In Shakespeare’s time it would have been normal to have your son/daughters future decided as soon as they get born whereas the modern wait till their children grow older. Also in Shakespeare’s times you were either protestant or catholic and everyone believed in heaven and hell, but the modern audience could have different religions or no religion at all.
Act 3 scene 1 is important because it changes the course of Romeo and Juliet’s lives forever. Before the fight scene Romeo and Juliet secretly get married because they are in love with each other, but once they are married, Romeo and Mercutio get caught up in a fight with Tybalt which leads to Mercutio’s death.
William Shakespeare uses a tense atmosphere through the use of his language in this scene. He does this by making the characters use words that describe the scene more clearly such as;
Benvolio: The day is hot, Capulet’s abroad.
By making Benvolio say this William Shakespeare is trying to make the audience realise the atmosphere by using the word ‘hot’ he is describing anger and a storm of emotion, it is an example of pathetic fallacy.
William Shakespeare has written for Benvolio’s character
Benvolio: And I was so apt to quarrel as thou art any man should buy the fee simple of my life for an hour and a quarter.
By using these words William Shakespeare has created a metaphor by saying ‘bad blood is a feud between the two families. Benvolio associates the heat of the day with hot tempers.
William Shakespeare contrasts the mood of this scene with the previous scenes, he does this in act 2 scene 6 by making the atmosphere romantic and he uses the words ‘ so smile the heavens on this holy act, that after hours with sorrow chide us not’ he wrote those words because they match the wedding scene, which is romantic because a man and woman love each other and they swap their vows and promise to spend the rest of their lives together but it is a sorrow as well because the two families don’t know about the marriage and when they eventually do find out it will lead to a catastrophe. The wedding scene is romantic and there’s a fight scene straight after the wedding scene and it makes the fight scene look unexpected. The wedding scene is very different to the fight scene.
The previous events in the play prepare the audience for this exciting scene. The audience finds the fight scene exciting partly because of the previous events in the play. Tybalt’s uncle won’t let him be the ‘ big man’ because his uncle had a fallout with him and then Tybalt is upset because of this and he takes all his anger out on Romeo and that involves Mercutio who is obviously going to defend his best friend, which sadly leads to two deaths.
The scene links to previous events a lot so their do this so that the audience gets reminded about the warnings that had been sent. They also do this so that the audience understands what’s going on e.g. the prince sends Tybalt and Romeo a warning saying ‘and for that offence immediately we do exile him hence’ this quote was said by the prince and he is warning the two families (Capulet’s and Montague’s) that in the future if there is fighting their would have to face serious consequences.
In the scene when Romeo refuses to rise to Tybalt’s challenge there is some use of dramatic irony. The audience are the only people that know why Romeo can’t fight Tybalt and the reason why Romeo can’t fight back is because he is related to Tybalt because he married Juliet. So Tybalt starts to hit Romeo but Romeo does not fight back this then provokes Mercutio to stand up for his best friend, so Mercutio decides to fight Tybalt which unfortunately leads to Mercutio’s death. So to avenge his best friend’s death, Romeo stabs Tybalt and ends up having to face the consequences that Romeo wanted to avoid. In this scene the audience didn’t expect Mercutio to fight and neither did Tybalt or Romeo, they also didn’t expect Mercutio to die.
The conflict between Romeo and Tybalt has a big impact on the audience knew that Romeo couldn’t fight Tybalt because they are related and the audience were the only ones that knew as well as Romeo. So the audience were curious to know whether Romeo would fight Tybalt in the end or not. The audience also had an impact on the scene when Mercutio decided to get involved and fight Tybalt instead and Mercutio’s death was unexpected. The pace of dialogue became quicker and the audience are awaiting a brawl and the two characters begin to use harsh words such as when ‘Tybalt gets referred to as a rat catcher’.
The scene had a dramatic impact when Tybalt enters because Romeo was just married and there Tybalt challenges Romeo to a fight but Romeo can’t fight him because there are related and it would damage the relationship between him and Juliet. Mercutio’s exit was dramatic because it was unexpected and nobody thought he was going to die and the audience didn’t expect him to die. Romeo’s exit affects everyone because a lot of people are looking for him and then the prince decides to sentence him to banishment.
The plot development is used to create suspense by Mercutio leaving a curse, once Mercutio got stabbed he says ‘a plague on both your houses’ this adds to suspense because the audience will be wondering whether Tybalt will die or what would Romeo do next, and then the repetition of Mercutio last words to prepare the audience for a reason for the death of Romeo and Juliet. The audience are involved in this scene because at the time when Romeo is refusing to fight Tybalt only the audience knows why he can’t fight Tybalt. The audience will feel upset when Mercutio dies but there will also feel suspense because Mercutio put a curse on both families which then leads to further events. The audience may feel excitement about the fact that the audience are involved in this scene.
By Sadaf Ashraf
