The Importance of the Fight Scene in Romeo and Juliet

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The Importance of the Fight Scene in Romeo and Juliet

The purpose of this scene is to make a statement that the Montague's

and Capulet's are rival families, it also shows how serious Romeo is

about Juliet as they are secretly married, and he does not want to

fight Tybalt (Juliet's cousin). Shakespeare wants us (as the audience)

to feel tension and suspense. We feel this because there is so much

action between Romeo and Tybalt; this is what we expected to happen.

What had just happened before the fight is that Mercutio sees Tybalt

and tried to make fun of him, Tybalt had previously challenged Romeo

to a duel and was determined to fight. Romeo refuses and the feud

starts to begin. Shakespeare allows us to anticipate that there will

be a fight because he uses dramatic irony, where the audience know

Tybalt has challenged Romeo to a fight but Romeo does not. This

creates tension and draws in the audience's interests and suspense.

Shakespeare sets the fight right in the middle of a public place. This

has a big effect in the scene because a huge riot is caused. The day

is hot but their tempers are hotter. Benvolio says 'These hot days, is

the mad blood stirring' this quote suggests that a fight is going to

brew up. Like a boiling pot of water getting hotter and hotter, the

characters are getting more and angrier. The audience is very

intrigued at this moment in the scene, but they also expect it to

happen. We, as the audience can see the characters' tempers flaring up

becoming more agitated, on line 143 Benvolio quotes the word 'brawl'

this is what leads my mind to believe that his temper is getting

worse.

Mercutio's name often reminds people of the word 'Mercury', which is a

very hot planet. This reflects on Mercutio's personality during the

duel. Before the duel Mercutio is very jokey, he never really knows

when to stop and often ends up going too far, this happens when the

nurse goes to visit Romeo to find out about the marriage of Romeo and

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