Romeo And Juliet – Act 3 Scene 1
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Romeo and Juliet Ð- Act 3 Scene 1
Act 3 scene 1 is a very important part of the whole Romeo and Juliet play. There are various mixed emotions the audience will endure throughout the scene and horrific blows are struck within this particular scene.
After reading the scene, we are immediately drawn into one of the main themes of the play, ÐDisorder. The other themes covered in the play includes: Love versus hate, Disorder, Fate, Friendship and Revenge.
The scene takes place at ÐVerona, a ÐPublic place. A sort of setting where we expect to see laugh and a joke and the development of characters and their feelings towards others, but remembering that Shakespeare is writing this play, we can expect anything to happen.
We are then introduced to the characters with great friendship, Mercutio and Benvolio. Shakespeare has carefully selected these two characters to create impact inside of this particular scene. Without these two characters, the scene would definitely not be the same. The scene starts off with Mercutio and Benvolio are talking to each other. It is a very hot day and Benvolio is somewhat more worried than Mercutio. ÐThe day is hot, the capels are abroad, And if we meet we shall not escape a brawl. Here we are introduced into Benvolios character Ð- a slightly more worried/concerned person than Mercutio. A hot day can get a lot of people bothered; here Benvolio has explained to Mercutio that he feels that it would be wise to leave early before any sort of trouble kicks off, and us knowing that they are in a Public place which is probably the heart of an area if someones looking for trouble.
Benvolio then goes on to say that he is feeling a tension in the atmosphere and that something bad is going to happen. ÐFor now, these hot days, is the mad blood stirring. On hot days, it is quite common for young men to lose control as Benvolio quite rightly says here.
Mercutio on the hand is a lot more laid back and is a joker. He tries to make himself the centre of attention and tries to make his life as full of action as possible. He opens by suggesting to his worried friend Benvolio that he is also being hot headed: ÐAre you one of them as well?
Here Mercutio is trying to loosen up Benvolio and reminds Benvolio to stay on Mercutios side if anything were to happen.
Now we know a bit more about Mercutio and Benvolio, I think that Shakespeare has carefully crafted out these two, to give of an effect on the audience as we can already guess now if one of them was going to get in trouble, wed know who itd be.
The capulets soon arrive with Tybalt as the main leader.
Benvolio tells Mercutio that the capulets have arrived. Mercutio then responds by being foolish and saying ÐBy my heel, I care not.
Tybalt starts off the conversation politely, but in his mind knows that Mercutio will not be very pleasant to talk to. ÐGentlemen, Good den, a word with one of you. Mercutio then abruptly, rudely fires back, ÐAnd but one word with one of us? Couple it with something; make it a word and a blow. Here Mercutio is telling Tybalt to either speak to both of them and also tells Tybalt that hes in the mood for a dual. The audience here is going to be worried as Mercutio and Benvolio are heavily outnumbered and still Mercutio is willing to talk so stupidly.
Tybalt is digested and asks Mercutio to speak with some formality. ÐYou shall find me apt enough to that, sir, and you will give me occasion. Here we see Tybalt trying to keep the situation under his control and shows the audience whos the boss. Mercutio still doesnt learn and Provokes Tybalt further. ÐCould you not take some occasion without giving. Here Mercutio is asking Tybalt can you take a bit of abuse for once without giving me any back. At this point the audience would expect a bit of mouth from Mercutio as there has been rivalry between the two families for many years, however, there are limits to what most human beings can tolerate. Tybalt replies back to Mercutio with a sentence that creates a burst of energy between the two characters. ÐMercutio, thou consortest with Romeo. In my opinion, the language and structure in this sentence changes the whole atmosphere in the scene. Things start to become Ðserious from now onwards. The fact that Tybalt has had to call Mercutios name, as if a Teacher has to tell off a student for not paying attention, to get their attention. Mercutio then goes on to question Tybalt as to why Tybalt has asked Benvolio that question in that sort of manner. Mercutio snaps out with anger. ÐConsort? What, dost thou make us minstrels? Mercutio here asks Tybalt if hes Ðtaking the Mickey. Tybalt ignores Mercutio and soon starts questioning Benvolio regarding Romeos whereabouts in a sort of way that offends Mercutio.
Mercutio then draws with anger, ÐHeres my fiddlestick, heres that shall make you dance. Zounds, consort. We have more humour here from Mercutio, by telling Tybalt to get ready but in a humorous, mocking sort of manner to quicken up the pace and ready the audience for action.
Mercutio is very annoyed with Tybalt right now and Benvolio tries to cool the situation and cleverly tries to postpone the fight by telling Mercutio and Tybalt that they are in a public place and that everyone will see the fight and will alert others. ÐWe talk here in the public haunt of men, either withdraw unto some private place, or reason coldly of your grievness, or else depart, here all eyes gaze on us. Mercutio then discards what Benvolio is talking about by saying that he doesnt care about who looks at him. ÐMens eyes were made to look, and let them gaze, I will not budge for no mans pleasure, I. Here Mercutio is showing us that he is going to stand his ground from the use of his vocabulary and from the sentence structure. The audience here feels the third warning signs coming on and that something is brewing quite rapidly between the two characters.
This shows us Mercutio has a fiery sort of personality apart from his comic joke side. Up till this stage, tension has been created between the characters but mainly from Mercutio though. Mercutio has undergone a personality twist. From the start of the scene he is joking around then slowly builds up spots of