Romeo and Juliet Act III, Scene I Review

Romeo and Juliet Act III, scene i: *Benvolio and Mercutio are hanging out in Verona’s square, joking with each other about how much they like to fight. *Tybalt approaches them and tries to find out where Romeo is—[T]: “Mercutio, thou consortest (hangs out with) Romeo…” *Mercutio takes offense at this, and it starts to get tense. Benvolio tries to get Tybalt & Mercutio to talk to each other calmly. *At this point, Romeo enters the square, having just left his wedding to Juliet. *Tybalt greets him and insults him: “The love I bear thee can afford no better term than this: thou art a villain.” *Romeo does not get offended, saying he has a reason to love Tybalt: “The reason that I have to love thee doth much excuse the appertaining rage to such a greeting…I do protest I never injured thee, but love thee better than thou canst devise, till thou shalt know the reason of my love”—Romeo’s reason for ‘loving’ Tybalt is that they’re family now, as Romeo has just married Tybalt’s cousin, Juliet. *Since Romeo will not fight Tybalt, Mercutio steps in to fight Tybalt on Romeo’s behalf: “Tybalt, you rat catcher, will you walk?” *Mercutio and Tybalt begin to fight in the street. Romeo tries to stop them, mentioning the Prince’s new law about fighting. *Romeo steps in between the two to stop them. As he does this, Tybalt slides his sword underneath Romeo’s arm, stabbing Mercutio. *Tybalt and the rest of his friends run away. *Mercutio is slowly dying, but he still makes jokes: “Ask for me tomorrow, and you shall find me a grave man.” *In a flash of rare temper, Mercutio lets the onlookers know what he really thinks of the feud: “A plague a’ both your houses! They have made worms’ meat of me!” *Mercutio and Benvolio go inside, while Romeo has another soliloquy about his guilt over not fighting Tybalt. He feels this is all his fault, and that his new love of Juliet softened his feelings, which proved to be Mercutio’s downfall. *Mercutio dies—[B]: “Oh Romeo, Romeo, brave Mercutio is dead!” *Angered and grieving, Romeo chases after Tybalt and fights him. *Tybalt is killed, and Romeo, in horror of what he’s done, runs away: “O I am Fortune’s fool!” *The Capulets and Montagues start calling for justice. Lady Capulet, in particular, demands justice for Tybalt’s death, screaming for the Prince to kill Romeo, so they are equal: “I beg for justice, which thou Prince must give! Romeo slew Tybalt, Romeo must not live!” *However, because Tybalt killed the Prince’s relative (Mercutio), the Prince reduces Romeo’s punishment to banishment instead of execution: “Let Romeo hence in haste, else, when he is found, that hour is his last!” *The Prince announces his intention to punish the families: “I’ll amerce you with so strong a fine that you shall all regret the loss of mine.” *Romeo and Juliet have not yet made their marriage completely official by celebrating their wedding night. Romeo and Juliet Act III, scene ii: *Juliet starts this scene with a soliloquy about how excited she is for night to come, since Romeo will arrive with it. *Juliet’s nurse comes in crying, mourning Tybalt. She calls Romeo and villain and a two-faced snake. *Juliet mourns the loss of her cousin, but is glad Romeo was not killed. She chides her Nurse for speaking badly about Romeo. *Juliet is distraught that Romeo is banished, though, that living separate is worse than him having been killed. *She asks the nurse to bring Romeo to her, so she can see him before he is banished from Verona. Romeo and Juliet Act III, scene iii: *Romeo has been hiding with Friar Laurence. *The Friar brings news of Romeo’s banishment, and Romeo refuses to be relieved—“There is no world outside Verona’s walls!” *Juliet’s Nurse arrives and says Juliet wants to see Romeo, but Romeo cannot bring himself to face Juliet. *The Nurse mentions how Juliet calls out Romeo’s name, wanting him to be there, and Romeo grabs a knife and tries to kill himself: “In what foul part of this anatomy doth my name lodge? Tell me, that I may sack the hateful mansion,” i.e., let me cut out my name, or kill myself. *Friar Laurence