The beginning of the scene is introduced with Benvolio and Mercutio. At this point the audience is not expecting the tension to rise again and that this could possibly be quite a calm scene as it is the scene after the wedding. This feeling is soon lost when Tybalt, Petruchio and some others enter and the tension begins to mount. Straight away we see Mercutio start to fight verbally with Tybalt, mocking everything he says like “Gentlemen, good den, a word with one of you.”, Mercutio tries to annoy Tybalt by saying “And but one word with one of us? couple it with something, make it a word and a blow”. This shows that he is in the mood for a fight.
Mercutio and Tybalt’s conversation is interrupted by the arrival of Romeo. When we last saw Romeo he was at his wedding to Juliet. The audience is hopeful after this, because it finally looks like things are going well between the two of them and it looks like things will turn out alright. As Romeo enters we see that he is the reason Tybalt has come. Tybalt tries to start a fight with Romeo but Romeo tries to talk his way out of it. He uses love related words whilst talking to Tybalt like “The reason that I have to love thee/Doth much excuse thy appertaining rage” and “but love thee better than thou can’st devise”. He also drops a lot of hints about the fact that he is now part of Tybalt’s family, such as “Good Capulet Which name I tender/As dearly as my own”. In response to this Tybalt is not pleased and replies to Romeo with comments like “Thou art a Villain”. Tybalt is also very determined to have a fight with Romeo and uses every opportunity to tell him to “turn and draw”.
Mercutio is disgusted at how cowardly Romeo is being through all of this and doesn’t understand why he keeps walking away from Tybalt instead of fighting him. Mercutio is just as determined as Tybalt to have a fight so he offends him by calling him the “Good King of Cats” (this is because of his name). As they start to fight Romeo tries to step in and stop it but he is unsuccessful. After a while he manages to step in between them and try to talk them out of it, which is when Tybalt thrusts his sword up stabbing Mercutio in the stomach. This part is quite unclear as to whether or not Tybalt actually meant to kill Mercutio. I think it was probably an accident as, although they were fighting, Mercutio was making comments like “nothing but one of your nine lives that I mean to make bold withal”. After the stabbing, Tybalt exits quickly. The audience is shocked by Mercutio’s death and especially because he has been a popular and likable character. Mercutio’s death is very dramatic with him yelling at Romeo because he died under his arm and also he yells “A curse on both your houses” four times. This is very significant due to the fact that he says it so many times and it also reminds us of the power of fate with “star crossed lovers” (Romeo and Juliet) as the prologue tells us at the beginning of the play.
Romeo doesn’t deal well with Mercutio’s death as he obviously blames himself for getting involved. He realises that being in love with Juliet “hath made [him] effeminate” and that if he had fought Tybalt then Mercutio would probably still be alive. Understandably Romeo runs after Tybalt to get him back for killing his best friend. The audience can feel the tension building right up to this point and sense that there is going to be a huge fight by Romeo saying things like “This day black fate on moe days doth depend/This but begins the woe others must end.”
This final section reminds us of the aftermath of the fight in act 1, scene 1. It reminds us how distraught everyone was after it and even more this time with the killing of Mercutio and Tybalt. Benvolio’s speech fairly sums up the fight by saying “Tybalt here slain whom Romeo’s hand did slay”. However Lady Capulet is in shock over the loss of her nephew and says that “Affection makes him (Benvolio) false he speaks not true… Romeo slew Tybalt, Romeo must not live.” attacking Romeo. This is understandable but, as pointed out by the Prince, “Romeo slew him, he slew Mercutio”, basically saying that they are all as bad as each other. Romeo’s father then steps in to back up the Prince and defend his son by saying, “His fault concludes but what the law should end/The life of Tybalt.” To settle this argument the Prince steps in and says that although Tybalt was a murderer, Romeo still killed him so Romeo must be punished and decides that the only fair thing to do is to ban him from Verona, “And for that offence/Immediately we do exile him hence.” I think this is fair as, although Romeo is a murderer so was Tybalt, who would have been killed anyway, so in a way he saved the police a job, but I agree that it still cannot go unnoticed.
This scene completely changes the audiences’ expectations for the rest of the play. To start with the audience is hopeful that Romeo and Juliet’s love will pull both of the families together so they can forget their differences. After the fight the audience realises that even Romeo and Juliet’s love is not strong enough to get them through this horrific feud and that there is little hope for the two lovers anymore. This prepares them for the tragedy of Juliet’s apparent suicide and Romeo and Juliet killing themselves because they see that there is no hope for them and that more people are getting hurt by their love than it is helping.
