William Shakespeare had a stake holding in the Globe Theatre and also acted in some of the productions of the plays. The success of the Elizabethan theatres, including the Globe, was such that other forms of Elizabethan entertainment were being seriously affected. In 1591 the growing popularity of theatres led to a law closing all theatres on Thursdays so that the bull and bear bating industries would not be neglected. Romeo and Juliet has been performed in Shakespeare’s time Shakespeare himself played Peter the servant. Romeo and Juliet was performed many times at the globe but of course in the old days women were not allowed to be cast so a man would have played Juliet.
Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet was written between 1594 – 1594.
The story is known to be from the third century. The play is a tragedy, but can also be classified as violence and romance and comedy too; the themes often contrast between love and hate but they also work well. As Elizabethan audiences often go see cock fights and bear baiting Shakespeare had to make violence and humour cure their boredom once the audience become bored they often express It by booing and fling vegetables at the stage.
As the play progresses to act three the audience become familiar with the characters and are well-informed of the plot. They were told about the two star crossed lovers. Without the prologue the audience would have no knowledge as to why the two families are fighting.
The audience can see how from the beginning of the play Romeo was in love with Rosaline but changed his mind and had his heart set on Juliet. It is known that Juliet is very young therefore does not make the best decisions and when she does makes them with great haste. Even though Juliet was the one who proposed she asked the nurse to deal with the marriage arrangements; because Juliet was not allowed to walk the streets alone. There was early tension in this because they could not meet and their families were holding them back.
When act three gets started Benvolio lives up to the meaning of his name which is “good will” Benvolio has best intensions at mind. When it says “the day is strangely hotter than usual” he implies it so hot it will make one’s blood boil and there will be confrontation. When Benvolio makes this clear to Mercutio he has none of it and makes a speech about how Benvolio is always so peaceful. He uses humour also to describe. Mercutio does not seem as if he knows this feud could be more serious than meets the eye. When Tybalt enters Mercutio immediately starts to quarrel with him. Mercutio then decides to provoke him into battle by saying “let’s make it a word and a blow” by blow meaning a punch or something to do with violence. Nonetheless when Tybalt gives as good as he gets Mercutio still takes it as a joke! Benvolio tries to prevent the fight but fails.
Shortly after Romeo enters and cannot seem to understand why he is accepting the challenge Tybalt has offered. During that time if you backed down form a challenge then you were seemed to be a coward and honour is always important especially for men. Romeo had just been married and is happy and is meeting his friend, enemy and cousin for the first time as a married man. There is a lot of irony in this scene as if Romeo did not tell them he was married, blood would not have been split. Romeo is a strong believer on fate therefore when he says the line “o I am fortunes fool” he is saying it must be fate and this must me mine.
Regardless of the street brawl, violence is the first feature of play the audience comes across. Even though Romeo seemed to be a peaceful person who is in love and against violence, disproves that in act three scene one by fighting Tybalt and slaying him. After meeting Juliet he had become more feminine and therefore that may be why Mercutio died.
When Mercutio dies it is a big turning point in the play. His amazing personality gave the play a lot of humour and made it more live and happy. Before he died he uttered the words “ask for me tomorrow and you shall find me a grave man” (dead in a grave or in a grave dead.)
Tybalt stays the same throughout the whole scene he really is bitter towards Romeo. He called him names also showing the resent “wretched boy” which shows he is still angry at Lord Capulet for not being angered by seeming Romeo at the party even though he complained to Capulet about Romeos presence. Capulet jus called him “insolent boy” .because he was brought up to hate the Montague family he was set on killing Romeo however not kill Mercutio as when he stabbed him he seemed quite surprised and therefore ran away but was later confronted and killed by Romeo.
When the prince arrives and sees what has happened he is speechless and does not know what he should do; as in act one scene one her vowed “if they ever disturbed the streets, their lives shall pay for the forfeit of the peace”. Although Mercutio was related to him and he can understand why Romeo killed him Lord Montague says “concludes what the law should ends the life of Tybalt”.
Lady Capulet seemed to be quite un-lady like by being quite aggressive and demanding that the prince “must give” justice, in the form of executing Romeo. Luckily for Romeo the prince banished him to Mantua. Due to the banishment it causes many problems. There is a huge risk of Romeo not being able to consummate his marriage to Juliet and the friar has to give the sleeping potion to Juliet which Is the cause of Romeo and Juliet’s death.
In conclusion Act Three Scene One is a major turning point in the play because of many reasons. Many characters change in the play Romeo turns from loving, caring person to a violent, aggressive one. Mercutio realises how serious the feud and paying dearly. Tybalt and Mercutio die, because of certain events Romeo and Juliet both die. You can trace all these vents back in the play. I think it is acceptable to say Romeo is right when he says he believes in fate as fate is the reasons for these tragic events.