stops him from doing this by saying Romeo’s love for Juliet must have been a perjury, since he is all too willing to kill himself rather than stay alive for her. He then begins angrily listing all of Romeo’s blessings: banishment instead of execution, Juliet is alive, he survived the fight with Tybalt – “There, art thou happy?” *The Friar and the nurse arrange for Romeo and Juliet to spend the night together, before Romeo sneaks away to Mantua [a nearby town]. Their plan is to wait a few weeks for the Prince to calm down, before revealing that Romeo and Juliet are fully married, so that Romeo can be pardoned and welcome back to Verona. Romeo and Juliet Act III, scene iv: *As Romeo and Juliet are upstairs, Juliet’s parents arrange her marriage to Paris, the Prince’s relative, to take place on Thursday (it’s Monday). *The Capulets are lying to Paris. They tell him that Juliet is extremely depressed over Tybalt’s death (that just happened that afternoon) and so needs to be cheered up, and he can do that by marrying her. *Capulet breaks both of his rules that he said in Act I, scene ii: the wedding can happen in two days rather than two years, and Capulet consents for Juliet: “Sir Paris, I will make a desperate tender of my child’s love; I think she will be ruled in all respects by me.” *Capulet wants to hurry the marriage so that the Capulets are connected to the Prince’s family so the Prince cannot punish them as harshly for Tybalt’s role in Mercutio’s death. Romeo and Juliet Act III, scene v: *Juliet and Romeo have a small discussion about whether it is morning or not, wanting to spend as much time together as they can. They have a play fight about what kind of bird they have heard: a nightingale (sings at night) or a lark (sings in the morning). If it’s morning, Romeo has to leave. *Romeo sneaks out of the window, and Juliet calls out her worry about whether or not she will ever see him again: “O thinkest thou we shall ever meet again?”—this is the last time they see each other alive. *Juliet has a moment where, seeing Romeo in shadow, she says he looks like he’s lying in a tomb as a corpse. Romeo assures her that they’re pale because they’re sad, nothing more. Everything will be okay. *Everything is not okay. After Romeo sneaks out, Juliet’s mother comes in to tell her about her upcoming marriage to Paris. *Juliet refuses, saying she would rather marry Romeo. She has not met Paris yet. *Capulet hears about his daughter’s refusal, and explodes with anger. He threatens to disown her—cast her out into the street— if she does not marry Paris: [C] “Get thee to church a’Thursday, or never after look me in the face!” This would have been death for Juliet; the streets were extremely unsafe for young women. *Juliet’s mother says she wishes Juliet were dead rather than disobedient—“I would the fool were married to her grave!” *Juliet, desperate, turns to her nurse and asks her what she should do. *The nurse tells her to marry Paris—even though the Nurse knows Juliet is already fully married. *Juliet stops trusting, confiding in, and liking her nurse. *Juliet announces her intention to go to Friar Laurence’s cell to give confession for being disobedient, but really she is going to get advice on what to do to get out of this situation. Act III Mentions of Stars/Fate: “O I am Fortune’s fool!”—Act III, scene i: Romeo thinks fate is against him for killing Tybalt. “Come, night; come, Romeo; come, thou day in night; For thou wilt lie upon the wings of night Whiter than new snow on a raven’s back. Come, gentle night, come, loving, black-brow’d night, Give me my Romeo; and, when he shall die, Take him and cut him out in little stars”—Act III, scene ii: Juliet is excited for Romeo to come, asking that, when he dies, he should be turned into a constellation. “O fortune, fortune! all men call thee fickle: If thou art fickle, what dost thou with him. That is renown’d for faith? Be fickle, fortune; For then, I hope, thou wilt not keep him long, But send him back.”—Act III, scene v: Juliet asks fate to bring Romeo back. Fate will bring Romeo back to her, but he will be brought back to die.