The key characters in the scene are Benvolio, Mercutio, Tybalt, and Romeo.
Shakespeare uses each of the key characters to create drama. The way in which he does this is by using them to cause conflict and tension between each of them. For example Mercutio has no need to quarrel with Tybalt but he wants to stand in to defend Romeo’s honour. This later leads to his own death and Romeo is angered and fights Tybalt in revenge. This causes drama as it changes the expectancy of the audience.
Benvolio is the cousin of Romeo. He is a good friend of Mercutio and doesn’t show his opinion of Tybalt. He is the peacemaker, he likes to talk things through rather than fight, ‘reason coldly of your grievances.’ He is sensible, serious and not a fighter unlike Mercutio. He doesn’t want to fight because of the death sentence, which the Prince imposed. He wants to leave and begs Mercutio to go indoors’, ‘I pray thee, good Mercutio, let’s retire:’
Mercutio is not a member of either family but is a loyal friend of Romeo's and the cousin of the Prince. He shows his loyalty towards Romeo by stepping in for Romeo. He is argumentative as we seen in a previous scene with Romeo. He has a personal dislike of Tybalt who he calls ‘Prince of cats.’ He mocks his way of fighting. He speaks in prose, which Shakespeare uses to suggest unordered thoughts. This reflects his uncontrollable nature (rambles): ‘Nay, and there were two such . . . and yet thou tutor me from quarrelling.’ He exaggerates things too, ‘thou wilt quarrel with a man cracking nuts’.
Romeo is the son of Montague. He is a peace lover; he doesn’t like to join in street fights e.g. the opening scene. He disapproves of fighting. He doesn’t respond to Tybalt’s provocation, it is ironic because he feels related to Tybalt, as he has just married Juliet). He is not a typical Montague, he sees fighting as pointless. He accidentally causes Mercutio’s death ironically by trying to separate him from Tybalt. The stage directions tell us: ‘Romeo steps between them’ Romeo says, ‘Hold, Tybalt! Good Mercutio!’ then ‘Tybalt under Romeo’s arm thrusts Mercutio in’. The death of Mercutio changes Romeo and his anger becomes aroused. He pursues Tybalt in defence of Mercutio’s honour and in revenge for his death. He feels that he is controlled by fate, ‘I am fortune’s fool’, which links with ‘A pair of starcross’d lovers’ in the prologue. The audience will remember this and they may perhaps expect Romeo to be killed.
Tybalt is a Capulet, cousin of Juliet. Shakespeare has already shown him (like Mercutio) to be hot tempered. He likes fighting; he follows the ethos of duelling, ‘What drawn and talk of peace?’ from the opening scene. Capulet calls him ‘Fiery Tybalt’ as he can’t control his temper. He has an intense hatred of Montague’s and he feels mocked when he sees Romeo at the Capulet party, ‘I’ll not endure him.’ He is determined to fight Romeo to defend his family honour and sends a letter of challenge. He is extremely vindictive and he pushes Romeo for revenge by killing Mercutio. This is way out of proportion to Romeo’s actions.
The scene opens with Benvolio and Mercutio talking about fighting. Mercutio wants to fight whilst Benvolio doesn’t and tension is built.
Tybalt’s entrance is dramatic because the audience believe there will be trouble because of his ‘fiery temper’ and they anticipate trouble. Shakespeare uses conflicting characters such as Tybalt and Mercutio to build tension. Tybalt says he wants ‘a word with one of you.’ Mercutio says ‘make it a word and a blow.’ because he wants to fight; the audience are scared of fight because of the Prince’s death sentence. Tybalt doesn’t want to fight Mercutio and he tries to excuse himself, ‘you will give me occasion.’ Tybalt says ‘consortest’ meaning to keep company and Mercutio deliberately mistakes Tybalt’s meaning by saying, ‘Consort?’ which is a company of hired musicians. Mercutio again starts to ramble and attempts to arouse Tybalt into duelling with him, ‘here’s my fiddlestick, here’s that shall make you dance.’ Shakespeare deliberately uses the imagery along with the metaphor on fiddlestick meaning sword to cause tension between Tybalt and Mercutio and to arouse the audience’s anticipation.
