Why Is Act 3 Scene 1 a Turning Point in Romeo and Juliet Free Essays

Romeo and Juliet was written by William Shakespeare, the play is based on forbidden love and deathly consequences. The beginning of the play starts with a prologue, the main point of this is to get the audience’s attention and set the scene but to also explain the whole outline of the play. By doing this Shakespeare is also acknowledging one of the main themes of the play, which is fate. We will write a custom essay sample on Why Is Act 3 Scene 1 a Turning Point in Romeo and Juliet? or any similar topic only for you Order Now In the prologue Shakespeare chooses to use a lot of violent language- â€Å"Their death†¦ Civil blood makes civil hands unclean†¦ Parents rage†¦ †-. Blood is associated with fighting and battles; ‘Rage’ is a strong word, hinting towards anger. This establishes the violent, angry mood of the play. However, the prologue also informs the audience other themes involved in the play. Fate plays a big part in the play, we learn that the two lovers meeting will lead to unfortunate events happening, -â€Å"A pair of star crossed lovers take their life†¦ †-, this quote is saying that their death is inevitable and this also links in with the violent theme. Also by telling the audience how the play is going to end, this then becomes fate in action as the audience know what’s going to happen next. This is a good use of dramatic irony because we learn the outcomes of the play and all through it we know what will happen if a character chooses a certain path. The prologue also hints that we aren’t meant to on anyone’s side-â€Å"Two houses both alike†¦ †- the two rival families are both the same and so this gives us the chance to make our minds up. In the first scene, we see a street brawl between the servants of the two families; this first scene shows us how the hatred has run through not just the family but the servants also,-â€Å"When I have fought with men, I will be cruel with the maids- I will cut off their maiden heads†¦ †-, this shows how violent the feud has become because even the servants are talking about raping the oppositions maids. ‘Maiden heads’ was a slang word for virginity. In the first scene we meet Benvolio, a Montague, and we quickly learn that he is the peace maker, â€Å"Put your swords up, you know not what you do†¦ this shows that he is not a fighter, he just wants to keep the peace. Also the quote reminds us of when Jesus who said, â€Å"Forgive them father of their sins, for they know not what they do†¦ †-. This suggests that innocent people may die for others. We are also introduced to Tyblat, who is a Capulet filled with rage for the Montague’s an d the word peace, â€Å"I hate the word, as I hate hell†¦ † he is one of the characters who will instigate a fight. The next important scene is The Capulet Ball, where Romeo and Juliet first meet. It is also when Tyblat swears that although he is not dealing with the Montague’s intrusion now he will later,† I will withdraw, but this intrusion shall, now seeming sweet, convert to the bitterest gall†¦ † ‘Gall’ means poison, which makes us think of pain and suffering, thus building up the tension. Once again Shakespeare shows that Tyblat is nothing more than a big ball of rage, however this is very important as it starts the chain of events that would lead to the death of the two lovers. As Romeo first spots Juliet he uses very descriptive words to describe the way she looks, he is fascinated by her beauty, †Beauty to rich to use†¦ , he also sees her as a rare thing, as if he’s never seen someone so beautiful, â€Å"Snowy doves trooping with the crows†¦ †. We also learn that Romeo can change his mind incredibly quickly because at the beginning of the play he seems to be ‘in love’ with a Rosaline, whil st talking about her he uses a lot of oxymoron’s,† Sick health†¦ †, this shows us his confusion from an early point in the play, although when he sees Juliet he claims to be ‘in love’, from this we learn that he is very indecisive and can’t make up his own mind, â€Å"Did my heart not love till now? , this question hints at his indecisiveness and confusion. When Romeo and Juliet finally meet the moment is very child like, they just stare and move around each other almost as if to scared to touch. They also speak in the form of a sonnet to show the love that is building up between them. The famous balcony scene is also a huge step towards the oncoming events. As Romeo climbs over the orchard garden Juliet is talking to herself on her balcony. In this part the two lovebirds confess their undying love to each other and decide to get married the next day. Whilst claiming to love each other it all seems very serious but it’s just seems like simple child’s play as everything happens within twenty four hours, including a marriage. The marriage is conducted by the Friar who mysteriously states, â€Å"These violent delights have violent endings, and their triumphs die, like fire and powder†¦ † the first bit of the quote links with the violent theme of the play, even the Friar himself sees that Romeo and Juliet getting married would end badly, however he still agrees to marry them. The most important scene of all is act three scene one, this after the wedding and where finally everything unfolds. Also as this scene is filled with violence it contrasts with the past scene of the wedding, which is a juxte position of love and hate, which makes the fighting more shocking and harder to take in. In act 3 scene 1, Tyblat turns up at the beach to fight with Romeo but ends up having a short comedic fight with Mercutio but there is no violence just funny comments, â€Å"Here’s my fiddlesticks, here’s that you shall make you dance†¦ , Mercutio is making a small mockery of Tyblat and this slack attitude results in the anger within Tyblat building which would lead to the death of Mercutio. However as Romeo arrives the mood of the whole play changes. As Tyblat approaches Romeo, Romeo had just come from his wedding to Tyblat cousin Juliet, and so when Tyblat asks Romeo to fight, Romeo suddenly claims to love Tyblat and uses that as an excuse not to fight, â€Å"But love thee better