Romeo
& Juliet
How
does Shakespeare make Act 3 Sc 1 Dramatic for the Audience?
Act
3 sc 1 of Romeo & Juliet is a very dramatic scene. It keeps the
audience in suspense throughout. The play is dramatic overall, but
this scene is particularly good. This scene is well into the play and
Shakespeare needs to hold our attention by creating the dramatic
effect. All this suspense about the trouble between the Montague’s
and the Capulet’s is taken to the limit, with the fight between
Tybalt and Romeo. This scene needs to keep up that suspense that has
gathered throughout the beginning of the play and also create some of
its own.
In
this assignment I will examine the dramatic effect of this scene to
the audience.
The
audience knows exactly what’s going on before this scene. We know
exactly what Tybalt wants. Tybalt is insulted that Romeo was at the
Capulet’s party and as he couldn’t do anything there, he wants to
take revenge and punish Romeo for insulting him and his family.
Tybalt has come to kill Romeo. Tybalt’s character is not one to
mess with, he is a very angry man and passionate about family honour.
He will not back down from a fight, especially this one. He is just a
bully, he knows people are afraid of him and he likes it that way.
Mercutio
however is very clever and articulate, but he’s also a little
crazy. He’s a live wire. One moment he’s a great friend, but then
suddenly he can become a psychopath, as we have learnt from other
scenes. Mercutio means ‘mercury’ and this is the perfect name for
him, he is unstable and uncontrollable. When watching the modern
movie of Romeo & Juliet it seems that Mercutio may have stronger
feelings for Romeo than just being ‘best friends’. This makes
Mercutio a more interesting character. You can also see this part of
Mercutio in the play even though it is a bit more subtle. Mercutio
likes to make awkward situations even more so, as we see in this
scene.
The
scene before this one is that of the marriage between Romeo and
Juliet. The marriage is a scene of happiness and bliss, it’s a
positive scene. However the scene that follows (Act 3 Sc1) is the
complete opposite. It is a scene filled with old hatred, anger and
sadness, it’s a negative scene. The contrast is obvious and helps
create more dramatic suspense. This makes the audience be in more
suspense, and a bit apprehensive of what is going to happen. This
sharp contrast can only end in tragedy, we know that. We are scared
for the characters, and fearful of what may happen. Shakespeare wants
us to feel this.
We
know there is going to be a fight, so our minds go straight back to
the Princes warning that if either the Montague’s or the Capulet’s
disturb the peace again their lives will pay the forfeit. This
heightens the dramatic suspense even more. We know that someone is
going to die, because there is going to be a fight, even if no one
dies in the fight, they’ll be executed.
Romeo
cannot kill Tybalt because he has just married his cousin. So the
audience wants to know how Romeo will handle the situation he is put
in. Tybalt doesn’t know about Romeo and Juliet’s marriage so he
will kill Romeo, but Romeo can’t do that. Will he tell everyone? Or
be branded a coward? We need to know. Technically Romeo and Tybalt
are now family, there relationship has changed dramatically. From
bitter enemies, to cousins. Tybalt may not know it yet, and we can
bet he wouldn’t be to happy if he ever did find out, but he would
be fighting family. If Romeo tells them there and then, he could make
it much worse, or better, we don’t know. Tybalt could be angered
even more, that a Montague could marry his cousin, a Capulet. Or he
could think of Juliet and show mercy. I think Mercutio would be
pretty angry, marriage would take his best friend away, and probably
stop the fighting. Benvolio would be happy; he wants peace and
happiness for Romeo. Romeo needs to make a big decision during this
scene, and he only has a short time to do so.
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