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Romeo and Juliet

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Romeo and Juliet Essay Romeo and Juliet is one of Shakespeare's most famous tragedies. Other Shakespearean tragedies include Hamlet and Macbeth. If something bad occurs at the start of the play it's always resolved at the end. Pain, suffering and anguish are sustained during this time and people die or get injured along the way. The prologue is an overview of the whole play squashed into a few lines but the actors fill in all the rest of the play as it unfolds. It describes the main parts of the play and prepares the audience for what they're about to see. Act 3 Scene 1 is relevant and is of high significance to what goes on in the rest of the play. Events that occur in this particular scene ultimately lead to the rest of the play falling apart and heading for a tragic ending. It also includes some events mentioned in the prologue and is crucial to the play as a whole. Act 3 Scene 1 is extremely tense. Emotions start running high as Tybalt finds Romeo asks for a word with him; Also when he does talk to him he starts verbally assaulting him, 'thou art a villain'. ...read more.


During this Mercutio bellows 'A plague on both your houses'. This is implying that both Tybalt and Romeo's fighting is the cause of his own death and that if they didn't start arguing in the first place then nothing would have come of it so putting a curse above both Tybalt and Romeo. 'I thought all for the best' The use of 'thought' means Romeo doesn't actually know how injured Mercutio was. He's not sure or definite so knowledge lacks him. 'The best' never will happen in the play as something will always go wrong as Mercutio's death has just illustrated. Romeo should think before he acts, also when he says something he should take care with his choice of words. Conflict arises in Act 3 Scene 1. Tybalt says 'Mercutio, thou consort with Romeo'. This gets under Mercutio's skin as Tybalt is seemingly winding him up and annoying him. Mercutio doesn't want anything bad to happen to Romeo as he's his best friend so he sticks up for him which inadvertently leads to his death. Later on in the scene friction and tension arises as both Lady Capulet and Lord Montague both voicing their opinions about the deaths of Tybalt and Mercutio. ...read more.


There are 3 main components to make a play a tragedy. All of these can be seen in Romeo and Juliet. There's always a hero, in this case it's Romeo, but he's not perfect. He's not perfect as the brutal and vicious murder of Tybalt has shown. There's also a tragic flaw or a weakness and Romeo's weakness is that he doesn't think before he acts. He makes rash decisions and it ends up that the consequences are fatal. There is also a catastrophe which in this play is that both Romeo and Juliet end up dead. This is because of the actions taken place in Act 3 Scene 1. Act 3 Scene 1 is very important to the play as it's where most of the action starts. As these actions take place it eventually leads to Romeo and Juliet killing their selves. From the start of Act 3 Scene 1 anticipation builds rapidly until it reached its peak and everything gets let out. The audience already know the main story line from the prologue which helps them be able to judge the characters and the events. The feud between the Capulet's and Montague's finally ended after the lovers deaths. This is because the parents thought it was their fault their children are now dead all because of the long running feud. ...read more.

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