Draft #2

Jack Hartigan

IB Lit and Perf

Ms. Guarino

December 6, 2016

Fire-Eyed Fury

In class, we performed the classic play Romeo and Juliet, written by William Shakespeare. This is one of the most well-known plays written in the Elizabethan era. In summary, the play is about two star-crossed lovers, living in Verona Italy, who will do anything to be together. Our performance mainly focused on the fight scene in act three scene one. Additionally, I included Tybalt’s monolog in act 1 scene 5. In both of these scenes, Shakespeare uses analytic devices to portray a theme of vengeance and a tone of fury and violence; I illustrated this anger with the use of body language and tone of voice.

Shakespeare was a brilliant man who shows character development in the contrast between Romeo and Tybalt. In the beginning of the play, Romeo felt a great love towards Tybalt. “But love thee better than thou canst devise Till thou shalt know the reason of my love.”(3.1.40-41) In this quote it Romeo refers to how Tybalt is practically his family since Romeo married Tybalt's cousin Juliet earlier. However, Romeo and Juliet are keeping that a secret at the moment so he cannot explain his spontaneous love. This supposed love changes drastically as the scene goes on. At the end, Romeo developed a burning hatred for Tybalt. “And fire-eyed fury be my conduct now! Now, Tybalt, take the villain back again.”(3.1.86) The root of this enmity is Tybalt killing Romeo’s friend Mercutio earlier in the scene. The tension between them leads to the climax where Romeo kills Tybalt. This shows how Romeo changes from a kind-hearted man to a ruthless killer, from the beginning to the end of this scene. It is also ironic that Romeo killed the person who he so-called loved in the earlier scene. This plot development had an astonishing twist where Romeo’s love for Tybalt turned into fire eyed-fury.

Throughout the scene, there is a theme of vengeance where the noble characters follow Hammurabi's code: an eye for an eye. Vengeance seems to be valued above all else: even law and family. It begins with Tybalt wanting revenge on Romeo. “Boy, this shall not excuse the injuries That thou hast done me. Therefore turn and draw.”(3.1.37-38) When Romeo won't fight, Tybalt gets revenge Mercutio instead. After killing Mercutio, Romeo seeks to avenge Mercutio. “Either thou, or I, or both, must go with him.”(3.1.91) In this quote, Romeo tells Tybalt that he will fight him to death. He does this to make things right with his friend. The choices made in this scene foreshadow the future. Even as Mercutio is dying he seeks vengeance on Romeo and Tybalt by cursing them, “A plague o' both your houses!”(3.1.59) This is an example of foreshadowing. There are many ways that this foreshadowing could be interpreted. First off, it could be predicting the immediate future where Tybalt is killed and Romeo is banished. On the other hand, it could be foreshadowing Romeo and Juliet’s deaths where both houses suffer a loss. Once again, this follows the theme of blood for blood and betrayal. Mercutio’s curse was followed by many tragedies for both houses.

In addition to foreshadowing, Shakespeare uses metaphors frequently in his writing that often have a tone of hatred. For example, Tybalt refers to Romeo as a “slave”(1.5.54) to empathize his distaste for Romeo. This implies that Romeo is below him and that he is better than Romeo. Mercutio also uses it by calling Tybalt a “ratcatcher”(3.1.46) to show his hostility towards him. That implies that he is a lower class, and is in a position not worthy of respect. Additionally, he then goes on to say “Good king of cats, nothing but one of your nine lives, that I mean to make bold withal, and, as you shall use me hereafter, dry-beat the rest of the eight.”(3.1.48-50) In this sentence, he uses humor, irony and a metaphor calling Tybalt a king of cats. It is ironic that he would call him a king, and somewhat humorous that he called him a cat. At the same time, it had a serious tone. Mercutio goes off the superstition that cats have nine lives and threatens to take one of Tybalt's lives. Then says he will take the rest of his lives. Essentially, Mercutio is using a metaphor to state that he will slaughter Tybalt. Metaphors are an intellectual way of insulting people showing both intelligence and class. These Metaphors are important for the verbal battles leading up to the fight. These verbal battles are part of the rising action leading up to the climax. Additionally, these metaphors show how there is a tone of fury  and violence throughout the scene. The author uses the terms “outrage”(3.1.54) and “fire-eyed fury”(3.1.86) to express this hatred. Fire-eyed fury is also alliteration. Conflict is frequently shown throughout the play. Shakespeare also uses allusions to express the tone. “O calm, dishonorable, vile submission!”(3.1.44) In this sentence, Shakespeare indirectly references Tybalt using the term vile submission. Another example of an allusion is when Mercutio indirectly references Tybalt by saying, “Good king of cats.”(3.1.48) Which, once again, is related back to the theme of anger, because in this context he is threatening to take Tybalt’s life.

