Act 3 — Teaching Companion

This chapter's big question

When Romeo's attempt to part Tybalt and Mercutio ends with Mercutio dead, and the Prince's sentence of exile is "dear mercy" to the Friar and death to Romeo, does Act III argue that mercy cannot survive in Verona, or that Verona cannot recognize mercy, or agree on what it is, when it is offered?

The tension The act's acts of restraint, Romeo stepping between the swords, the Prince sparing Romeo's life, Juliet pardoning her cousin's killer, each produce loss or are heard as cruelty, while its harshest voices, Tybalt's challenge, Lady Capulet's demand for blood, Capulet's threat to turn Juliet into the streets, speak in the name of honour, justice and care.

Today's focus

Listen for who is heard and who is not: Benvolio and Lady Capulet, the Friar and Romeo, Juliet and her mother.

The shape at a glance

In a hot street Tybalt challenges Romeo, who will not fight. Mercutio fights and is fatally wounded as Romeo steps between the swords, and Romeo kills Tybalt. The Prince hears Benvolio and Lady Capulet and exiles Romeo. Juliet hears the news from the Nurse, turns on Romeo, then defends him. In the Friar's cell Romeo calls exile worse than death, and the Friar sends him to Juliet and on to Mantua. Capulet promises Paris a Thursday wedding. At dawn the lovers part, Juliet's mother and father and the Nurse answer her refusal of Paris, and she goes to the Friar.

A way in

Start with Romeo's "I thought all for the best." Ask what he hoped would happen when he stepped between the swords.

Lesson plan

Retell The student tells the act in order: the fight, the Prince's hearing, Juliet's news, the cell, Capulet's promise to Paris, the dawn parting, and Juliet's refusal. At each step the student says who is speaking to whom.

Imitate the author After copying the Prince's speech, the student writes three rhymed couplets that give a ruling and end on a line that sounds like a saying.

Debate One reader argues that Romeo was right to step between the swords and another that he was not. Each must use one line from the fight.

Purpose The student practices reading a speaker's words by who says them, to whom, and what the speaker wants.

Three levels

Easier Talk through the fight alone, discussion questions 1 and 6, before the Prince arrives.

On level Talk through all six discussion questions, then have the student write one critical-thinking thesis with two quotes, an objection and a revision.

Harder Ask the student to write a second thesis on another critical-thinking question, and say which of the two the act supports better.

Discussion

1. Romeo refuses to fight Tybalt, then steps between the swords, and Mercutio is fatally hurt. Romeo says, "I thought all for the best." Was stepping in the right thing to try?Moral reasoning

What it asks Whether Romeo's refusal to fight and his stepping between the swords was the right thing to try, and where the act leaves the blame for Mercutio's wound.

A strong answer Romeo answers Tybalt's insult with patience and asks Mercutio to put up his rapier; later Benvolio says he spoke with gentle breath, calm look and humbly bowed knees. Yet Mercutio is hurt "under your arm" just as Romeo steps between, and Romeo soon says that love of Juliet has softened his valour and throws his gentleness away. A strong answer keeps Tybalt, Mercutio and Romeo all in view, weighs intention against result, and does not name a single person to blame.

2. Benvolio says Romeo spoke "With gentle breath, calm look, knees humbly bow’d"; Lady Capulet says "Affection makes him false." Whom does the Prince trust when he rules? Why might Shakespeare let us hear both first?Author's choice

What it asks Whose account the Prince seems to rule on, and what the audience gains from hearing two competing accounts before the sentence.

A strong answer Benvolio says Romeo spoke gently, but he also admits that Romeo "newly entertain’d revenge." Lady Capulet says Benvolio is biased because he is Romeo's kinsman, and asks for Romeo's death. The Prince does not give her that, but he also fines both houses and speaks of his own dead kinsman. A strong answer says whom the Prince seems to trust and on what evidence, and what Shakespeare gains by letting the audience hear both accounts before the ruling.

3. Juliet calls Romeo "Beautiful tyrant" and "damned saint," then says, "Shall I speak ill of him that is my husband?" What turns her, and does the turn feel earned?Character

What it asks What changes Juliet's mind about Romeo within one scene, and whether the change comes from reasons or from loyalty.

A strong answer Juliet's first speech condemns Romeo in pairs of opposites, "Beautiful tyrant" and "damned saint." The turn comes when the Nurse says "Shame come to Romeo," and Juliet cannot bear to hear it. Then she reasons: Tybalt "would have kill’d my husband." A strong answer says whether reasons or loyalty does the turning, notes that she ends by weighing the word "banished," which she says has "slain ten thousand Tybalts," and says what the order of her speeches shows about her.

