rush to take a side which makes a lot of noise and people all rush over to see what’s happening. People from both sides Montagues and Capulets arrive at the scene and their wives avoid them from fighting, but it hardly worked. The brawl is able to develop as it is in the public so the public are able to get involved if they choose to. As soon as the Price arrived there was a total silence. The prince told them to stop fighting and they did so which indicates that the Prince is a powerful man and people have a lot of respect for him. “Rebellious subjects, enemies to peace”. The prince appears as a powerful man that has maximum control over the Montagues and Capulets. “On pain of torture, from those bloody hands” what the prince was setting out to say was that if anyone disobeys him they will be tortured. “If ever you disturb out streets again, your lives shall pay the forfeit of the peace” These words made the Montagues and the Capulets quiet scared as they could be facing death. Both Montagues and Capulets throw down the Weapons and the prince due corse is very angry. The Prince threatens them saying they will die if the problem occurs again, the way the Prince says it would be scary as he says it in a aggressive manor. He states that the violence between the two families has gone on for far too long and says it must stop. The prince states publicly a death sentence upon anyone who disturbs the civil peace again. He declares that he will speak to the Capulets and Montagues more directly on this matter and commence with the Capulets. The prince is one man that can instantly put them under arrest. This was a well written part by Shakespeare as he has got someone on both sides that aren’t fighting. He is the man that will try to stop the rivalry between the two families.
The public scene is very significant in this part of the play as it creates tension and fear to both parties. There is a tense atmosphere that the audience will be engaged as the characters words and actions are so vivid that the audience gets a better understanding of their characters and personalities.
The comments and behaviour of both the parties’ servants are made very clear. The servants have been brainwashed into following the disgust of the two families although they are not family members of the party which shows that they are not clever enough to use their common sense and help to make peace between the families but they just try making the matters worse. The fight starts between the servants from both parties, the Montagues and the Capulets. The words that come out of the mouths of the servants give this story different view to different people that believe differently. The servants also don’t use the common sense as they know there is a chance of death but still they go along as the feud between the families must go on which in my views is pathetic. Montagues and Capulets are enemies of each other not the servants but their servants are also on their sides so they also believe they have to be enemies which can bring death to them if they would live in such a manner. The words Benvolio and Tybalt uses gives us a indication of what kind of characters they are and shows there personality for the rest of the upcoming play, we can judge this as they use different tones of voice as anger can creep into them as well as violence. Benvolio a character that tried to prevent the feud shows that he has a sensible character and it shows his personality as a serious young man whose name, meaning good will indicates his peace making role and that he will unlike Tybalt try to stop forthcoming fights whereas Tybalt is also a young man who is proud of his family/status and he is a man that wants to get his way in everything he does. He is a very aggressive and violent man that is very quick to draw his sword at any fight scene, he would not like a fight if he was not involved in it, but he would most probably involve himself into any fight. He starts a fight whenever something goes wrong or even when he feels that his self dignity had been hurt. When Tybalt draws his sword he is someone to be feared of as he is never scared to use it under any circumstances. Escales, the Prince of Verona who stops the fight, is the representative of law and order in the play as he is a man that can be on both sides as he is not part of any family and he is a man of great common sense that shows that he is a man that cant get killed in the way the servants can as he would never be involved in a fight. His orders are always followed, and his threats scatter the crowd.
