Sustained Tension in act 3 Scene 1 of William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet

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Sustained Tension in act 3 Scene 1 of William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet

Act 3 Scene 1 in Romeo and Juliet is one of the most exciting and most

tensely filled scenes throughout the play. The scene is at its most

exciting during the battles between Tybalt and Mercutio and Tybalt and

Romeo because it is really tense as each man is trying to kill each

other and it ends up with two men dying. It also makes it more

exciting as they are lots of people gathered round the fight chanting

and shouting. The dramatic climax in this play is when Romeo kills

Tybalt and as he stands there he realises he has just killed the

cousin of his wife. This scene is very central to the play as it leads

to the death of one Capulet and one Montague and it also gets Romeo

banished from the city of Verona. This moves the play on very quickly

and then leads towards the death of Romeo and Juliet as she is forced

to marry against her will so she pretends to kill herself, but then

Romeo finds her and he kills himself therefore leading to Juliet

dieing as she wakes up, finds Romeo dead and stabs herself with his

dagger.

Act 3 Scene 1 opens with Mercutio and Benvolio walking along the hot

dry streets of Verona and it contains many references to the heat like

this for example: “For now these days, is the mad blood stirring”

which is said by Benvolio which means because it Is so hot we will get

hot and bothered if we meet the. So even before they meet the Capulets

they already are hot and frustrated so meeting their enemy is the last

thing they would want. Also at the very beginning Benvolio tries to

get Mercutio to go home with him: “I pray thee, good Mercutio, let's

retire” as Benvolio knows that they probably will meet the Capulets.

At this stage of the scene the tension is probably at half stage.

When Tybalt and the Capulets arrive, Tybalt isn’t looking to fight

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