Romeo and Juliet Mock Trial Essay
Of all the things that occur in Romeo and Juliet, the death of Tybalt is one of the most climatic parts of the story. Yet, this all started from another killing of a different person, Mercutio. Mercutio, a relative of the Prince and friend of Romeo, and Tybalt, nephew to Lady Capulet and Mercutio’s arch enemy, were in a heated conversion when Romeo walked in after getting married to Juliet and saw what was going on. Tybalt and Mercutio began to fight and Romeo tried to come in between them to stop the whole thing. Unfortunately, as Tybalt was under Romeo’s arms, he stabbed Mercutio and he died soon after. In all the rage, Romeo was furious that his friend was dead and starts to fight with Tybalt. Eventually, Romeo slays Tybalt and he falls to the floor and dies. Romeo runs away in agony before the Prince soon arrives at the scene of the fight with all the other citizens that were awakened by this fray to see what happened. Although Romeo is guilty of homicide, he is charged for manslaughter as he unlawfully killed a person in the heat of passion while defending Mercutio’s honor.
One big reason Romeo is charged for manslaughter is because he killed a person unlawfully. According to California Criminal Code 192, “Manslaughter is the unlawful killing of a human being without malice.” (Penal sec. 192) One example would be when Benvolio tells Romeo that “The citizens are up, and Tybalt slain. Stand not amazed; the Prince will doom thee death if thou art taken. Hence, be gone, away!” (3.1.132-134) Here in this quote, Benvolio tells Romeo to get away before the Prince catches him red-handed because he knows that Romeo had broken the law of fighting with someone and disturbing Verona streets. Because o...
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...el. It is because of all these reasons that prove Romeo’s actions to be wrong. His actions were not only immoral, but also unnecessary. Like stated earlier, instead of fighting out to the death, Romeo and Tybalt could’ve taken a much less corrupt route and settled the conflict in a calmer way. If this had happened there would have been much less sadness and drama. Tybalt’s life could’ve have been saved and Romeo wouldn’t have to be banished. Romeo and Tybalt together symbolize the opposites such as Yin and Yang or fire and ice. Of all that Romeo had done, the Jury should vote him guilty for manslaughter.
Works Cited
CACodes (pen:187-199). 10 December 2013, http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/cgi-bin/displaycode?section=pen&group=00001-01000&file=187-199.
Shakespeare, Harbrace. Romeo and Juliet. Toronto: Harcourt Brace & Company Canada, 1987.
Although some believe that Friar Lawrence is to blame for the death because he came up with the plan for Juliet to drink a liquid so she can be with Romeo, Juliet’s cousin, Tybalt, is all to blame and is the reason the drama has happened. Friar Lawrence told Juliet, when in the chamber, “Take thou this vial, being then in bed, and this distilling liquor drink thou off,” (IV.i.93-94). Friar Lawrence wants Juliet to take this while in bed so that it looks like she collapsed and died. Although he wanted her take this, there was no other option, other than suicide. People of Verona thought she was dead, as did Romeo. Romeo wanted to be with Juliet, so he slain himself. Although all of this is true, Tybalt is still to blame for many reasons. Tybalt got Romeo banished from Verona from fighting. Tybalt started the fight. The Prince made an announcement,”And for that offense immediately we do exile him hence,” (III.i.185-186). Since the Prince banished Romeo, he can’t see Juliet anymore. Juliet came up with the plan with Friar Lawrence because of Tybalt causing this.
Romeo fights and kills Tybalt just because Tybalt slays Mercutio, despite knowing the consequence of fighting -death- he still takes it upon himself as a way to seek repentance for Mercutio’s death. He is able to restrain himself before the death of Mercutio but after his death Romeo falls to his impulsiveness and fights Tybalt. After killing Tybalt and getting banishment instead of a death sentence, Romeo refuses to look on the bright side and goes to Friar Lawrence where he says “Ha, banishment! Be merciful, say ‘death’.” (Act 3, Scene 3 line 12), this shows that he deems life without Juliet life not worth living. He then continues weep then decides to take his own life, the Friar stopped him but had Romeo stopped being so quick to make decisions he would have realised banishment is much better than death and would be rejoicing instead of weeping. Romeo hears about Juliet's “death” from his servant Balthasar he instantly decides to kill himself, he doesn't mourn his loss or even cry, he simply buys poison, rides to Verona and kills himself. Had he spoken to anyone and taken any advice he would realize that suicide is not the answer but he had his mind made in a minute, he wanted to be dead with his wife. Romeo impulsiveness to make decisions is a very important characteristic for him to have and for the rest of the
Romeos decision to murder Tybalt can be justified as a hasty and rash decision, Romeo
Also in the beginning of the play a fight breaks out between the Montague and Capulet families and the Prince intervenes and after telling them to drop their weapons he says “If ever you disturb our streets again, your lives shall pay the forfeit of the peace.” Although this rule was given Tybalt challenged Romeo to a duel. Romeo kept refusing to fight Tybalt which caused Mercutio to be outraged and draw his own sword. During the duel between Tybalt and Mercutio, Romeo intervenes and tries to stop them both but Tybalt puts his sword under Romeo’s arm and kills Mercutio. Romeo then fights with Tybalt and murders him and is banished from Verona. If Tybalt hadn’t been so aggressive with the whole situation Romeo wouldn’t have been banished, and Juliet wouldn’t have needed to come up with a plan that resulted in both of their deaths.
