The marriage is a pappy and romantic scene. Act 3 Scene 1 begins with Benevolent advising Mercuric to retire for the day: “l pray thee, good Mercuric, let’s retire: The day is hot, the Chapels are abroad… ” The quote contains a double meaning. “The day is hot” can mean the weather and their tempers. A hot temper would be disastrous when they meet the Capsules. The weather also had some connection with their tempers. People tend to become agitated when the weather gets hot and stuffy. When people are agitated, they tend to snap and rage a bit more often than usual.
Benevolent clearly expressed this point later on in the play: … For now, these hot days, is the mad blood stirring” Unfortunately, Mercuric didn’t agree with Benevolent. Instead, he made fun of Benevolent for being eager to quarrel over just about anything in this weather: “… Thou wilt quarrel with a man for cracking nuts, having no other reason but because thou hast hazel eyes… ” Of course, Mercuric was just using hyperbole. An example of a modern day hyperbole would be the quote “l could sleep for a year”. Mercuric also punned with his words. Notice how the words ‘hazel” and ‘huts” link?
Although they are pretty lame puns in the modern age, it shows how witty ND jolly Mercuric was. The atmosphere gets tenser when the Capsules arrive at the scene. Although Benevolent was worried about them, Mercuric didn’t care and maintained his witty and jolly attitude: “By my heel, I care not” Mercuric made a big mistake here. By underestimating the situation, he had let off a chain of events which would ultimately lead to many deaths. Table of the Capsules asked about Romeo and Mercuric punned Table’s words: “Consort? What, dost thou make us minstrels? And thou make minstrels of us, look to hear nothing but discords… “Consort” is the word that describes a companion or a friend. It is also a word that describes an ensemble of musicians. “Minstrels” is the Shakespearean word for a musician. “Discords” in music are a group of notes that sound really bad. So if we put these words together, Mercuric probably meant, “Consort? Do you think we’re musicians? You shall hear nothing but insults from us! ” You can see that the opening of the scene is pretty tense. Mercuric was on the verge of starting a fight with Table. The situation is worsened by their position, a public place.
This scene of tension, publicity and witty humor is purposely placed after a scene Of love, privacy and happiness. Shakespeare has used Juxtaposition here. It shows us how quickly things change. Romeo arrived at the scene straight after his wedding. Table, at the sight of Romeo, insulted him: “Romeo, the love I bear thee can afford No better term than this: thou art a villain” Back from his wedding, Romeo had no intent to hurt Table in any way. So in an attempt to keep the peace, Romeo responded peacefully and explained that he doesn’t mean any harm” “l do protest I never injured thee, But love thee better than thou cants devise… No one besides Romeo knew about Romeo and Gullet’s relationship. In the Ziegfeld version of “Romeo and Juliet”, everyone else on stage assumed Romeos peacekeeping attitude was all a joke. On the other hand, Bag Learner’s modern version of Romeo and Juliet portrays a less humorous and more serious scene. Romeo is being beaten by Table as Romeo says the quote above. In both movies, Table takes this attitude as an insult. “Boy, this shall not excuse the injuries That thou hast done me, therefore turn and draw” In my opinion, I prefer the Bag Alarming version of the scene. People greatly valued honor during Romeo and Gullet’s time. A peaceful attitude was robbery not something to laugh at. Table did not know that Romeo was already married to Juliet. Table thought Romeo was mocking him, so Table demanded a duel. The other characters are clearly surprised by Romeos reaction. As the audience, we are not at all surprised at Romeos reaction. Shakespeare used dramatic irony in this part of the play. Many people have different opinions of what effect this gives. The Ziegfeld version makes me laugh at the lameness of the situation (everyone’s laughing their heads off).