The other place in which the incident is taken place is in a private setting at Capulets party. Benvolio, Mercutio and Romeo are at the Capulets ball which they weren’t really supposed to be at, they never got an invite to the ball. Through out the scene we are continuously being made aware that it is very dark and it is hard to see and that torches are being used. Just a little while after the dance starts, from across the room, Romeo sees Juliet, and asks a serving man who she is, the serving man did not know who she was even though she was the daughter of the owner of the house. Romeo is fascinated; Rosaline his past love disappears from his remembrance and he speaks out that he has never been in love until this moment, until the moment he saw Juliet. “Did my heart love till now? Forswear it, sight! For I ne’er saw true beauty till this night” the words and actions of Romeo’s makes him out to be a Romantic man short after his heart was broken by Rosaline a lady he used to like before he met Juliet. His character changed from being a man who hated love to being a man that is full of romance. Moving in the course of the crowd, Tybalt hears and was on familiar terms with Romeo’s voice. After Tybalt recognized that there is a Montague present, Tybalt sends a servant to fetch his weapon. Tybalt then complains to Capulet and Capulet returns and tells him that Romeo is a well regarded man in Verona, and that he will not have the youth harmed at his place. “A bears he like a portly gentleman; and to say the truth, Verona brags of him to be a virtuous and well-govern’d youth”. Capulet is a different character than what we first saw of him as he does now not want anyone to fight in his house. He did not even think of throwing Romeo out of his house but just got on with what he was doing and minded his own business. Capulet at the beginning of the scene was a man that wanted to fight. I would say he is a comic figure as his wife remarks he would be better of with a crutch. Tybalt complains by saying that he wants to fight with Romeo the Montague but Capulet argues with him.
Romeo goes up to Juliet and touches her hand and starts describing her as a saint and he starts telling her how good she looks and tells he many things that could have got her to find Romeo attractive and could have got them into loving each other and falling into love. Romeo develops an image that represents religion and he and Juliet both uses a religious state of sentence for four lines each. At the end of them having their conversation Romeo takes advantage of Juliet by kissing her, Juliet also kisses back which shows that it wasn’t just Romeo that wanted the kiss it was also Juliet that wanted the kiss with him. Romeo and Juliet then kissed for the second time just when a voice was heard. “What, Goodman boy, I say he shall, go to! Am I the master here, or you? Go to!” Capulet is very firm; he shall not have his ball messed up by anyone. He is telling Tybalt that he is impatient and is telling him that under any circumstances he is not allowed to start a fight under his territory. Tybalt shows that he has respect for the Capulet as he does not start a fight. Tybalt really wants to start a fight but Capulet doesn’t want to make it a big issue. This part of the setting is very vital as a fight is being prevented by Capulet and he doesn’t want Tybalt to destroy the party or make a disturbance out of it. Capulet was being cleaver and he new that Romeo was well regarded in Verona which meant he didn’t want to start a fight as it was a private occasion which was a Capulets house and Capulet didn’t want Tybalt to attack Romeo as everyone would then hate there family as they would no where the incident would have taken place. Capulet has been used wisely in this part of the play as it shows that we know he had common sense unlike Tybalt who desperately wanted to start a fight. The way Romeo and Juliet met was amazing Romeo romantically lead Juliet in his direction and in such a way that Juliet would find it hard to resist him. They opening lines for Romeo and Juliet were in a form of sonnet which they both shared. “Sin from my lips? O trespass sweetly urg’d! Give me my sin again” The sonnet captured both Romeo and Juliet’s feeling and they were expressed beautifully. Romeo knows that they come from families that are rivals and this deepens Romeo’s love for Juliet when he talks of the “prodigious birth of love”. It shows that Romeo will desire something more if it is harder to get, and this is shown clearly with his love for Juliet.
This setting was great as it shows Romeos, Capulets and Tybalt’s actions. Romeo may have been thinking why he came to a party he was never invited to, if he never came to the party then he and Juliet wouldn’t have met. But id he never came to the party he would be wondering if he made the right choice by not going, or would it have been the rite choice by going. He would have though to himself that he could examine other beauties so he would not have to be love sick for a while to come. It makes Capulet think if he should have thrown members of the Montague family out from the ball when he had the chance to and it keeps Tybalt thinking and wandering if he should have taken his chances and removed Romeo from the ball. If any of the actions were taken by the Capulets, the Capulets would have a negative image to the family, therefore at this private occasion all those that attended the party would have different observations of the Capulets family, some observations as good and some as bad.
