Who is to blame for the deaths of tybalt and mercutio?

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Who do you think is most to blame for the deaths of Tybalt and Mercutio?

        The deaths of Tybalt and Mercutio occur in Act 3 Scene 1. The scene begins with Benvolio and Mercutio talking. Benvolio is trying to persuade Mercutio to leave because, if the Capulets are around, there would be trouble e.g. “I pray thee good Mercutio let’s retire”. Benvolio is used by Shakespeare as a peacemaker, he will not argue or upset anybody and will not side with anyone as he is neither Capulet or Montague, he is, however, Romeo’s friend. When Tybalt enters, he is very confident and obviously thought greatly of himself. He was looking for Romeo whom he wants to fight. Mercutio was teasing Tybalt because of his name, Tibalt was a cat in an old story so he calls Tybalt a “rat-catcher” and “king of cats”. Later, when Romeo appears, he doesn’t want to fight because he and Tybalt are now related. This is called dramatic irony, as we know Romeo has married Juliet but the other characters don’t. Mercutio and Tybalt end up fighting and, as Romeo tries to stop the fight, Tybalt stabs Mercutio. He dies after being accidentally wounded under Romeo’s arm. Because of this Romeo seeks revenge and kills Tybalt. Romeo realises there will be trouble so he runs away. The Prince and Lord and Lady Capulet and Montague arrive to find out what’s happened. Benvolio explains and the Prince banishes Romeo from Verona.

        At the beginning of the scene the characters speak in prose which is informal language, this is a chatty style of talking. The younger characters all speak prose to one another unless they are talking to someone of a higher status. The Lord and Lady Capulet and Montague speak in poetry, this is formal language and people of a lower status or young people speak to them in poetry to show respect. The Prince also talks in poetry because he is the ruler of Verona in the play.

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        It could be said that any number of people or factors are to blame for the deaths. Firstly, you could argue that Tybalt is to blame because if he hadn’t challenged Romeo to a duel, Mercutio would not have stepped in and there would not have been a fight between them which resulted in Mercutio’s death. If the death of Mercutio hadn’t occurred Tybalt would not have been slain by Romeo. Therefore if Tybalt did not want Romeo dead, he and Mercutio would both be alive and probably even the death of Romeo and Juliet could have been prevented.

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