That is why l, again, prefer the Bag Alarming version of the scene because he dramatic irony gave me a huge sense of pity for both Romeo and Table. This effect may be caused by the emotional expressions of the actors, but I pity Romeo and Table when I watch the scene. When Romeo refused the challenge, Mercuric stepped up to take Romeos place. During the fight, Romeo got in the way. Table accidentally kills Mercuric and fled (he meant to kill Romeo). Mercuric cursed both families and died in Venison’s arms. Shakespeare had decided to let Mercuric die at this point for various reasons.
Shakespeare needed to set the spark that would unleash the tragedy in his play. What better spark than accidental murder? Shakespeare chose Mercuric because Mercuric is Romeos close friend. Don’t know about Shakespeare, but if I were him, would just kill off Mercuric because I realized halfway through writing the play that Mercuric was too hard a character to write a script for (with all that punning). One very important reason for adding Americium’s death is because it created a complication for the story. Every story needs a setting, complication, climax and resolution.
Although it is easy to believe that the feud was the complication, the feud is actually part of the setting. Romeo falling in love is art of the complication and Americium’s death creates another complication. After Americium’s death, Romeo blamed himself in a soliloquy for Americium’s death: ” .. Table, that an hour Hath been my cousin. O sweet Juliet, Thy beauty hath made me effeminate… ” The Ziegfeld version of Romeo and Juliet showed Romeo and company being unaware that Mercuric was dying although Romeo and Benevolent were more concerned than everyone else.
In the Bag Alarming version, Mercuric died in Romeos arms. Romeos expression showed great despair and pity for Mercuric. He is completely overwhelmed by the feelings taking hold of him. Romeo became extremely violent to Table in a manner of seconds. In both plays, it is vengeance which made Romeo angry enough to approach Table with a death duel challenge: “Either thou or l, or both, must go with him” Romeo didn’t see Table as a cousin-in-law anymore. All he saw was a man who killed Mercuric. All he felt was pain, anguish and retribution. Such an emotional fight should be staged with emotion and desperation. O not like the fight in both the Ziegfeld and Bag Alarming. The Ziegfeld version of the fight showed some desperation but not a lot. The action in the fight was k. The Bag Alarming version showed lots of desperation, but it was pretty weird to watch Table drop his gun just because Romeo shouted at him. All Romeo did to kill Table was pick up the gun and shoot. I fancy a mixture of both of them; lots of action, lots of desperation, and not too long. Since Table is known to be a well respected swordsman, Romeo must kill Table by either sheer emotional pressure or a lame mistake by Table (like dropping the sword).
After Romeo killed Table, his reaction was not described very well. The script only tells us that Romeo said, “O, I am fortune’s fool” and left the stage. Didn’t get to see the Ziegfeld version of his reaction. So I can only base my ideas on the Bag Alarming version. Romeo was surprised and horrified at what he did. He cries out, “l am fortune’s fool” and leaves. This shows that Romeo only slew Table because a fiery fury took hold of him. He did not kill Table out of cold blood. If we now look at the consequences of this scene, there is no doubt that this is the most important scene in Romeo and Juliet.
Two characters die in this scene; one death provoked the death of the other. Table’s death made it harder for the Capsules to forgive the Montages. Romeo was banished from Verona for killing Table, so he could never be with Juliet again. Juliet grieved for Table and was angry at Romeo but nevertheless, saddened that Romeo had to go. The death of Table urged Lord Capsule to hasten the arrangement for Gullet’s wedding with Paris. These consequences will later lead to the deaths of Romeo, Juliet, Paris and Lady Montague. But whose fault was it?
Well, if Romeo did not eavesdrop at the Capsule Ball, Table will have no reason to hate him so much. But if Table did not challenge Romeo for eavesdropping, Mercuric would not have interfered and died, Romeo would tot have avenged Mercuric, Table would not have died, the Capsules would not hate the Montages as much, Romeo and Juliet would not have been split up, Paris would not have arranged to marry Juliet on Wednesday, the Friar’s Plan would not have gone out, the fatal flaw would not have happened and Rome and Juliet and Paris would still be alive, and Lady Montague would not have died over grief for Romeos banishment.
