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What happens in Act 3, Scene 1 of Romeo and Juliet?
Romeo refuses to fight Tybalt, so Mercutio fights instead. Tybalt kills Mercutio. Romeo kills Tybalt and runs away, and Prince Escalus orders Romeo's exile from Verona.
Read more about the Act 3, Scenes 1 with our 4-minute Summary & Analysis
How does Romeo and Juliet fit the tragedy genre? How does it not fit it?
Romeo and Juliet is classified as a tragedy, but it does differ in a couple of ways from most plays with that designation. First, it isn’t a flaw in one or both of the title characters that leads to their downfall, but a flaw in their families. The other wrinkle in its designation as a tragedy is that its first two acts are structured very much like a comedy. It is only with the two killings in Scene 1 of Act 3 that the play firmly shifts into being a tragedy.
Read more about the play’s Genre being a tragedy (3-minute read)
How does Romeo and Juliet change when Mercutio is killed?
The death of Mercutio at the hands of Tybalt followed by Romeo instinctively killing Tybalt has a huge impact on the play. As noted in the genre discussion above, these killings mark the point in which the play switches from being more like a comedy to definitively being a tragedy. The switch from merely speaking words that threaten violence to the actual committing of violent acts shows that passionate behavior can lead to horrific results.
Read more about Mercutio’s dying quote in Act 3, Scene 1 (1-minute read)
O sweet Juliet
Thy beauty hath made me effeminate
And in my temper softened valor’s steel!
Mercutio’s death during the scene also leads to a profound change on Romeo’s behavior. This change is signaled by his remark to Juliet above, which is explained in Quotes by Character: Romeo (the quote under the heading for Act 3, Scene 1).
Another consequence of Mercutio’s death is that it removes a witty and appealing character from the play. His absence is a key reason that the play is darker in its second half.
Is Romeo’s killing of Tybalt justifiable?
No audience of the play has ever seemed to hold the killing against Romeo, perhaps because Tybalt has been so villainous. An argument in Romeo’s defense is that he tried to avoid violence with Tybalt (to the point of being derided by Mercutio for doing so) even though his plea for peace may have backfired. Tybalt didn’t know that Romeo had married his cousin and likely thought that Romeo’s words (“I do protest I never injured thee, / But love thee better than thou canst devise”) were making fun of him.
Regardless of what the audience thinks, within the play, Romeo is found accountable for killing Tybalt by Prince Escalus. However, he is sentenced to exile rather than death—the punishment that might have been expected after the Prince’s edict in Act 1, Scene 1. The Prince seems to accept Montague’s argument that his son should not die for killing the man who had himself killed Mercutio, the Prince’s kinsman.
Read more about Romeo’s being exiled from Verona (1-minute read)
