Rough Draft #1

Jack Hartigan

IB Lit and Perf

Ms. Guarino

December 1 2016

Fire-Eyed Fury

In class, we performed the classic play Romeo and Juliet, written by Shakespeare. This play was written in the Elizabethan era and is one of the most notorious plays written in the history of mankind. This play is about two star crossed lovers, living in Verona Italy, who will do anything to be together. Our skit showed the fight scene in act 1 scene 5 containing only Mercutio, Tybalt, and Romeo. In which, the point of view is based around romeo. From analyzing the text, I concluded that I needed to portray an evil and confident character.

Shakespeare was a brilliant man who used many laterality devices such as characterization in this act. 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) Then 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) 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 characterization goes along with the theme of the scene.

Throughout the scene there is a theme of vengeance. It begins with Tybalt wanting Vengeance 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 takes vengeance on Mercutio instead. After killing Mercutio Romeo goes to seek vengeance on Tybalt. “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 the death. He does this to make things right with his friend. The choices made in this scene foreshadow the future.

When Mercutio dies he says, “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.

In addition to foreshadowing, Shakespeare uses metaphors to frequently in his writing. For example, Tybalt refers to Romeo as a “slave”(1.5.54) to empathize his hatred for Romeo. Mercutio also uses it for name calling. He calls Tybalt a “ratcatcher”(3.1.46) to show his  hatred for him. 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 a metaphor calling Tybalt a cat. He then goes off the superstition that cats have nine lives and threatens to take one of Tybalt's lives. Then he says he will take the rest of his lives. Essentially, Mercutio is using a metaphor to state that he will slaughter Tybalt.

This shows how there is a tone of anger  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. This tone is frequently expressed throughout the play. Shakespeare also uses allusions to express this 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)

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. Throughout the scene there is an ample use of figurative language from both from Tybalt, Mercutio, and Romeo.

After memorising the scene I acted it out. Acting it was full of many tedious choices. Every choice I made on 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. In the beginning I chose to pace back and forth. Additionally, I added a stomp in the beginning to put emphasis on my anger in a line. This showed that I was anxious and possibly worried about the upcoming future. When I walked I had my chin up and good back posture to show confidence in myself. When the attention was on other actors I would stand still and tall but limit my movement. This is so I don’t take attention away from the main focus or distract the audience. Lastly, as I am talking I will walk towards the enemy and get in there face. This will help intensify the play. Additionally, it will show the rising action approaching the main fight scene of the play.

The climax of the play was the fight scene where I would fight Romeo.  In this fight we used fake swords. In this fight we planned out the movement. We would take turns winning and losing the battle. This was to help make the fight more realistic. On my second time losing back Romeo would spin and kill me causing me to pumble to the ground. After figuring out the movement of the fight I moved on to the next task.

In order to act like Tybalt, I also had to talk like him. When people are angry, they don't talk, they shout. I had to talk with a sense of hatred. Yet, dialogue was not enough, 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. This is a natural defence 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 and evil character, and left my hair a mess to show that I’m an angry person who doesn’t care about anything. All of this helped build on my character.

From practicing the play I improved in many area’s. As I became more comfortable with the play I became louder and spoke with more confidence, and learned to walk 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. Also, I can improve my walk so that I walk more like Tybalt and walk with anger. Overall, I did a great job performing the play.

This scene contained many literary devices that allowed us to act it out better. As I worked on the play I shaped Tybalt’s expression to look like an angry and confident character. It is this shaping of the character that has lead my play to success.

Works Cited:

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