Act 3 Scene 1 begins just after Romeo has married Juliet so at the end of the previous scene there is no tension and the mood is very happy.

The scene starts with Mercutio and Benvolio talking in the town square. Benvolio feels uneasy and asks Mercutio if they can go home because he fears that if they stay they will end up fighting the Capulets. Here there is a sense of unease because of this speech from Benvolio, especially as we get the impression that he is peaceful. This speech from Benvolio foreshadows the coming events in this scene.

Mercutio then "winds up" Benvolio by saying that enjoys a fight and lists examples of when he has started a fight for no reason. Here there is hardly any tension. Especially as Benvolio doesn’t rise to Mercutio’s provocation (especially as it is Mercutio who always starts fights for no reason) and instead replies that if there were two men like Mercutio then one would surely die. The mood is light hearted in this section of the scene.

The tension suddenly increases when Tybalt appears and asks Mercutio if he consorts with Romeo. ‘Consorts’ implies that he is a musician, which Mercutio takes as an insult. Mercutio replies ‘here’s my fiddlestick’ and draws out his sword. This is a classic example of when Mercutio tries to start a fight for no reason. The tension here is quickly rising, as we know that Tybalt is a troublemaker and that he will never decline a fight so we think there is going to be a brawl. Benvolio starts to panic and says that they should speak in private, because he is worried what the prince will do if he finds out. This shows that tension is building up between the men.

Tybalt sees Romeo and says ‘here comes my man’ and so tension rises yet again, as we fear for Romeo’s life. Romeo declines a fight with Tybalt because he has just got married and nothing bothers him and his extremely happy; he declines by saying ‘villain am I none, therefore farewell’ and so the tension eases and we think everything is going to be okay. But then Tybalt replies that this does not excuse him coming to the party the other night. So again the tension rises because we know Tybalt will not go away without having a fight. Romeo replies without hatred, but instead with love says ‘be satisfied.’ The tension drops again here and with the tension continuously fluctuating, the audience is not sure what is going to happen. However the prevailing mood is one of fear for Romeo.

At this point Mercutio interrupts and says to Romeo that he is cowardly. He offers Tybalt a fight. Here the tension drops for a second because we think that Romeo will be okay, however at the same time it also rises at the though of another fight that the Prince has forbidden. Tybalt accepts the fight and they start fighting. Romeo tries to intervene by saying that the Prince has forbidden any fighting. Here the tension is high again.

During the fight Mercutio is wounded. Benvolio ask him if he is okay and Mercutio replies ‘ay, ay, a scratch, a scratch’ and at first you think he is okay, but then you realise that he is hurt badly when he says ‘you shall find me a grave man.’ While Mercutio is joking the atmosphere is relaxed, however when you realise he is going to die the tension increases. Mercutio blames Romeo for intervening and at this point our idea of Romeo’s innocence is questioned.

Romeo feeling guilty says ‘the hurt can not be much.’ Tension here is caused by our sympathy lying with Romeo and our concern for Mercutio. Mercutio dies leaving Romeo angry and upset. Romeo blames Juliet for him being so soft. Romeo tells Tybalt that either one or both of them must go to heaven with Mercutio’s soul and tension rises sharply as we sense a fight coming on. Romeo kills Tylbalt and tension is relaxed for a second, until we realise that Romeo will be okay, but then we realise our innocent Romeo is now a murdered and Juliet has married the murderer of her cousin; we also realise that Romeo might be sentenced to death and so we have chaos. Benvolio then tells Romeo to flee or else the Prince will be sure to sentence him to death. Here tension rises again at the though of Romeo being sentenced to death.

When the Prince arrives and Benvolio explains why Romeo killed Tybalt, tension is high because we want to see what the Prince’s verdict will be. Lady Caplulet demands a life of a Montague and she calls Benvolio a liar because he is a Montague and again demands Romeo’s life. Lord Montague argues that Romeo did what the law would have done. Throughout this whole section tension is extremely high because want to know the Prince’s verdict however we don’t want it to be that Romeo should die.

The Prince ends this scene with a speech that says that Romeo should be banished for killing Tybalt because he has been merciful too often. This leaves us in suspense wondering what will happen next and a sense of tragedy when we realize Romeo’s awful situation.