As already shown, both Romeo and Juliet are horrified to discover that they were family enemies. Despite of this, they both choose to devote their love for eachother. Given this point, it is unrequited love that brings Romeo and Juliet together. But this also means that they would have to get over the fact that their families hate each other. This eventually leads them to forgiving the rival family for all the hateful acts that have occurred against one another. This is not the only forgiveness that is experienced in this play. Tybalt is a Montague with a fiery attitude. After catching Romeo at a party he was not supposed to be at, Tybalt had it out for Romeo. Just after Romeo and Juliet’s wedding, Tybalt comes looking for him wanting to fight. Romeo does not want to fight because he now loves Tybalt since he is family to him, but neither Tybalt or anyone else knows this reason. Quickly Mercutio steps in and tells Tybalt that he will fight him in honour of Romeo. Sadly this leads to the death of Mercutio. Romeo is angry and in need of revenge, which creates an intense fight between Tybalt and Romeo. Romeo wins this battle, killing Tybalt. He leaves in a hurry, only to discover that he would be banished from Verona. The death of Tybalt is absolutely devastating to Juliet. Her cousin was murdered by her husband. But she did not hesitate to forgive Romeo, she did so right away. She knew that Romeo had a reason for this incident and decides to
The play Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare, the nurse is Juliet’s lower-class nurse. She is a loquacious, insolent trusting but yet dishonest character in the play. The only character that Juliet trusts and usually is seen cracking dirty jokes
This hatred causes many brawls including one in Act 3 scene 1. This brawl is a pawn of fate that pulls Romeo further apart from Juliet. In this scene Tybalt is upset because he believes that Romeo had crashed the Capulet ball, though in reality he had no harmful intentions. He is blood thirsty and wants to battle Romeo. Romeo is Mad, passionate and hasty. He is already symbolically dead and Mercutio and Benvolio believe that he is in no state of mind to fight, and if he were to do so he would not stand a chance against Tybalt, the prince of cats. Mercutio Is worried about this so in his attempt to protect Romeo he fights Tybalt which unleashes a big fight. Tybalt kills Mercutio. This upsets Romeo so much that he kills Tybalt because he was overwhelmed with passion and makes a hasty decision. Now bringing things back to the Capulet ball. Fate begins with Tybalt hearing Romeo express his love for Juliets beauty aloud and becomes filled with anger because he believes that Romeo is there to crash party since he is a Montague. If Tybalt never heard that, he would have never instigated a fight and Romeo would not have been exiled. This is fate rearranging time and circumstance to pull Romeo farther away from
Tybalt’s death is a major part in the Romeo and Juliet play. Tybalt was still mad at Romeo for going to the Capulet party. He finds Mercutio and Benvolio walking in the street. Mercutio was in the fighting mood and they begin fighting but Romeo tries to break it up but Tybalt is able to stab Mercutio. Romeo then fights Tybalt and kills him. Romeo is then banished. This part is a tragedy because Tybalt’s death lead to Romeo getting banished. Act 4, Scene 4
One of the occurrences that would justify Romeo being placed in the Hall of Shame is when he seeks vengeance against Tybalt after Tybalt had killed his dear friend, Mercutio. Mercutio and Tybalt brawl in the Towns Square of Verona after a misunderstanding during their conversation. Mercutio ends up being killed and Romeo realizes that being with Juliet has made him effeminate, and he seeks to kill Tybalt to regain his honor once again. He disobeys strict order of Prince Escalus to never brawl in the streets again but because of Romeo’s selfishness, He disregards the orders of the Prince and proceeds to kill Tybalt. Although Romeo has been banished from Verona by the Prince, His foolish behavior results in him killing another one of the Prince’s kinsman, Paris. After Romeo had received the news the Juliet was “dead”, He travels to the Capulets Monument, to say his final goodbye to Juliet, before he kills himself with a potion from an apothecary in Mantua. When Romeo arrives at the Monument, he is approached by Paris, who believes that Romeo has come to destroy the bodies. Although Romeo mentions many times that he does not wish to fight Paris, he eventually gives into Paris’s taunting, killing Paris and breaking the law once again. Romeo eventually commits suicide to be with Juliet and because he does not want to face the consequences that he would have to face if he is caught in
