What is the importance of Act 3, Scene 1, to the rest of the play?

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Laura Wragg

        10th October 2005

Romeo and Juliet

What is the importance of Act 3, Scene 1, to the rest of the play?

In act 3, scene 1,Benvolio warns Mercutio that they are risking a fight. When Tybalt arrives he is ready to fight, and challenges Romeo as soon as he appears. Romeo has married Tybalt’s cousin so he dismisses the challenge. Mercutio is outraged and challenges Tybalt. As Romeo tries to stop them, Tybalt who runs away wounds Mercutio. Mercutio dies, and when Tybalt returns, Romeo kills him and flees. When the Prince appears and hears the reason for the murder, he lightens the sentence of death to banishment. Romeo must leave Verona. Romeo at the start of the play is eager and an immature boy, who imagines he is in love with Rosaline.  His talk is full of artificial expressions of emotion and he seems to be in self-pity, but when he meets Juliet, he falls in love with her. This is where there is a theatrical effect on his character. He becomes more grown-up and even attempts to make peace with Tybalt, which is Juliet’s argumentive cousin. Even though his newfound tolerance and maturity, he remains sudden. He has one fixed idea (marriage to Juliet), and within that, he simply reacts to circumstances. He has mood swings from joyfulness to gloom. Mercutio bursts into the scene with his lively humour, his brilliantly imaginative language, contrasts with that of the maturing Romeo and the levelheaded Benvolio. Mercutio lives life to the full; he is humorous, fluent, loves to hear himself talk and does not suffer fools happily. He seems not to take life or death seriously. He is brutally horrible to Romeo and intervenes on his behalf against Tybalt with fatal results. With his death it launches the final tragedy of the play. Benvolio offers good advice to the quick-tempered Mercutio and tells him that they should leave the street because the Capulets are around and looking out for a fight.

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  The imagery of this plat is: the day is hot. The heat suggests that passions and annoyance, people become restless and agitated when they become too hot. The streets are deserted; which could create a frightening feeling as it is creating tension. This scene is more or less half way through the play. The ‘lightness’ of the love story is delight and innocence this is suggested by lightness or white and is related to the positive side of the story. //The atmosphere of the play changes to one of the darkness and negativity, things have gone from bad to ...

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