Romeo And Juliet Act 2 Scene 4

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‘Romeo and Juliet’ is a play of contrasts. It is split into two parts; the first half which includes 2.4, this half is positive full of love and word play, and the second half where the tragedies happen, 3.1 is a pivotal scene in this half.

In Act 2 Scene 4 Romeo and Mercutio use puns and jokes to laugh at eachother at the beginning whereas in Act 3 Scene 1 Benvolio makes an ominous comment about anticipating a fight.

At this point Shakespeare uses pathetic fallacy “These hot days, is the mad blood stirring” He says the heat is making people angry. He’s scared if they stay there will be a fight.

The locations in which these scenes take place are significant, Act 3 Scene 1 more so. They both take place in a public place, this is important because in 1.

1 Prince declares “If ever you disturb our streets again/ your lives shall pay the forfeit of the peace” This proves to be true.

The key themes of the two scenes lead on well from their beginnings. The humour of 2.4 lasts for the whole scene, except when Romeo organises the wedding, contributing to the positive feel of the first two acts. In contrast to this 3.1 has unexpected twists like the death of Mercutio. Violence is a key theme also shown in the death of Tybalt.

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The avenging of Mercutio’s death is a matter of respect, another key theme. If Mercutio didn’t have so much respect for Romeo he wouldn’t have fought Tybalt and led to the tragedy.

Where Do Romeo And Juliet Declare Their Love

Tybalt’s anger towards Mercutio was partly due to him being aggravated by his puns and twisting of his words. This shows that Mercutio can’t resist joking even though it contributes to his death. Shakespeare designed the character this way, even his name comes from the word mercurial meaning lively and quick-witted. When Mercutio is dying he continues to joke about being a “grave man” whereas in 2.4 Romeo stops joking when the top of Juliet is breached by her Nurse. The effect is that Romeo takes his marriage more seriously than Mercutio takes his own life.

Romeo changes his attitude over both scenes. In 2.4 the change is small, he starts joking with Mercutio “Why then is my pump well flowered?” and then matures while speaking to the Nurse “shrived and married”. In 3.1 the change in him is very dramatic, he arrives after his wedding and is feeling like celebrating but instead Tybalt tries to force him into a fight which he refuses. He claims to “Love thee (Tybalt) better than though canst devise.” However he has no way of explaining that they are now cousins so Mercutio sees his actions as cowardice. Romeo’s kindness changes to hate when Mercutio is stabbed: “Fire-eyed fury be my conduct now.” He also blames Juliet for making weak, “O sweet Juliet/ Thy beauty hath made me effeminate”

Avenging Mercutio is typical of Romeo’s behaviour. He cares about honour and outward appearance. His poetic language towards Juliet “my heart dear love” shows that he believes in love and romance. Shakespeare emphasises this by making name and romance so similar, as if they almost synominous with eachother. In 2.2 Juliet famously says, “wherefore art thou Romeo”, she wishes he has a name that isn’t Montegue but instead of saying Montegue she says Romeo. If he wasn’t a romantic then they wouldn’t fall in love and wouldn’t die. However she then says “A rose by any other name would smell as sweet” names are a strong theme in the play, many of the characters names reflect their personalities, this is the only time Shakespeare suggests names aren’t important.

The violence and the curse in 3.1 would be shocking to an Elizabethan audience, who would strongly believe in black magic, unlike 2.4 which is the meeting of the two comic characters; Mercutio and the Nurse.

Shakespeare would have included these scenes because of their importance to the story-line and character development, especially 3.1.

Friar Laurence is in the scenes before both 2.4 and 3.1. In 2.3 Romeo goes to him to say he has been “Feasting with mine enemy”, he’s been with Juliet even though she is the enemy of his family. He asks to be married, Friar Laurence agrees though he worried it’s too soon after his infatuation with Rosaline, however, he believes their union might bring their families together so says yes. Despite this decision he is still wary, he shows his concern again the scene before 3.1 when he tells Romeo to “Love moderately”, because “Too swift arrives as tardy as too slow.” He means their sudden passionate love could burn out just as quickly and they will have to stay together without love.

After both scenes Juliet confides in the Nurse. After she returns from speaking with Romeo the Nurse mocks Juliet by saying: “I am a-weary, give me leave a while” and “Do you not see I am out of breath.” She appears a little sad that Juliet is getting married, she doesn’t want to lose her, but hides it under her jokes. In comparison her attitude in 3.2 is anger because Juliet is now married to a murder, he should have thought of her. She’s melodramatic about Tybalt’s death, “O Tybalt, Tybalt, the best friend I had!” They weren’t close but she wants some attention on her.

There is a strong contrast between Juliet and her Nurse. Nurse jokes about sex, “though wilt fall backward when thou hast more wit”, her humour is vulgar and simpler than Mercutio’s intricate puns. She repeats herself, this makes her come across as unintelligent. Juliet, however, is smart and stays in control of her relationship with Romeo. She declares her love first and is the first to suggest “Thy purpose marriage.” She’s not a traditional woman of the time who would have been subservient to his wishes. She might have been so forward to earn herself a stronger position in their relationship but it’s more likely that she recognising how important it was to marry quickly so their families couldn’t separate them and make her marry Paris.

The structure and writing techniques Shakespeare uses in Romeo and Juliet are very complicated. He writes in iniambic pentameter. He uses both verse and prose depending on the importance of the passage. Romeo and Juliet share lines of sonnets when they declare their love for eachother and Mercutio does his Queen Madge speech in verse. However in less important scenes they speak in Prose

In conclusion, the two scenes show that ‘Romeo and Juliet’ really is a play of contrasts, however, they also show the links between the differences. Comments said in 2.4 predict actions and events in 3.1 despite the very different atmospheres, which proves the effectiveness of Shakespeare’s play of contrasts.