There are many significant issues raised in this scene. One is - was Romeo right in marrying Juliet in such haste? Although this happened in the previous scene, this is significant because it affects all the events in this scene; had Romeo not married Juliet then maybe he would have fought Tybalt and all the other events would have been different, or not even have happened. I think Romeo wasn’t right in marrying Juliet in such haste because he didn’t really know her and he knew that his parents and her parents wouldn’t be happy about it. On the other hand it was supposed to true love and nothing ever gets in the way of true love.

Another major issue is - would the fight still have happened if Mercutio had listened to Benvolio? I think the fight would still have happened if Mercutio had listened to Benvolio because Mercutio had to die because he was too strong a character. He was too strong a character because everyone likes him and this and this means that the attention might be taken away from Romeo (the key character.) However if this had not happened then the story would have been more drawn out and the audience would get bored.

Should Mercutio have offered to fight Tybalt? Mercutio had to offer Tybalt to fight because the Montague name was at risk and he also offered because of his bad tempered nature. If he had not offered to fight Tybalt, then maybe Tybalt would have just killed Romeo and Mercutio would have taken over the story (become the main character) and I don’t think this is what Shakespeare would have wanted. From this question the questions - was its Tybalt’s fault for not accepting Romeo’s refusal? or was it fate again? Arise. I believe it was everyone’s fault, but that Shakespeare wanted to make the impression that it was Tybalt’s fault because he was a nasty character anyway and would not be satified when Romeo declined.

Was Romeo to blame for Mercutio’s death? Some would say Romeo was to blame for Mercutio’s death, because he intervened. On the other hand Mercutio didn’t have to fight Tybalt (and when you go into a fight you know there’s a chance of getting killed.)

Was Romeo correct in fighting and killing Tybalt? Romeo went and fought Tybalt because he had killed his best friend Mercutio. He didn’t think before he ran and killed Tybalt and then he had to pay the price of the consequences. Romeo should have thought before he acted, then maybe he wouldn’t have been banished. But then the story would have ended differently.

Why did Shakespeare write the scene did? I think that Shakespeare wrote this scene for a number of reasons. The first reason I think was that Mercutio was too strong a character, everyone liked him and had he stayed the audience’s attention would have been drawn to him instead of Romeo and Juliet’s romance. The second reason I think he wrote the scene in this way was to create tension in the audience and hold them in suspense. Another reason I think Shakespeare wrote this scene was so that Juliet would have married a murderer and this would put in an awful situation, with her father still wanting her to marry Paris. I think Shakespeare probably wanted a reason to kill off Tybalt because he was not a nice character. And finally I believe that Shakespeare wanted to make Benvolio look like a nice character (although this is not one of the main reasons.)

Whose fault was the fight? The fight could have been any number of people’s fault. Firstly it could have been Romeo’s because he declined the fight in the first place, aggravating the whole situation. It could also have been Tybalt’s fault for not accepting Romeos refusal. The Prince could also have been to blame for the fight because you get the impression that he had been ever so lenient of brawls when he says at the end of the scene "Mercy, but not murders." Maybe he should have not been so lenient and taken more action sooner, then maybe the fight wouldn’t have happened and Romeo wouldn’t have to have been banished. Were the Montague and Capulet parents to blame for the fight? They certainly did not discourage this sort of behaviour (as we know from the first scene of the play when Capulet asks his sword to join in the fight,) as we know when Lady Capulet demands Romeo’s head. It could possibly have been Mercutio’s fault for intervening and offering to fight Tybalt, however had he not intervened maybe Tybalt would have just killed Romeo. The fight was definitely not Benvolio’s fault because he tried to stop the fight and then completely stays out of it. In this scene Benvolio comes out as a very honest character because he tells the truth to the Prince and also tries to stop the fight in the first place. I would also describe Benvolio as sensible, mature and reasonable. Finally is fate to blame for the fight?

Is fate to blame? Romeo says when he realises what he has done and how he might be punished, "I am fortunes fool." If fate was directing all of Romeo’s life then this would explain the things he did, for example marrying Juliet. I got the impression before Romeo married Juliet that he was sensible, yet he still married Juliet which I thought was foolish and out of character for Romeo, fate would explain this out of characterness.

Should the Prince have banished Romeo? I believe that the Prince should not have banished Romeo, because as Lord Montague said he only did what the law would have done anyway. But the Prince basically said he’d had enough and he would not allow murderers in Verona and think he needed to set an example that he would not have murders in Verona.