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How does Shakespeare present conflict in act 3 scene 1? In William Shakespeare’s play ‘Romeo and Juliet’ there is alot of conflict particularly in act 3 scene 1. The audience find conflict interesting to watch because it creates drama and tension. Shakespeare uses many dramatic devices to present this; some of these techniques include foreshadowing, puns and irony to add to this effect. Another reason why Shakespeare uses conflict in the play is so that the audience are able to get attached to it and watch the conflict grow.
The fact that the scene is set in a public place encourages the characters to show off, the characters do this because they want to show their strength and show people that they are not afraid. The conflict in the play was created by a family ‘feud’, the families included Montague and Capulet. Ever since the feud the families have been fighting ever since, however the conflict later on heightens because ‘star-crossed lovers’ Romeo Capulet and Juliet Montague marry, but this later on turns into a tragedy. A strong example of how conflict is presented throughout the scene would be foreshadowing.
Shakespeare uses foreshadowing to let the audience know what is going to happen in upcoming scenes. This is shown when Benvolio says “we talk here in the public haunt of men”. The word ‘haunt’ foreshadows death. However the term ‘haunt’ instantly makes the audience think of ghosts and haunting. The quotation itself foreshadows the death of a character later on in the scene. Another example of foreshadowing would be when Romeo says “This but begins the woe others must end”. The use of the word ‘woe’ shows Romeo’s misfortune and misery.
When he says ‘others must end’, it foreshadows more death later on the scene. The use of foreshadowing death many times in the scene will leave the audience astonished but will hint at scenes to come. Juxtaposition is another technique which helps to create conflict. This technique shows how two different characters use of language is different. For example “but love thee better than thou canst devise”, Romeo said this in response to Tybalt once he asked for a fight. The word ‘love’ shows that Romeo is a kind hearted, peaceful person. However by using the quotation above this unintentionally annoys Tybalt.
On the other hand Tybalt uses language which is completely different to how Romeo uses it, “Romeo the hate that I bare thee can afford no better term than this, — thou art a villain”. When Tybalt uses the word ‘hate’ this provokes Mercutio as he does not like the way Tybalt is talking about Romeo. Tybalt uses aggressive hateful language and has no respect in the way he talks towards the other characters. Moreover this shows that it does not matter how nice or horrible characters language is, it still can cause conflict between the characters and they do become aggressive.
Shakespeare uses dramatic devices to add to the conflict. Dramatic effects are used to heighten emotions and actions of the characters. By using a range of dramatic devices Shakespeare is able to change the mood and the atmosphere of the scene. Entrances and exits play a big part in this as it builds tension. The conflict heightens and he tension increases at the beginning of the scene when Tybalt and his friends enter. This shows that when different characters enter and exit it has a huge impact on the tension and atmosphere of the scene.
The exit around Mercutio’s death has a big dramatic impact on the scene. Tybalt’s exit after Mercutio’s death is the big exit just before Mercutio dies. In the stage directions on the script it says ‘Tybalt under Romeo’s arm stabs Mercutio, and flies with his followers’, this shows that Tybalt wants to make a quick exit from the scene or he does not care about Mercutio dying and wants to get away. Patterns of language of conflict are shown in curses. Mercutio curses Tybalt and Romeo when he says “a plague o’ both your houses”. The word ‘plague’ suggests that the violence is epidemic and it will spread.
The term ‘houses’, shows Mercutio curses both the Capulet’s and Montague’s. Moreover the quotation foreshadows that Tybalt and Romeo are about to cause Mercutio’s death. However Mercutio foreshadows Romeo’s and Tybalt’s death later on in the scene by cursing them both. Alliteration is also used as a pattern of conflict; the quotation “fire-eyed fury” shows this. The alliteration of the ‘f’ shows Romeo’s anger building. The word ‘fury’ shows that Romeo wants to be bad; he wants to be evil because he wants to kill Tybalt. The quotation itself shows Romeo’s anger.
The word ‘fire’ represents danger and shows how Romeo’s mood has changed. Mercutio is used to present conflict by using humour and sarcasm. For example Mercutio quotes “Tybalt you rat-catcher, will you walk? ” Mercutio intentionally belittles Tybalt as Tybalt the cat was a character from a children’s story. Mercutio later on carries on being informal and jokey to provoke Tybalt. Shakespeare used Mercutio to be able to present conflict through his humour and sarcasm as this does provoke and annoy other characters, so violence is possible.
Romeo is used to present conflict in two ways. Firstly at the beginning of the scene Romeo is a calm, peaceful and happy person. This creates conflict as with Romeo’s use of loving language it annoys one of the characters, “I have to love thee doth much excuse the appertaining rage to such a greeting: villain am I none”, Romeo says this in response to fuming Tybalt. By saying ‘I have to love thee’ shows that Romeo try’s to reason with Tybalt, and that he has to love him because they are now related. Tybalt takes this into offence and starts a fight with Romeo.
So this shows although Romeo is a kind person and willing to reason with Tybalt, it can still be annoying for someone like Tybalt to be spoken to in a kind manner. Secondly after Mercutio dies because of Tybalt but under Romeo’s arm, Romeo’s mood changes and he turns angry and ruthless. As a result he thinks either him or Tybalt must die. Romeo’s outrage is shown when he quotes “Away to heaven, respective lenity, and fire-eyed fury be my conduct now! ” The vengeance marks the turning point in Romeo’s mood. When he says ‘away to heaven respective lenity’, Romeo is saying that all the fairness and kindness doesn’t matter anymore.
It also shows that he does not want to be linked to heaven he wants to be evil. Moreover the conflict is created because Romeo’s mood has changed and he wants to kill someone and he succeeds. So the conflict is heightened and the tension is increased. Tybalt creates conflict by insulting and undermining people. He specifically does this to Romeo as he always refers to him as “boy”, by using the term boy he belittles and insults Romeo. This may not bother him but it does provoke Romeo’s friend Mercutio as he like Tybalt can not stand peace and will stand for Romeo even if Romeo will not.
Tybalt is an aggressive and hateful character who does not like peace and kindness. This helps to create conflict as Tybalt’s character will not stands for kindness or peace. To summarise, the scene is very effective as it uses a wide range of techniques to create conflict. A couple of techniques which are used throughout the scene include dramatic irony and structure. Shakespeare has presented conflict in this scene extremely well as some of the events that take place compare to life today.
For example the feud between the two families could be linked to gangs today and how they hold grudges against each other and are continuously fighting. Furthermore by using a range of dramatic devices it keeps the audience engaged and they are always wondering what is going to happen next. Shakespeare allows the audience to be able to get attached to the main events the take place so they can get a full affect of what is happening. Overall Shakespeare uses different techniques to present conflict in the main events that take place.
The different techniques that he uses have a big impact on how they reflect on the conflict, as different techniques can represent different kinds of conflict in the play. For instance the quotation “public haunt of men”, the word ‘haunt’ foreshadows death. Foreshadowing is a type of technique which is used to present conflict and is used so that the audience are able to know what is going to happen in upcoming scenes. So the different techniques do effect how it comes across to the audience and how they are taken in to account to represent conflict, but presented differently to create different types of conflict.