When Tybalt arrives, he addresses Mercutio and Benvolio saying “Gentlemen, good den, a word with one of you.” He is exaggerating his arrogance as he would never use civil terms towards two Montagues. As Mercutio is in an irritating mood, he makes fun of what Tybalt is saying “And but a word with one of us? Couple it with something, make it a word and a blow”. Meaning why just talk, let’s have a fight. I believe Mercutio is in a sort of fighting mood. He makes fun of Tybalt when he says he wants to “consortest” with Romeo, “Consort, what, dost make us minstrels?” This is when Benvolio talks about going to a quieter place to remind the audience about the Prince’s warning, “We talk here in the public haunt of men: Either withdraw unto some private place... or else depart, here all eyes gaze on us.” Shakespeare makes Benvolio say this as to make the audience think about the warning and that if a fight happens, then surely someone will die. Shakespeare has purposefully set this scene in a public place as it creates a tense atmosphere because the audience are reminded of the Prince’s warning, making the audience wait in anticipation for what is to follow and this is when Romeo comes on stage.
Tybalt is totally focused on Romeo and as soon as he sees Romeo, Tybalt blows off Mercutio, saying, "Well, peace be with you, sir: here comes my man". Which I believe is ironic as in Act 1 Scene 1, Tybalt’s first words are “What, drawn and talk of peace! I hate the word, as I hate hell, all Montagues, and thee.” This makes the audience wonder if Tybalt is being serious or teasing Mercutio and Romeo. Mercutio is insulted on behalf of Romeo because of Tybalt blowing him off. This makes the audience feel Mercutio’s annoyance and they are able to tell that he will do something strange.
Tybalt straightaway calls Romeo a villain without addressing him, “Romeo, the love I bear thee can afford, no better term than this: thou art a villain.” I believe he is trying to aggravate Romeo to make him fight with him but Romeo is in a happy mood which the audience knows why, but none of the other characters. Therefore, he replies by playing with Tybalt’s words saying “Tybalt, the reason I have to love thee doth much excuse the appertaining rage to such a greeting. Villain am I none;” Shakespeare’s use of dramatic irony here creates tension for the audience as we all know what the excuse of loving Tybalt is, but Tybalt doesn’t know and this creates tension for the audience as they are wondering how Tybalt will react to that. Tybalt responds with “Boy, this shall not excuse the injuries” and once more Romeo plays with his words “I do protest I never injured thee”. So when Romeo speaks to Tybalt this last time, he counters him by saying “As dearly as mine own, be satisfied.” This dramatic irony creates tension and pressure for the audience as Tybalt believes Romeo is being sarcastic but the audience know that he is being truthful. This gives the audience a feel that everything is settled but they know that this can’t be the end and that something tragic is going to happen next.
As soon as Romeo says that, Mercutio reacts stormily and shouts “O calm, dishonorable, vile submission!” He doesn’t understand why Romeo is saying dishonorable things and gets involved. It seems as though he is defending Romeo’s honour for him. Mercutio does this because he thinks that Tybalt's tough-guy act has scared Romeo. But the audience know the real reason why and are tensed because of Mercutio’s sudden change of mood and we don’t know what he will do next.
I believe Romeo is to blame for the fight between Tybalt and Mercutio because he did not defend his honour when Tybalt insulted him, “I do protest I never injured thee ... But love thee.” The context of the play means that the characters have to defend their honour, so the insult ‘thou art a villain’ would have usually caused a duel. However, Romeo has become soft by Juliet’s love, so he doesn’t defend his honour. Mercutio doesn’t like this and defends Romeo’s honour for him. This resulted in Mercutio and Tybalt fighting.
While Tybalt and Mercutio fight, Romeo says “Draw, Benvolio beat down their weapons” which is ironic as it is against Benvolio’s nature to fight and the audience wonder how serious the fight is to make Benvolio draw his sword. Once again, Shakespeare presents the warning through one of the characters, Romeo this time, “Tybalt, Mercutio, the Prince expressly hath forbid this bandying in Verona streets.” This strengthens the power of the warning and the audience assume that somebody is going to be killed during the fight and so are in suspense waiting for that moment to happen.
When Mercutio is wounded, the audience think it is not that serious as it is in Mercutio’s nature to joke around, even at serious times like now when he is dying. The characters also think that Mercutio is joking around. Shakespeare uses a play of words here to create effect for the audience. Mercutio can still pun about himself and his fate. He says, "Ask for me tomorrow, and you shall find me a grave man". He uses sarcasm and dark humour as the word “grave” has two meanings – grave meaning serious or grave meaning dead. The characters on stage assume he means he will turn serious and laugh about it. Even the audience assume that as we have been portrayed of Mercutio’s humour throughout the whole play. Benvolio takes him off-stage and all the audience are assuming that he will come back on stage laughing and joking around, so when Benvolio arrives on stage announcing that “O Romeo, Romeo, brave Mercutio is dead”, the audience feel shocked at the outcome. Shakespeare chooses to do this as this has the greatest impacton the audience – the element of surprise. They were not expecting Mercutio to die. They are left wondering what is going to happen now.
Before Mercutio died, he shouted “A plague a’both your houses!” which leaves a great impact as this was his last words and it feels like a curse, he wants revenge as this feud between the two families made “worms meat” of him. It is like a curse has been set upon both houses and as in those days, people believed in the stars and fate, this curse seemed true. The audience are now certain that something will happen to both houses in the end, to make their death’s untimely.