Act Three Sence 1 in Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare

Act Three Sence 1 in Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare

In Act 3 Scene 1 there is a major tragedy involved, there are two

deaths and Romeo, the son of Montague is banished from Verona.

The scene opens with Mercutio, kinsman to the prince, and friend to

Romeo discussing the hot day and the possibility of a quarrel with the

Capulet's, "lets retire, the day is hot, the Capulet's are abroad",

with his friend Benvolio, nephew to Montague, and friend to Romeo.

Tybalt, nephew to Lady Capulet enters the scene looking for Romeo and

rudely addresses them. Mercutio and Benvolio are about to fight when

Romeo enters. Tybalt is prepared to fight Romeo and Romeo would fight

under any other circumstances but Romeo has married Juliet so

therefore he is related to Tybalt so he feels as though he must love

him "love thee better than thou canst devise". However, Mercutio,

Romeo's closest friend doesn't know of his marriage to Juliet, with a

sense of loyalty to Romeo, Mercutio battles Tybalt and as a result

Mercutio is killed, his last words are "A plague o' both your

houses!", this reminds the audience of the tragedy that will soon

occur.

Romeo then confronts Tybalt; he struggled with resisting the urge to

fight but then acts on impulse and kills Tybalt. Romeo is the exiled

from Verona from the Prince.

The setting of the play is created through the language of the

characters, e.g. "For these hot days, is the mad blood stirring", the

audience was highly sophisticated of the time of Shakespeare and they

needed a line as this to understand or to get an image of the setting

because there was no props. The plays were set during the day so

explanation of words were needed if it were to be dark.

Suspense and tension is developed through the scene by the things

leading up to it. Throughout the scene tension is sustained. At the

beginning when Benvolio and Mercutio are in dispute about who wishes a

quarrel, suspense has already began, "An I were so apt to quarrel as