Compare and contrast the dramatic effectiveness of Act 3 scene 1 and Juliets soliloquy in Act 3 scene 2 Essay Example For Students

Compare and contrast the dramatic effectiveness of Act 3 scene 1 and Juliets soliloquy in Act 3 scene 2 Essay Romeo and Juliet tells the tale of two star-crossd teenage lovers who secretly fall for each other and marry. Their families, the Montagues and Capulets, have been fierce enemies for decades and even as Romeo and Juliet say their wedding vows, new violence breaks out between the clans. In the end, their love is doomed. When Romeo mistakenly believes Juliet is dead, he poisons himself. And, when Juliet discovers that he is dead, she too commits suicide. Romeo and Juliet is by far the most romantic and well known play written back in the 1590s by William Shakespeare. This Elizabethan period was a time when revenge and honour were very important to the society of the rich. It was not uncommon for marriages to be arranged for girls as young as 13 and sword duelling played a large part in seeking honour for your family. The play covers the most dramatic of feelings from the love and passion to the hate and revenge of everyday life ending in the ultimate tragedy that breaks hearts all over the world. The famous couple originated from an old Italian story more than a century before Shakespeare tackled it making it the perfect story to immortalise in writing as it contained a powerful love story. It was, therefore, set in Verona, Italy, as Shakespeare felt it belonged there and hed used the setting before for the 1594 play, Gentlemen of Verona. The title assignment will be discovered using an in-depth study of both scenes 1 and 2 in act 3 where by comparing and contrasting them, while using references from the rest of the play, it should be evident of the differences and similarities between them. Act 3 scene 1 is the turning point of the play because this is when two main characters are killed off, Mercutio and Tybalt. It makes the play instantly focus on Romeo and Juliet more by lessening the amount of characters. This is also a pivotal scene for Romeo because he gets banished, after slaying Tybalt, and taken away from his wife. If this scene hadnt happened, Romeo might have known Juliet took only a sleeping potion so maybe the tragedy could have been avoided. However due his murder he does get taken away to Mantua and so Juliet has to suffer the consequences as well as himself. They both feel the strain of being apart and even Romeos family must suffer in his absence. Yet this fight that caused his banishment could easily have been prevented if Mercutio had first listened to the instinct of his friend, Benvolio. As Act 3 scene 1 starts, Benvolio is extremely nervous as he and Mercutio are out late and he can almost foresee a fight with the Capulets as proven when he says, The day is hot and the mad blood stirring. He is predicting that something bad will happen as in the very first scene in the play when there is a big public fight between both families in the street. He uses the saying fee-simple which means that if he quarrelled as much as Mercutio, he wouldnt last long which was a warning against Mercutio and also a prophecy into what his argumentative side would get him into if he didnt control it. Lets retire is a sign of Benvolios nerves. He wants to leave the street behind yet Mercutio uses humour to deflect the whines of Benvolio. He uses six reasons as to why people would fight for instance having no other reason but because thou hast hazel eyes. It was used to calm Benvolio down and its very ingenious the way Shakespeare managed to get this across. This scene contains extreme irony as we know that Benvolio isnt a fighter so what Mercutio is really doing is winding him up. Soon after Tybalt enters the scene and this causes a great change of atmosphere which becomes much tenser, adding to the dramatic effect of this play. Tybalt and Mercutio create a lot of banter here. They insult eachother and use the same verbal abuse that was used by Tybalt in Act 1 scene 5 when he discovered Romeo in the Capulet ball. Thou art a villain and boy are two of the strongest insults used. Then a sword fight occurs between Mercutio and Tybalt and when Romeo notices this he struggles to part them both, because this scene follows the marriage between Romeo and Juliet, Tybalt is his cousin. The sword fight is powerful because of the way you can almost choreograph a stage fight and the fact that it is very exciting to watch and discover the outcome. It also means that it can give time for Mercutio to utter his last words before death which is also dramatic due to his humour during his final moments. He lightens the mood with his jokes and relaxes the audience before almost in stantly destroying the happiness with his curse on both houses. I am hurt. A plague o both your houses! The plague was repeated three times and was even said between a joke at first so no-one believed him. He makes it worse by placing all blame on the unsuspecting Romeo which makes him feel extremely guilty and also causes Romeo to change from a loving, peace-keeping character to an angry, revenge needing character. Why the devil came you between us? I was hurt under your arm the sentence that caused Romeos downfall. GCSE Coursework - Romeo and Juliet coursework EssaySoon after this she has a sudden change of mood. After being incredibly impatient and passionate she then says, Come civil Night, thou sober-suited matron all in black and learn me how to lose a wining match which is a metaphor for someone to reassure her. This brings across, to me, a slight sense of panic, also shown by her repeated use of the word come, yet she quickly conceals it. Because she says this it brings across a feeling of anxiousness and worry. She doesnt have a mother figure to turn to as even the Nurse isnt with her during the soliloquy. This is an important night as its the night that will take her from childhood to adulthood which is extremely difficult to do alone so I feel for her and am surprised by how mature she is acting for a 13 year old girl. Hood my unmanned blood, bating in my cheeks this is a description of a blush. She becomes embarrassed and a little shy about the whole idea as the next line is a reass urance to herself, till strange love grow bold as though she is acting as a mother-figure to herself. As that is showing her inexperience, she hopes she will improve in time. She states earlier they are a pair of stainless maidenhoods which means neither have done this before which could explain Juliets many different emotions during this monologue. After this Juliet finds herself thinking about Romeo and really makes him seem like a God. This is the hyperbole Shakespeare uses for this scene. She compares him to be the white snow on a ravens back which is a sign of innocence making it dramatic irony as it hasnt been long since Romeo murdered Tybalt but obviously this isnt known to Juliet. She really exaggerates his qualities and this is evident when she says when I shall die take him and cut him out in little stars and he will make the face of heaven so fine. This quote is however is also quite sad and ironic as she does die soon after and so does Romeo. She is unbelievably overwhelmed by love in this paragraph and seems to put Romeo on a pedestal high above anyone else in the world. Its not long before she is changing her feeling again but this time to apprehension and repeated emotions of impatience, expressed with words like tedious. She uses a strong metaphor of having bought the mansion of love, but not possessed it which is her explaining how she has married her love but hasnt yet enjoyed the consummation. I find this appearance of the physical aspect of marriage immature as they have more important relationship issues to deal with as they barely know eachother yet this is a 21st century look on the idea and this concept was seen as standard in the 16th century. However this is all forgotten when she reminds us that she is only young by talking of an impatient child that hath new robes and may not wear them. Referring to a child makes us realize that Juliet herself is only 13 and dealing alone with adulthood. The audience to this scene would feel great pity for Juliet and they would feel totally sympathetic towards them, unlike Romeo for which they would be unimpressed by his actions. I cant help but find this scene extremely powerful and I couldnt even begin to imagine myself in her position. As I hope to have proven, these two scenes could not include more differences. Act 3 scene 1 is a fast paced scene of action whereas the following scene is slower and creates intimacy rather than hate and anger, however, they both contain the same amount of effectiveness. The similarity they share is the irony used. Humour and changes of atmosphere and mood are used well in both scenes. Shakespeare was clever in using all the dramatic devices that he did in one play without exaggerating it too much. From murders to marriages and from love to hate, this play is full of all the effectiveness needed.