The structure of Act 1 scene 1 is very similar to Act 3 scene 1, which is a way for Shakespeare to create dramatic effects and emphasise the scene to create more tension. This also allows the audience to remember that all of these brawls are due to the feud between the Capulet and Montague families.
The contrast in mood between Act 3 scene 1 and the previous scene Act 2 scene 6 is shown through the love between Romeo and Juliet and the hate that Mercutio had against Tybalt and vice versa. This involves us the audience as we might feel sympathy for Romeo as he has only just married Juliet. Romeo loves Juliet so is expected to feel the same towards Tybalt (her cousin) but yet hates him for killing his friend (who he treats as a brother). However, this also leads to the unfortunate banishment of Romeo. This effectively creates more tension within the audience and encourages us to think what will happen next, what will happen to Juliet and what does the future hold for them.
Shakespeare uses the effect of dramatic irony when Romeo marries Juliet without Tybalt knowing, this leaves him feeling frustrated and angry. This also happens to Mercutio making him feel like he is betrayed by Romeo for not fighting, which causes pressure between the three and eventually leads to a fight. During Shakespearean time the audience may have shouted out that Romeo and Juliet have already married because the audience would behaved differently at a play, now people are more behaved and let the play develops on its own.
Tybalt’s violence and anger for Romeo is due to the dishonour that Romeo causes to the Capulets, when he attends the ball without an invitation. In Shakespearean time a family’s honour is very important and even the slaves of the household would defend their name. However, this normally leads to civil unrest or ultimately death, which is exactly what happens in Act 1 scene 1 with a brawl between the household of the Montague and Capulet.
When Tybalt challenges Romeo in a duel, he refuses. In a performance there are different ways in which Tybalt could provoke Romeo. For example in the Luhrmann film he kicks Romeo to the ground and injures him, but Tybalt does not know why Romeo does not want to fight. Romeo feels that they are now family and he does not want to retalliate (Romeo’s tone would be calm and loving just like with Juliet) when he says
“And so, good Capulet-which name I tender as dearly as my own,”
(During the performance the actor might use gestures and movements to support his loving tone of voice.) Despite this, Tybalt is still furious about the “injuries” (emotional feelings) caused by Romeo at the ball. Yet this causes Mercutio to think that Romeo is dishonouring himself and the family’s name. Mercutio being the loving good friend tries to defend Romeo’s honour by insulting Tybalt ‘a rat catcher’ a negative term linked to his title “Prince of cats”, leading to the brawl. Because the audience and Romeo know about his marriage but the other characters do not, Shakespeare creates dramatic irony.
There are many conflicts during the scene, the outer conflict that lies between the families leading to the brawl. As well as the inner conflict (emotion) with Romeo himself not wanting to fight Tybalt (now related) but wants to support Mercutio. This creates excitement within the audience as we will not know if Romeo will help his brotherly friend or will he reject the challenge. The audience might remember the Prince’s warnings due to the outer conflict and might think that Romeo is trying to prevent a brawl taking place; however he fails and is banished.
Dramatic impact of exits and entrances cause the audience sometimes to be quite shocked especially the exit of Mercutio when he is fatally wounded by Tybalt, he secretly hides the pain by using humor with comments like
“Ay, ay, a scratch, a scratch. Marry, ‘tis enough”
Mercutio tries to hide it by saying it was only a scratch by the Prince of cats and even Romeo believes him. The change in plot, from hate to humour to tragedy, is deliberately used to the show the exit of Mercutio. Shakespeare uses this to create more of a sudden shock for the audience and it would not be as interesting if he just died. Shakespeare is also very intelligent with the way he sets the death of Mercutio as during his time, there will not be many props or excellent staging equipment such as lighting and curtains. So after careful consideration he uses Mercutio to receive help from Benvolio instead of dying on stage, which is much more efficient for the scene to continue.
Tybalt’s entrance swiftly changes the mood of the play while Romeo’s entrance creates more tension because Romeo is the person Tybalt wanted to fight. Shakespeare adds characters until the stage is full of fighting. These entrances allow Shakespeare to add stress to the scene impacting the audience as it generally becomes more interesting. In this scene we also see three exits. The two permanent exits are the death of Mercutio and Tybalt, the tragedy, as well as the nearly permanent exit of Romeo, when he is banished.
Shakespeare uses Benvolio as a narrator so the play can continue fluently, if Romeo is executed for the murder of Tybalt than there will not be a play as the main character is killed. The use of Benvolio as the narrator is to blame everything on Tybalt so Romeo’s punishment would not be as harsh. Shakespeare uses the theme of blame, when Benvolio never mentions about how the fight start with Mercutio, to cause the irony within the play and audience so it makes us feel more interested as there is a twist in the truth.
I think Shakespeare uses the idea of blame to make the audience recognize that their deaths are due to the feud between the family and their vengeance will only end if their children die, helping us to relate back to the chorus. Shakespeare shows us this by using Mercutio to blame Tybalt, Romeo and the feud between the families for his death. Therefore he curses Romeo for his injuries.
“A plague o’ both your houses”
Even though Mercutio loved Romeo as brother through the play, this suggests that what hatred can do and changes Mercutio’s mind. This could also cause the audience to feel sympathy for Romeo as his best friend cursed him before he died, which makes Romeo upset and uneasy. Also it allows Shakespeare to create suspense by the repetition of the curse.
In Shakespearean time, many people believed that a dying man’s curse is certain to be fulfilled and with everyone being extremely superstitious, they also look at the number three as unlucky. As Mercutio dies he mentions the curse three times to stress the point but also to make the audience believe it will happen. This would severely affect the Shakespearean audience as they would believe in the curse on the other hand a modern audience would not have been affected as we are not that superstitious.
The theme fate often occurs during the scene. Shakespeare uses Mercutio’s curse to foreshadow the end of the whole play and by making Romeo call himself a ‘Fortune’s fool’ like he is a chess piece controlled by god. Many people in Shakespearean time would have believed it was God that decided on your destiny. It is also fate when Benvolio uses pathetic fallacies warning us that something unpleasant will happen because it is foreshadowing what will happen next and if the characters knew about the irony of the marriage, this might not have occurred. The theme love and hate runs in the scene frequently but it clashes together causing excitement because if Mercutio didn’t love Romeo, then Romeo would not hate Tybalt and kill him.
This scene is seen as the turning point of the whole play because we are introduced to the first tragedies, the death of Mercutio and Tybalt due to the feud between the Capulet and Montague families. These deaths lead to more tragedy when the lovers die. I feel that this scene is the most important part in the entire play as it consists of all the themes in the play: love, hate and fate which I think represent clearly what inspired Shakespeare to write the play. Furthermore I strongly believe this scene is interesting and exciting.
