Act 3 scene 1 can be thought of as the most important part of the entire play Romeo and Juliet for many reasons.

Romeo and Juliet

Introduction

Act 3 scene 1 can be thought of as the most important part of the entire play “Romeo and Juliet” for many reasons. The first reason is that it includes a lot of the main characters in high profile situations. Another point is the sad passing of Mercutio, which led to the death of Tybalt therefore banishing Romeo. This is the part where the play becomes a tragedy. Until this point the play has been fairly comical as all it featured were kids messing about making jokes. The entire conflict between the Montague’s and the Capulet’s reaches a final climax as they realise that their children are dead because of the differences between the two families and the mood changes to a happy yet sad ending. This essay will show the dramatic genre of Shakespearean tragedy and will explore some of the historical parts behind the play and we look at the two different film versions.

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Romeo and Juliet fit the typical classic Greek tragedy story as they are forbidden from seeing each other and are not allowed to be together. Act 3 scene 1 is important because this is where the play becomes a tragedy for many reasons; the first reason is that it includes most of the main characters in high profile situations. Another point is the sad passing of Mercutio, which led to the death of Tybalt therefore banishing Romeo. Also the play becomes a tragedy because there is the death of Romeo and Juliet and everyone begins to learn from their deaths.

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Romeo and Juliet is based on the thirteenth century Italy. During the thirteenth century, Italy was divided into several City-states. Each City-state had their own rules and regulation, a little bit like them being mini-countries within the whole of Italy. Most men in these City-states ended up having to serve a term in the civic militia; this was similar to being in the army. Unfortunately, the City-states often ended up fighting each other and when there was peace, there was very often fighting within the City-states themselves. There are many reasons for this but the main reason is the big difference between rich and poor. Another reason is just being from different City-states. Romeo and Juliet were from the second reason: different families. But in the fourteenth century people became more and more fed up with all this fighting within each City-state, so they decided to give someone more power by turning them into a “Signore” or “Lord” and the title was usually passed down through one noble family. It was this person’s job to make sure that there was order in their City-states and they had power of life or death and even banishment to help them carry out their job. In “Romeo and Juliet” this role was filled by Prince Escalus, a relative of Mercutio.

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The roles of many of the key characters can be clearly seen in Act 3 scene 1. First Mercutio and Benvolio suggested that they should not go out as there may be a fight. “Good Mercutio, let’s retire: the day is hot, the Capels are abroad and if we meet we shall not escape a brawl”. This shows that Benvolio is a more afraid character as he is worried that they will run into the capulets but Mercutio isn’t really worried. It also shows that Benvolio cares very much about Mercutio and doesn’t want him to run into trouble. But when they do go out, they run into Tybalt and Mercutio wants to fight and starts to provoke Tybalt. But Tybalt isn’t really interested in Mercutio’s challenge, as soon as Romeo arrives he tells Mercutio “well peace be with you sir, here comes my man”. Mercutio doesn’t like this so he continues to annoy Tybalt, but Tybalt keeps on ignoring him as he only wants to fight Romeo. What makes this situation even more tense is that Tybalt does not know that Romeo and Juliet have already got married and that they are now family, that is the reason why Romeo doesn’t want to fight Tybalt. Tybalt gets frustrated with Mercutio and then goes ahead and fights with Mercutio and kills him after the fight, Romeo then chases after him and kills him too.

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Shakespeare reveals his characters personalities and the dramatic plot line through some memorable dialogue in this scene. When Romeo states “Tybalt, the reason I have to love thee doth much to excuse the appertaining rage to such to such a greeting” Shakespeare is using dramatic irony to build up the scene by making certain characters know about know about certain things and others do not know, for example when Tybalt wanted to fight Romeo but he said that he did not want to fight as he just married Juliet and that they are now family. Tybalt did not know about this. When Mercutio states “Ask for me tomorrow and you shall find me a grave man” Shakespeare is trying to keep Mercutio as a comical character even when he knows that he is going to die. When Benvolio states “Good Mercutio, lets retire: the day is hot, the Capels are abroad and if we meet we shall not escape a brawl” it show that Benvolio is a friendly and caring person as he does not want Mercutio to get into a fight. When Tybalt says “well peace be with you sir, her comes my man” Shakespeare is showing that Tybalt is not after any of Romeo’s family or friends, he is only after Romeo which is why he says peace be with you to Mercutio. Mercutio continues and ends up being killed by Tybalt.

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We watched the two film versions of act 3 scene, one was by Baz Lurmann in 1996 and the other was the much older version Franco Zeffirelli in 1968. We also compared the two film versions and we noticed that the Baz Lurmann version is set on a beach with very fast camera shots, a big dramatic scene and a lot of P.O.V (point of view) shots. The Franco Zeffirelli version was at a completely different location, it was in a town, a bit like a play. Also it is a bit cartoonish, playful and quite a lot more laughter. The characters are completely different as the Lurmann version has a lot more late 20th century clothing as the Zefffirelli version uses a lot more 13th century clothing. Another difference between the two versions is that Mercutio is black in the Lurmann version but in the zeffirelli version he is white. Music plays a big part in Act 3 scene 1 because it sets the right mood for the scene, as in the modern version the music is very dark and dramatic but in the older version the music is not as dramatic. The visual parts of Act 3 scene 1 in the zeffirelli version are like a normal day, no special effects and it looks a bit messier. The Lurmann version has much better visual effects, as when Mercutio and Tybalt were about to fight the sky turned dark and gloomy and then they put in dramatic music to set the mood, they also show a lot more P.O.V shots. In my opinion I believe that the Baz Lurmann version of Romeo and Juliet is better.

By Andrew Gurgel