Romeo enters and Tybalt tells Mercutio that he can go because the man he is looking for is here, ‘peace be with you, sir, here comes my man.’ Tybalt says to Romeo ‘the love I bear thee . . .' but he is being sarcastic meaning hate. When Romeo says, ‘love’ he literally means love. Shakespeare uses dramatic irony because the audience and Romeo both know of their relation due to his secret marriage to Juliet. Tension is built because Tybalt does not understand Romeos meaning. Shakespeare uses dramatic irony once again because Romeo hadn’t witnessed the argument between Tybalt and Mercutio before. He is naive, he thinks he can walk away from the fight and underestimates Tybalt’s anger, ‘Therefore farewell, I see thou knowest me not.’ He infuriates Tybalt: ‘Boy, this shall not excuse the injuries . . . therefore turn and draw.’ Tension is building up quickly. Romeo says he is not going to fight a member of his own family, ‘I do protest I never injuried thee . . . be satisfied.’ There is use of dramatic irony – the audience know of the marriage and that is why Romeo has ‘love’ for Tybalt, but Tybalt doesn’t know of the marriage.
Mercutio at this point steps in to defend Romeo’s honour and tries to provoke Tybalt by drawing his sword and insulting him, ‘you rat-catcher, will you walk?’ Tybalt remains calm ‘What wouldst thou have with me?’ Again Mercutio provokes Tybalt with insults, ‘King of cats’. Tybalt draws his sword and the tension climaxes. Mercutio then challenges Tybalt and says, ‘come, sir, your ‘passado’.’ Mercutio mocks Tybalt’s fencing thrust that he is so proud of.
Tybalt and Mercutio fight. Romeo tries stopping them because of the death sentence, ‘forbear . . . the prince hath forbid this bandying in Verona streets.’
Shakespeare uses characters effectively, such as Mercutio. Mercutio is used to spark of a fight, which then has implications for the rest of the play.
Mercutio is stabbed and Tybalt flees. Mercutio is brave and talks with humour, ‘a scratch, a scratch’ Mercutio is referring to cats, mocking Tybalt. Shakespeare uses a pun on the word burial ‘deep as a well’. Another pun on a funeral, ‘wide as a church door’. He tells them seriously if they ask for him tomorrow he will be dead and buried, ‘grave man’. Shakespeare uses emotive words like ‘peppered’ meaning finished. Shakespeare uses bitter humour, ‘a dog, a rat, a mouse, a cat, to scratch a man to death!’ The bitter humour is used to again show his uncontrollable nature.
Mercutio dies cursing the feud between both families, which he believed was the cause of his death, ‘A plague a’ both your houses!’ Mercutio’s death causes tension.
Tybalt re-enters, the atmosphere is charged and the audience will suspect revenge. Romeo’s fury and emotions take over. He has forgotten his marriage to Juliet; his kinship means nothing to him now and the death penalty of the Prince, ‘Again, in triumph, and Mercutio slain? Away to heaven, respective lenity, And fire-ey’d fury be my conduct now!’ Romeo tells Tybalt he is only going into action in revenge, ‘Staying for thine to keep him company: Either thou or I, or both, must go with him.’ Tension between Romeo and Tybalt has flared. This all links in with some of themes of the play (love, hate, revenge, honour). Romeo and Tybalt fight, Tybalt falls.
Throughout the scene the pace of the play is very fast. It started with Mercutio and Benvolio talking and ended with two deaths and Romeo’s banishment.
There is not just one climax in the scene there are three: Mercutio’s death, Tybalt’s death, and the Prince’s decision.
The death of Mercutio is very dramatic; a lot of tension is built. If Mercutio had not stepped in for Romeo he would not have been killed. Also Romeos emotions wouldn’t have taken over. Mercutio’s death left Romeo feeling guilty and in need for revenge. His love for Tybalt changed to hate and going against all his beliefs in not fighting he battled with Tybalt.
The death of Tybalt brings Romeo to his senses. He has just realised what he has done and the implications that could happen because of this. This is very dramatic, Romeo has to scatter quickly because he may be condemned to death by the Prince, ‘the prince will doom thee to death’. Tybalt’s death infuriates Lady Capulet. She doesn’t want justice; she wants revenge, ‘For blood of ours, shed blood of Montague.’ This also links in with the revenge theme in the play.
