Critical Essay Flashcards
Introduction
Even in the densest dramas, one scene can be pivotal to the play as a whole. An example of such moment can be seen in act 3 scene 1 of Shakespeare’s ‘Romeo and Juliet’. Tragedy ensues in this scene, impacting; theme, plot and characters from the rivalling families; Montegue and Capulet. The great tragedy in this scene shows the horribly tragic nature of the play as a whole.
Plot
When the stars meet, they quickly realise that their desperate love is prohibited by the hate arising from their families’ feud. Through all their efforts and those of Friar Lawrence, even their eventual marriage cannot be maintained in peace. This leads to tragedy and the death of friends, family, and even themselves. Only in their death is there peace between the families in Verona.
Key scene sentence
In Act 3, scene 1, Tybalt Capulet, seeks vengeance on Romeo for entering into the Capulet’s party. Romeo’s refusal to fight causes Mercutio to be appalled by such cowardly action and fight and die by Tybalt — who is then killed by Romeo.
Key scene quote 1.
“A plague a’both your houses!”
Mercutio repeatedly curses both families because their hatred has led to his demise and so he blames both Romeo and Tybalt. This foreshadows that both of them do suffer from being the cause of his death as they both die tragically. The repetition of this emphasises just how much he hated them for doing this to him.
Key scene quote 2
“Why the dev’l you came between us! I was hurt under your arm.”
Here Mercutio questions why Romeo intervened between him and Tybalt if he didn’t want to fight in the first place. When he says “I was under your arm” he states he believes that Romeo’s intervention is what gave Tybalt the chance to kill him, emphasising the tragedy of this scene as it was the fault of his own friend that got him killed.
Impact on Romeo
“Ha, banishment, be merciful, say ‘death’”.
Here Romeo is being overdramatic as his life has just been spared by Prince, but he is saying he would prefer death. It is also ironic he is calling death merciful as he has just been spared from death. His desire to rather die than be separated from Verona shows how distraught he is unable to see Juliet.
Impact on tybalt
“Here comes the furious Tybalt back again.”.
The word choice of “furious” has connotations of great anger and a violent personality, this suggests that Tybalt has a very violent nature that causes fights such as the one that led to the death of Mercutio. Tybalt is always going to be violent no matter what showing that even after killing Mercutio he wants his revenge and still wants to kill Romeo, however his rage is what gets him killed by a just as angry but not as violent natured Romeo.
Impact on Juliette
“That word one word ‘banished’, Hath slain ten thousand Tybalts”.
In response to Juliet hearing Romeo is banished, she is saying here that even though her cousin’s death is sad enough Romeo being parted from her is much worse than Tybalts end. This shows how the tragedy of the scene has brought her a great sadness as she is “ten thousand” times sadder due to Romeo’s banishment than her family’s loss.
Themes 1
Up until this scene the theme of the play has been that of romance and love however it changes drastically and quickly to tragedy as Romeo and Juliet’s love leads to death. Earlier on we see deception of just how much Romeo is in love with Juliet when he says: “it is east, and Juliet is the sun”, this describes how Romeo’s previous love ending made him depressed and that Juliet his true love has brought all the light back into his life as she is his “sun”.
Themes 2
In act 3 scene 1 the theme changes from romance to tragedy when Mercutio dies at the furious hands of Tybalt. This is because Romeo becomes extremely impulsive and kills Tybalts in quick succession which is the turning point as it is what dictates the end of Romeo and Juliet when he is banished, this is emphasised by “This day’s black fate on more days doth depend, this but begins the woe others must end”. These lines state that the fatal consequences of that days events hang upon what happens in the future.
Plot
The plot becomes intense as the pace is increased by Shakespeare as the act that follows is extremely shorter. Romeo and Juliet’s fate is sealed when Friar Lawrence’s plan fails, and their fatal future becomes imminent.
“More light and light, more dark and dark our woes!”
This is said during the last time they meet both being alive, as the next time they Juliet will wake up to Romeo lying dead beside her. “Light and light” refers to their love being pure in the time they’ve had; this is contrasted by “dark and dark” which refer to what the future holds as things get darker and disastrous.
Conclusion
The death of Tybalt and Mercutio is what seals the fate of Romeo and Juliet. Romeo’s banishment for murdering Tybalt puts Juliet in desperation which eventually leads to the tragic death of the forbidden lovers. Shakespeare in this play shows the impact of hate and how it leads to violence to such an amount that even those in pure love could not escape their families’ pure hate.