Mercutio also uses personification when he says, “Will you pluck your sword out of his pilcher by the ears?”(3.1.46-47) In this sentence, he describes his sword as having ears. This also shows Mercutio’s cunning use of language. Mercutio is clever in the sense that he can come up with intellectual saying on the spot. Even when he is on the verge of fighting, he is able to use his acute sense of language. Although Mercutio plays a large part, throughout the scene there is an ample use of figurative language from both from Tybalt and Romeo, too.

After memorizing the scene, I acted it out. Acting came with many tedious choices. Every choice I made in this retrospect was to portray Tybalt as an evil but confident character. The first choice I had to make involved my positioning. I chose to face slightly towards the audience to so they could see me, but at the same time, I could be looking at the other two actors. When looking at them I would give them a stare full of distaste and hatred. In the beginning, I chose to pace back and forth. This showed that I was anxious and possibly worried about the upcoming future. Additionally, I stomped in the beginning, to put emphasis on my anger in a line. This stomp showed more than just my fury. It showed a loss of self-control. A sense of recklessness would carry onto the next scene where I fought Romeo and Mercutio. I walked with my chin up and good back posture to show confidence in myself. Although I attempted to do this, my walk came out as slow and sluggish. On the other hand, my upper body posture portrayed me as a powerful and confident man. When the attention was on other actors I would stand still and tall while limiting my movement. This is so I don’t take attention away from the main focus or distract the audience. Additionally, it showed my ability to hold my ground and that I was not afraid to fight or back down. Lastly, as I am talking I will walk towards the enemy and eventually get in there face. This will help intensify the play. When I am talking the focus will be on me, and my movement will help draw their focus on me. Walking towards them will show my aggression and tendency to take action. It shows that I am out for blood and seeking vengeance. Additionally, it will show the rising action approaching the main fight scene of the play. As we get closer to the climax, I will get closer to my enemy to show the building tensions.

The climax of the play was the fight scene where I would fight Romeo. In this scene Tybalt should have an immense hatred for Romeo, he has been dying to fight him since I first saw Romeo trespassing in his territory. In this fight, we used fake swords in addition to planning out the movements. We would take turns winning and losing the battle to make the fight more realistic. It would also show that the fight was close and evenly matched. As the fight continues, the suspense will also build in the audience. On my second time going back, Romeo would spin and kill me causing me to tumble to the ground. A hard fall would make my death more realistic. The main focus of this controlled movement was for the organization. Yet, with all this organization we still missed hits, forcing us to improvise. When we missed a hit we would wait till both people would strike again. After figuring out the movement of the fight I moved on to expressions in the fight scene. My intention was to walk aggressively in the fight scene, although it did not come out that way. My walk was not as aggressive as it needed to be. Additionally, during the fight scene I intended to act both anxious and worried. However, in the fight scene, I was too focused on the hits to notice that I had disregarded facial expressions. Throughout the fight scene, I had a neutral face. It was challenging to express Tybalt's emotions while my mind was concentrating on something else.

In order to act like Tybalt, I had to talk with anger and hostility. When people are angry, they don't talk; they shout. I had to talk with a sense of rage in order to create a more heated conversation. However, when acting with hatred I could have been louder and more fierce.  Yet, the dialogue was not enough in that retrospect. I also needed to look mad. In order to do this, I separated myself from reality and believed for the moment that I hated my partner. Additionally, I clenched my fists and flexed every muscle in my body. Clenching my fist also triggered a feeling of enmity and fury in myself allowing me to stay in character. Tybalt would also be tense because he is ready to fight. This is a natural defense mechanism humans have when they get mad.

Lastly to represent my character I had to wear the right outfit. I wore black to show that I was an evil character, and left my hair a mess to show that I’m an angry person who doesn’t care about anything. This also shows that I’m not afraid of dying, and reckless. All of this helped build on my character.

From practicing the play I improved in many areas. As I became more comfortable with the play I learned to become louder in addition to speaking and walking with confidence. I learned to incorporate movement when the attention is on me, but limit it when it’s on someone else. Throughout the play, I made my sword fights and facial expressions more realistic. Even though my facial expressions improved tremendously, there is still work to be done in that retrospect. Overall, I did an outstanding job performing the play.

From analyzing the stylistic devices, I was able to assess that Tybalt is an evil and ill-minded character. These stylistic devices added to the themes of anger and vengeance. As I worked on the play, I used physical and verbal traits to express Tybalt as an angry and confident character.  In this play, I successfully portrayed Tybalt as cynical and malevolent being he is.

Word count: 1969

Works Cited:

Mahoney, John. Romeo and Juliet, William Shakespeare. London: Letts Educational, 2004. Print.