Benvolio’s long speech is deliberately done by Shakespeare to remind the audience of everything that happened throughout the scene. Shakespeare does this to keep the audiences heads clear. He also does this to build up anticipation for Romeo’s expected death.
The Prince’s decision affects the entire play as a whole. He has to rise above emotion and remain detached. He is the voice of reason; authority in Verona, what he says goes! He speaks in rhyming couplets, ‘strong a fine . . . loss of mine.’ He is solemn and formal. At the time, the Princes of City States had great power and they could make decisions without holding a trial. He makes his decision and Romeo is banished not sentenced to death. The reason Romeo wasn’t executed was probably because Tybalt killed Mercutio, the prince’s cousin and Romeo killed Tybalt in revenge of his friend’s death.
Shakespeare uses language effectively with the characters. He creates images with his words, which are helpful for his original because they relate to them, ‘Thy head is full of quarrels as an egg is full of meat’. This image shows Mercutio’s unordered thoughts. Therefore, the images are used effectively. Puns are used effectively, ‘What eye but such an eye would spy out such a quarrel?’ Mercutio means himself being quarrelsome.
Throughout the scene the themes are constantly developing. Tybalt wants to fight Romeo to defend his family honour and he likes the family feud. He hates Romeo. Mercutio fights to defend Romeos honour. Romeo fights Tybalt in revenge of Mercutio’s death. Romeo had love for Tybalt but after he killed Mercutio that changed Romeo and hate took over. At the time there was an ethos of revenge, “you kill one of ours, and we’ll kill one of yours”.
This scene directs the fortunes of the protagonists. The fortunes tell us that two lovers die together. If Romeo were sentenced to death the fortunes wouldn’t have developed. Romeo being banished makes Juliet’s and his love stronger. They are both willing to sacrifice their own lives for the other.
This scene affects the tone of the play by making it quite grim. Tybalt and Mercutio are dead and Romeo is exiled. Romeo’s banishment means that he cannot see Juliet. The death of Tybalt upsets the Capulet household; Juliet is upset because of the death and Romeo’s banishment. Shakespeare uses dramatic irony because the audience know of the marriage and the family don’t. The family only think she is mourning for Tybalt’s death. The mood is extremely dark.
The scene is a turning point in the play because of a number of factors. First of all the events leading up to the fight scene and how Tybalt’s death determines the course of events in the rest of the play.
Before the fight scene a number of events happened. These are the fight between the Capulet’s and Montague’s in the opening scene. The Prince’s death penalty sentence. The party at the Capulet household and how Tybalt saw it as a mockery. The first meeting of Romeo and Juliet, this ends up as love at first sight. The secret marriage between Romeo and Juliet and how only they, the nurse and the audience know.
Tybalt’s death changes a lot in the play. But just before the fight between Tybalt and Romeo, Romeo realises that the fatal consequences of the events hang upon what happens in the future, ‘this day’s black fate on moe days doth depend’. When Tybalt dies decisions have to be made. The Prince’s decision is probably the most important decision in the play. If the Prince had decided to execute Romeo rather than exile him the play would not have been the way in which the prologue suggested.
After Tybalt’s death the mood becomes much darker and the pace is a lot faster. The hatred between the Montague’s and the Capulet’s intensifies. Juliet has to be strong enough to hide the secret marriage and go along with the marriage set up by her Father. Juliet visits the Friar for advice. The Friar suggests that she takes a potion the night before the wedding. The potion will make her appear to be dead but she is actually in a deep sleep whilst he sends a messenger to tell Romeo to take her away. Unfortunately the message doesn’t arrive to Romeo and he hears that Juliet is dead from a friend. He goes to an apothecary and buys some poison. He then goes to the tomb and sees Juliet. He drinks the poison and dies just before Juliet is awoken. She then kills herself. They are later found and the Friar tells everyone the story of the two lovers.
Shakespeare makes it dramatic because none of these events would have occurred without the death of Tybalt. Therefore, Act 3 Scene 1 is the most effective scene in the play and a turning point.