When Tybalt wants to kill Romeo, he is confronted by Mercutio in an attempt to protect his friend Romeo, since Mercutio feared for Romeo’s life. This results in the death of Mercutio after a sword fight between himself and Tybalt, but his death could have been prevented if the marriage was known about. If Romeo and Juliet had not kept their marriage secret, Tybalt would have know and likely would not have wanted to kill
If Romeo had not been banished, Romeo and Juliet would continue living a happy life together. Benvolio witnessed the entire fight, the authorities came, Lady Capulet wants Romeo dead which is completely blowing things out of proportion, and in the end, poor Romeo is banished even though he was defending himself and trying to get justice for his best friend’s heinous death. Lady Capulet states, “Benvolio is part of the Montague family. His loyalties to the Montagues make him tell lies. He’s not telling the truth. There were twenty Montagues fighting in this awful riot, and together those twenty could only kill one man. I demand justice. You, Prince, are the man who can give me justice. Romeo killed Tybalt. Romeo must die” (3.1.153). This proves that because of Tybalt’s actions, Romeo was punished, and unfairly banished from Verona. Only one can imagine what it must feel like to be banished from their love, from their family, from everyone. This fact led to their death. This was not the end of Tybalt’s wrong doings however. He had one more trick up his sleeve, even for being
...ing the mistake he had made. Mercutio’s death was the cause of Romeo killing Tybalt and it was Tybalt’s fault for killing Mercutio. Thererfore Tybalt provokes Romeo to reveal his anagorisis. Furthermore, the moment Romeo realizes his tragic act is when he kills Tybalt. After Romeo slays Tybalt he claims he is “fortunes fool” (III.I. 99). In regards to this Romeo claims he has awful luck and fate is against him because it was fate that lead Romeo to this misfortunate situation. Through this quote it is seen that Romeo feels remorseful which then verifies that he understands he did a regretful act. Therefore, this proves Romeo is a tragic hero because he had realized his fatal act (anagorisis). Due to the fact that Tybalt reminds the audience about Romeo’s mistakes and foolish actions, Tybalt inevitably acts as a foil character that accentuates Romeo’s anagorisis.
First of all, Romeo struggles with his emotions, and it leads to people deaths. In the story Romeo makes a lot to people to die. And one of them was Tybalt because he killed Romeo friend so Romeo got revenge. “This day’s black fate on mo days doth depend; This but begins the woe others must end. This means that everyone is still going to die no matter what because Romeo said they must end. “This shall determine that”. Romeo says that he should resolve this or settle the death that he did. This also means that Romeo shall determine what to do next but they tell him that he is banished but before he left he went with Juliet and they were in the
Romeo denies the fate of Mercutio who fought against Tybalt and lost, so he challenges Tybalt to fight in defense of his honor. His sense of honor would not allow himself to ignore the death of Mercutio. It mandated his absurd behavior to take Tybalt’s life which even further separated the Montague and Capulet family. Moreover, Romeo still decides to marry Juliet after he takes Tybalt’s life. His sense of honor leads him to find Father Lawrence who will marry both Juliet
Tybalt was a adversary of Romeo and had the drift to kill him. His spleen of the situation is Romeo trying to love his coz Juliet. He approached Romeo and Mercutio looking for a fight. Tybalt and Mercutio ended up fighting and Tybalt killed Mercutio, because Tybalt did this, he deserved the death penalty for his transgression. Romeo then took revenge and killed him (3.1.70). This is a legal issue because Tybalt was going to be treated to the death penalty anyway so Romeo killing him was just like giving him the death penalty. This death is a lot different than the others because his was a legal issue and he deserved to die, the other deaths in the play like Romeo, Juliet and Mercutio decided to die for a family member that they love.