Act 3 Scene 1 of William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet

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Act 3 Scene 1 of William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet

Shakespeare's play 'Romeo and Juliet' is a good example of a revenge

tragedy. Where the two main characters are star crossed lovers. They

are unable to tell anyone as their families have a feud with one

another. The scene I will be discussing is important to the play as a

whole as it includes conflict, love and tragedy.

Act 1 scene 1, is very similar to act 3 scene 1 in many ways.

Shakespeare has done this to create tension between the two scenes, as

the audience will expect a fight from this scene reflecting the first

one. The prince has to intervene in both but in the first he gives a

warning 'your lives shall pay the forfeit of the peace'. The audience

is now aware of this statement. Also to add to this the scenes are

both set in public places, with both Benvolio and Tybalt included.

Benvolio is still very aware of the consequences and tries to be the

peace maker, where as Tybalt still wants to fight again.

The scene is placed in public places both times which shows us how

they are affecting the public and that they are unafraid of fighting

whilst well aware of the princes' speech. This adds tension to the

rest of the play as the audience have acknowledged and remembered the

princes' words, as well as the scenes before.

Within the scene tension is built as most things are repeated from the

first scene, in which there is fight, light hearted banter is used to

start the scene. And when Benvolio states 'It's a hot day, mad blood

is stirring' this is quite alarming as the audience now know something

is going to happen. Being exposed in a public place adds to the

tension as the audience remember princes' warning words, 'your lives

shall pay the forfeit'. The dramatic irony in the scene is most tense

as only the audience are aware of Romeo and Juliet's marriage which

makes the audience anxious and no one knows how both the audience and

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