than thou canst devise†¦ †, I think that this aggravates Tyblat even more, as he feels that Romeo is just making fun of him. As Romeo backs down Mercutio gets angry because he is very proud and sees the backing down as â€Å"O calm dishonourable, vile submission†¦ † This comments leads to brawl between Mercutio and Tyblat, this ends in the unfortunate death of Mercutio. As he realises that he is dying, Mercutio leaves the audience with something to think about. â€Å"A plague of both your houses. † The death of Mercutio hits Romeo the hardest as he was his closest companion. Romeo begins to fill with rage and goes after Tyblat, who had previously run off. Once he has found Tyblat, Romeo looses all sense of control, â€Å"Doom thee to death†¦ † the alliteration of the hard‘d’ makes us think of pain, as it’s a hard sound, making the audience think of death. Everything that happens before this was a build up to act three scene one, from the ball to the marriage. Romeo is the main character who we learn more and more about as the play progresses. In the beginning he is a soppy teenager and determined that he is ‘in love’ with Rosaline yet when he sees Juliet her perks up and changes his mind almost immediately. He believes strongly in fate and he uses it as an excuse to justify his actions and as a way of not taking responsibility, â€Å"Some consequence, yet hanging in the stars- but he that hath the steerage of my course, direct my sail†¦ † He knew that there would be some consequence if he went to the ball, yet he still went and it resulted in the death of his closest friend and a member of a rival family. Romeo is reluctant to change the ‘chosen path’ that has been laid out for him; he feels he isn’t responsible for his own actions. I think the speech reveals that Romeo’s state of mind isn’t really all there, he seems to be omewhere else, he is willing to let everyone else take responsibility for him, he seems really deep yet stupid. e. g. I blame him for the death of Mercutio, because if he had not been so cowardly and had just fought Tyblat himself, then Mercutio would have not felt the need to intervene. Fate is the main theme of the play , it seems that every action is able to be linked with the theme fate; when Tyblat states, â€Å"This intrusion shall, now seeming sweet, convert into the bitterest gall†¦ † and so that was the reason he went looking for Romeo and that lead to his own death. We the modern audience didn’t really believe in the whole fate thing as we know that is not possible because science and technology has proved it. Although, Elizabethans would have been more inclined to believe it, they didn’t really know much about science and so believed what they were told. Personally I think that it’s the parent’s fault that the events unfolded the way they did, because if they had the courage to put aside their differences and just be civil none of the unfortunate events would have happened, yet they chose to carry on quarrelling which resulted in the death of their own children and family members. Comparing the 2 film versions of â€Å"Romeo and Juliet† Zeffirelli This version is very traditional and is filmed in Verona itself, it keeps very much to the original script. The actors wore traditional clothing which would have been worn by the original actors who performed the play first. Throughout the film it is very dull and has a lack of colour, it isn’t eye catching and doesn’t give people a lot of things to get excited about. The fighting from act 3 scene 1 wasn’t very realistic looking and didn’t look like fighting at all. In this version of the film they wear very old fashioned clothes and they are totally different to the Luhrmann film. Luhrmann Not as traditional as the Zeffirelli version, it still sticks to the script. Instead of swords like the older one, it has guns and it has a lot of action scenes. The Montague’s and Capulet’s are seen as 2 gangs who both hate each other. They also wear more modern clothes and the 2 groups wear entirely different outfits. In this version the director chooses to skip between Juliet, who has just been married and Romeo and Tyblat fighting, this is a good use of juxte position as the audience doesn’t really know what to feel. I preferred the Luhrmann film more than the Zeffirelli version, I liked that it was more modern and it was easy to understand, the actors were very good and I could relate to their characters more. I liked the idea that the Montague’s and the Capulet’s were both seen as gangs and I liked the costumes that they all wore. I defiantly prefer the newer version more and would defiantly watch it again! In overall act three scene one is the main turning point in the play because up till then, Romeo and Juliet the play is seen as comedic, no real threatening events have happened and its all light and airy, however when the mood changes and people start fighting and killing each other, different emotions are brought out from the audiences watching it. All the characters seemed to have changed as the play progressed and it’s because of the characters personalities, if Romeo hadn’t been so irresponsible then he would have never gone to the ball thus Tyblat would have no reason to seek revenge for the gate crash and this also means that Mercutio would have never been killed. It’s the main point of the play and creates tension and suspense that is needed for the audience watching to really get into the play. It’s where the play where it becomes a tragedy, two of the main characters, Tybalt and Mercutio have been killed. The build up to this has been from Acts 1 2 and what happens after those two acts causes the two characters to be killed. From then on it also makes the two â€Å"star crossed lovers† to commit suicide, If act 3 scene 1 hadn’t happened then the tragic deaths of Romeo and Juliet would not have occurred, basically it is seen that fate brought the end to the both of the lovers. I feel that the play would be seen in many different ways, depending on who was watching it and also what period of time they were in. Modern teenagers watching it would How to cite Why Is Act 3 Scene 1 a Turning Point in Romeo and Juliet?, Papers