4. The Friar's list of Romeo's blessings (Juliet alive, Tybalt dead instead of Romeo, death turned to exile) comes after Romeo has said "Heaven is here where Juliet lives." What is each man counting, and whose sum do you trust?Theme

What it asks What each man counts as a gain or a loss in the cell, and whether they are measuring the same thing.

A strong answer Romeo says earlier in the scene that "Heaven is here where Juliet lives," and counts one thing: where Juliet is. Later the Friar counts what Romeo still has: his life, a Juliet who is alive, and a law that threatened death and gave exile. The scene gives each man strong lines and does not make either give way; before the Friar's list, Romeo has already told him, "Thou canst not speak of that thou dost not feel." A strong answer states each man's count in his own words and says whose fits what the sentence costs Romeo.

5. Juliet tells her mother, "God pardon him. I do, with all my heart." Lady Capulet answers with a poison plot. What does Lady Capulet hear in Juliet's words, and what might Juliet mean her to hear?Inference

What it asks Why Lady Capulet answers Juliet's grief but not her pardon, and whether Juliet spoke so that her pardon would pass unheard.

A strong answer Juliet says she pardons Romeo with all her heart, and her mother replies as if Juliet wanted him dead, offering to send poison to Mantua. One reading is that Lady Capulet can hear only vengeance. Another is that Juliet's lines are double from the start, sounding like grief for Tybalt to her mother and like love for Romeo to the audience. A strong answer decides whether the scene shows a mother who cannot hear a pardon or a daughter who does not want it heard, and points to a line for its choice.

6. Mercutio, wounded, jokes: "Ask for me tomorrow, and you shall find me a grave man." Why might Shakespeare let him joke while he is dying, and how does the joke change the scene?Tone

What it asks What Mercutio's jokes do as he is hurt, and what Shakespeare gains by giving a dying man a pun.

A strong answer Mercutio calls his wound a scratch, puns that he will be found "a grave man," and then curses both houses: the joke turns to anger as the wound proves worse. One reading is that the jokes keep him himself to the end, which makes the loss harder to bear. Another is that they are bitter, a way of cursing both houses. A strong answer says what the change from joke to curse does to the audience, and what it does to the killing that follows.

Critical thinking

1. At dawn Juliet says it was the nightingale; Romeo says lark, then offers to stay and die; Juliet sends him away. Write a thesis on whether this is protection or delay, use two lines, answer an objection, and revise.

What it asks Whether the lovers' talk of the bird and the light is care for each other or a way to put off the parting, read from this dawn exchange alone.

A strong answer A protection thesis points to Romeo's "I must be gone and live, or stay and die" and to Juliet's final order to go: when he offers to stay, she is the one who sends him away. Its objection is that Juliet began by naming a nightingale and Romeo was willing to call the dawn something else. A delay thesis can use those two openings, but must explain why Juliet turns and tells him to leave. A revision keeps the order of the exchange and says what their changing names for the bird do, without reaching for any other scene.

2. Capulet tells Paris "I think she will be rul’d," then tells Juliet "hang, beg, starve, die in the streets." Write a thesis on whether his care and cruelty are one thing or two. Use a line from each scene, answer an objection, and revise.

What it asks Whether Capulet's care and his cruelty come from one disposition or two, argued from his lines in the scene with Paris and the scene with Juliet.

A strong answer The one-thing thesis takes his own account, days and nights spent arranging a match, as the same hold on her that says he will give her to his friend or cast her out. The two-things thesis sets the Capulet who speaks tenderly of Tybalt to Paris against the man who threatens a hurdle, and takes his own cry "it makes me mad" as a break. Either thesis must quote both scenes. A revision decides whether grief and haste reveal Capulet or change him.

3. The Nurse says "I think it best you married with the County," and Juliet calls her "Ancient damnation!" Write a thesis on whether the Nurse's advice is kindness, betrayal, or good sense. Give the Nurse's case its full strength, answer Juliet's objection, and revise.

What it asks Whether the Nurse's advice is kind, disloyal or sensible, which first requires stating her argument at full strength before Juliet's answer.

A strong answer The Nurse's case is not foolish: Romeo is banished and can only come back by stealth, and a husband who can never be present is, she says, no use to Juliet; she says it "from my soul." Juliet's answer is that a vow made before heaven is not a practical matter, and that the Nurse has praised Romeo too often to be believed now. A strong thesis gives the Nurse's reasoning real weight before accepting or rejecting it, and notes that Juliet, having sent the Nurse away, goes on alone to the Friar.

Vocabulary definitions