Romeo and Juliet Study Guide

Summary and Analysis of Act 3

Act Three, Scene One

Benvolio and Mercutio are on a street in Verona waiting for Romeo to arrive. While there, Tybalt and Petruccio see them and come over to provoke a quarrel. Tybalt is expressly looking to find Romeo, whom he want to punish for sneaking into the masked party the previous day.

Romeo arrives and tries to be submissive to Tybalt by telling him that he harbors no hatred of the Capulet house. Tybalt is unsure how to deal with Romeo, but since Mercutio is provoking him to a duel, he draws his sword and attacks Mercutio. Romeo draws his sword and intervenes too late to stop Tybalt from stabbing Mercutio. Tybalt and Petruccio then exit the area.

Mercutio leaves the stage with Benvolio, who soon returns to tell Romeo that Mercutio has died. Romeo vows revenge on Tybalt, who soon reappears to fight with him. In the duel, Romeo kills Tybalt. Benvolio tells Romeo to run away before the Prince arrives.

The Prince, followed by the Montague and Capulet families, shows up at the scene. Benvolio tells him the entire story, but the Prince refuses to believe Romeo is guiltless. He banishes Romeo from Verona, threatening to kill him should he return.

Act Three, Scene Two

Juliet delivers one of the most elegant soliloquys in the play about Romeo, whom she is hoping to receive news about. Her Nurse enters with the news of Tybalt's death and Romeo's banishment, but as in the previous scene refuses to immediately tell Juliet what she knows. Instead, the nurse lets Juliet believe that it is Romeo who has been killed.

When the Nurse finally reveals the truth to Juliet, Juliet immediately chides Romeo for pretending to be peaceful when in fact he is able to kill Tybalt. She then recants, and tell the Nurse, "Shall I speak ill of him that is my husband?" (3.2.97). Juliet laments the fact that Romeo has been banished, and indicates that she would rather have both her parents killed then see Romeo banished.

The Nurse promises to go find Romeo and bring him to Juliet's bed that night. She tells Juliet that he is hiding with Friar Laurence. Juliet gives the Nurse a ring for Romeo to wear when he comes to see her that night.

Act Three, Scene Three

Friar Laurence tells Romeo that he is banished from Verona, and that he should be happy that the Prince was willing to commute the death sentence. Romeo considers banishment worse than death, because it means that he can never see Juliet again.When the Friar tries to console him, Romeo says, "Wert thou as young as I, Juliet thy love.../ Then mightst thou speak" (3.3.65/68).

The nurse enters and finds Romeo on the ground weeping. She tells him to stand up. Romeo is so upset by the events that he starts to stab himself, but the Nurse snatches away the dagger. Friar Laurence tells Romeo that he should be happy, since he and Juliet are still alive and want to see each other. The Friar then gets Romeo to go see Juliet that night, with the expectation that Romeo will run away to Mantua the next morning.

Act Three, Scene Four

The Capulets and Paris are preparing for bed, even though it is almost morning. Old Capulet decides right then that Juliet will marry Paris. He comments, "I think she will be ruled / In all respects by me" (3.4.13-4). He tells Lady Capulet to speak to Juliet about the matter immediately before going to bed.

Act Three, Scene Five

Romeo and Juliet are in her bedroom as daylight approaches. They pretend for a short minute that it really is still the night, but the Nurse arrives to tell Juliet her mother approaches. Romeo descends from the balcony to the ground and bids her goodbye.

Lady Capulet tells Juliet she has news to cheer her up, namely the planned wedding with Paris. Juliet tells her that she would sooner marry Romeo rather than Paris. Capulet himself enters and becomes furious when Juliet refuses to marry Paris. He calls Juliet "young baggage" and orders her to prepare to marry Paris the upcoming Thursday.

Lady Capulet refuses to help Juliet, and even the Nurse tells her that Paris is a fine gentleman whom she should marry. Juliet kicks out her Nurse and prepares to visit Friar Laurence. As the Nurse leaves, Juliet calls her, "Ancient damnation!" (3.5.235).

Analysis

Mercutio leads the action in this most dramatic of the five acts. When wounded, he cries out "A plague o' both your houses" (3.1.101), saying it three times to ensure that it becomes a curse. Indeed, it is the plague which causes the final death of both Romeo and Juliet. Friar John says that he was unable to deliver the letter to Romeo because, "the searchers of the town, / Suspecting that we both were in a house / Where the infectious pestilence did reign, / Sealed up the doors, and would not let us forth" (5.2.8-11).

One of the most beautiful soliloquys is that of Juliet when she beckons for nightfall, again representing the contrast to the disorder of the day's events. "Come, gentle night; come, loving, black-browed night, / Give me my Romeo, and when he shall die / Take him and cut him out in little stars, / And he will make the face of heaven so fine / That all the world will be in love with night / And pay no worship to the garish sun" (3.2.20-25).

The Nurse's arrival in this act with information about Romeo and Tybalt reinforces the fact that this is now a tragedy, not a comedy. This can be seen in the contrast of this scene with the first scene where the Nurse withholds information from Juliet. In the first scene, the Nurse is playfully devious in telling Juliet about where Romeo wants to meet her for their marriage. Now however, the same playfulness is no longer comic, rather it is infuriating. In this sense Shakespeare turns the Nurse from a comic character into a tragic character, one who cannot realize the importance of what she is saying.

Juliet's dedication to Romeo emerges very strongly at this point. At first she derides Romeo for killing Tybalt, but she soon has a change of heart and says, "Shall I speak ill of him that is my husband?" (3.2.97). She then states that she would sacrifice ten thousand Tybalts to be with Romeo, and later includes her parents in the list of people she would rather lose than Romeo. This dedication to a husband or lover is something which emerges frequently in Shakespeare, and is a point he tries to emphasize.

Romeo's misery at being banished is clearly shown in his preference for death. "Then 'banished' / Is death mistermed. Calling death 'banished' / Thou cutt'st my head off with a golden axe" (3.3.20-22). Friar Laurence tries to show him that by being alive he at least still has a chance to see Juliet again. Even the Nurse, entering where Romeo is hiding, says, "Stand up, stand up, stand an you be a man" (3.3.88).

The analysis of the first act introduced the image of the wheel of fortune. This was applied to Juliet, who throughout the previous acts rose from a humble daughter to become a strong woman standing on a balcony, and completely in charge of her situation. However, at this juncture the Nurse informs Romeo that Juliet "down falls again" (3.3.101) as a result of his banishment and her loss of Tybalt. Later, Juliet takes this image even further, saying, "Methinks I see thee, now thou art so low / As one dead in the bottom of a tomb" (3.5.55-6).

This of course also is integrated with the foreshadowing so common in Shakespeare's plays. Lady Capulet comments about Juliet's refusal to marry Paris that, "I would the fool were married to her grave" (3.5.140). This phrase will of course come true quite soon, when Juliet dies while still married to Romeo.

The conflict between the older generation and the younger comes to head in the final scene of act three. The Nurse advocates that Juliet forget about Romeo and instead focus on Paris, the virtues of whom she proceeds to extol. Juliet, poisoningly sweet in her sarcasm, sends the Nurse away from her for the first time, remarking, "Ancient damnation!" (3.5.235), both a reference to the Nurse's age and to the problems she must deal with. This leaves Juliet completely alone to face the hostile world.