Romeo and Juliet is a dramatic love tragedy situated in Verona, Romeo Montague and Juliet Capulet declare forbidden love as both houses have a terrible feud help amongst them. Their love, however, is too powerful so they both commit to a hurried marriage and immediately after, in act three scene one their circumstances pay the consequences. Shakespeare uses many devices to capture how dramatic this scene really is, for instance, how rapid the pace is set; the feud held between the families; eruption before act three scene one and the characters themselves. Tybalt Capulet is always seeking an excuse to fight the Montague’s and he finds the perfect one when he discovers Romeo intruding his Capulet ball.
He maintains his anger towards Romeo and in act three scene one he demands to fight him. Romeo, on the other hand, in now married to his cousin, he declines Tybalt’s offer to fight, this action causes more hatred towards Romeo and fury builds inside Tybalt. The audience knows something will happen due to Tybalt’s character being fierce; angry; determined; violent and more. His character would not overlook how Romeo intruded into the ball. This is the turning point, before, Romeo and Juliet were overjoyed with the situation but now matters are getting worse, all the pressure is getting built up until act three scene one and then it collapses. Shakespeare would want to make it melodramatic because it’s the climax point, this is the last time this pay would have things happening smoothly so it has to have a built up of tension to get the full effect.
The characters create heat in act three scene one for instance, Benvolio is always forewarning the audience of oncoming danger, “Part fools! // Put up your swords you know what you do.” Benvolio is alerting about the later tragedy, he is a peace maker, he does not enjoy the two houses fighting and tries to prevent it. He feels that everyone would be better if the fighting stopped and the two houses could put aside their differences and befriend each other once again. Romeo rushes events, which causes an unsteady pace of the play, it is felt that he has not overcome obstacles but just tipped them over as he rushes most circumstances, “o, let us hence, I stand on sudden haste.” The audience feels he needs to approach matters more slowly, he gives out an unsteady rate, we feel uneven about this high speed run he has obtained throughout the play. We learn of Tybalt’s violent, angry nature earlier on in the play when Sampson and Gregory begin a quarrel with the Montague’s. Tybalt seizes the opportunity to fight and adds flames to the fire, ‘As I hate hell, all Montague’s, and thee’. Right from early stages we get an inside to Tybalt’s character, we realise that he is going to erupt events to do with the Montague’s.
There is always an unsettled feeling discretely hidden throughout the play but, nevertheless, it’s still a powerful ending. Right from the beginning, in the prologue, we understand this is a tragedy, “The fearful passage of their death-marked love.” Once this has fallen upon the audience they know that something exciting but tragic will conclude the play. The balcony scene is very meaningful and a powerful message is sent off. Juliet is perched upon her balcony then Romeo approaches her and the balcony symbolises this complication that is a burden upon their shoulders, it shows that matters wont be easy, “And the place death, considering who thou art.” She is alerting him about how dangerous it is for him to see her, in particular, this is setting off how strenuous it is going to become for them. Another negative feeling about the play is illustrated when there is a street brawl that occurs in the morning in act one scene one, it gives a feeling of the friction between the houses and how dense the heat really is, “Do u bite your thumb at us sir?” “Do u quarrel sir?” They are provoking each other so at an early stage we are hit with a very tense scene.
Act three scene one is the crisis point, all events prior to it have been built up for it. Right from the beginning, Benvolio predicts hazards, “For now these hot days, is the mad blood stirring.” He is remarking that its hot, people are bad tempered and he is forewarning so we gather that something is going to happen, we already know that temper is brewing in the very beginning. When Tybalt appears he is searching for Romeo and does not appear to stand down, he looks determined when Romeo does come, but Romeio refuses to fight due to the fact that he has taken Juliet’s hand in marriage. This is dramatic irony for they audience as they only know why he is not participating, the characters on stage do not. This is causing friction and it is making Tybalt insane towards Romeo, “Villain am I none. // Therefore farewell I see thou knowest me not.”
The audience understand Tybalt wont accept this, the feeling is very dramatic as Tybalt is famous for action whenever possible. With Romeo’s absence, Mercutio takes to Tybalt, “O calm, dishonourable, vile submission!” At the start of this act, Mercutio was joking, being provocative towards Tybalt, “By my heel I care not”, he was saying that he did not care when Tybalt was arriving, now, however, the situation is becoming serious. Mercutio is stabbed by Tybalt, he dies under Romeo’s arms and he feels partly responsible for his death as he refused to strike Tybalt himself, Mercutio, on the other hand, blames both houses, his dying words, “A plague on both your houses.”
This is repeated several times to emphasise he blames both houses for his death, he stresses that if they did not fight then a lot of lives would have been saved including his own. Romeo then figures out that his love for Juliet is making him soft and he should have fought Tybalt himself, “Thy beauty hath made me effeminate, // and softened valour’s steel.” He feels he must chase after Tybalt and slays him as hatred towards him grows inside. The audiences do not know what’s about to happen in the next acts, in just one act things have risen then fallen, this is why Shakespeare wanted to make this the climax, this is the place where the tension comes in makes the play most effective.
After act three scene one, the situation breaks for the worst. Romeo is declared banished from Verona as he did slay Tybalt, “Immediately we do exile him.” This prosecution is terrible for Romeo and Juliet as the can not continue seeing each other, they are in love so this news comes as a great shock and a horrible turn in their life. All her family including the nurse, the one person she thought would understand and the only person she told, persuade her to accept Paris’s hand in marriage, “Romeo // is banished, I think it best you married with the county. // Oh he’s a lovely gentleman.” Juliet is feeling alone, her beloved friend is deserting her wishes with Romeo
. Juliet finds herself in a trapped situation, she seeks Friar Lawrence for help and admits she would rather be dead than marry Paris, “O bid me leap, rather than marry Paris, // From off the battlements of any tower.” He suggests the sleeping potion to solve her problem, a potion that would make her appear dead, when infact, she is under a deep sleep. Romeo is unaware of her new plan, he then thinks she is dead so commits suicide, after, Juliet wakes up and is devastated so, knowing she can not live without him. she does the same. Once they had everything in their grasp, now they hold nothing but death.
