Compare and contrast the dramatic effectiveness of Act 3 scene 1 and Juliet's soliloquy in Act 3 scene 2

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Coursework: Romeo and Juliet

Compare and contrast the dramatic effectiveness of Act 3 scene 1 and Juliet’s soliloquy in Act 3 scene 2

        

        Romeo and Juliet tells the tale of two ‘star-cross'd’ teenage lovers who secretly fall for each other and marry. Their families, the Montagues and Capulets, have been fierce enemies for decades and even as Romeo and Juliet say their wedding vows, new violence breaks out between the clans. In the end, their love is doomed. When Romeo mistakenly believes Juliet is dead, he poisons himself. And, when Juliet discovers that he is dead, she too commits suicide. Romeo and Juliet is by far the most romantic and well known play written back in the 1590s by William Shakespeare. This Elizabethan period was a time when revenge and honour were very important to the society of the rich. It was not uncommon for marriages to be arranged for girls as young as 13 and sword duelling played a large part in seeking honour for your family. The play covers the most dramatic of feelings from the love and passion to the hate and revenge of everyday life ending in the ultimate tragedy that breaks hearts all over the world.

        The famous couple originated from an old Italian story more than a century before Shakespeare tackled it making it the perfect story to immortalise in writing as it contained a powerful love story. It was, therefore, set in Verona, Italy, as Shakespeare felt it belonged there and he’d used the setting before for the 1594 play, ‘Gentlemen of Verona’.

        The title assignment will be discovered using an in-depth study of both scenes 1 and 2 in act 3 where by comparing and contrasting them, while using references from the rest of the play, it should be evident of the differences and similarities between them.  

        Act 3 scene 1 is the turning point of the play because this is when two main characters are killed off, Mercutio and Tybalt. It makes the play instantly focus on Romeo and Juliet more by lessening the amount of characters. This is also a pivotal scene for Romeo because he gets banished, after slaying Tybalt, and taken away from his wife. If this scene hadn’t happened, Romeo might have known Juliet took only a sleeping potion so maybe the tragedy could have been avoided. However due his murder he does get taken away to Mantua and so Juliet has to suffer the consequences as well as himself. They both feel the strain of being apart and even Romeo’s family must suffer in his absence. Yet this fight that caused his banishment could easily have been prevented if Mercutio had first listened to the instinct of his friend, Benvolio.

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        As Act 3 scene 1 starts, Benvolio is extremely nervous as he and Mercutio are out late and he can almost foresee a fight with the Capulets as proven when he says, ‘The day is hot’ and ‘the mad blood stirring’. He is predicting that something bad will happen as in the very first scene in the play when there is a big public fight between both families in the street. He uses the saying ‘fee-simple’ which means that if he quarrelled as much as Mercutio, he wouldn’t last long which was a warning against Mercutio and also a prophecy ...

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