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Romeo and Juliet: Plot Summary, Act 3
Act 3, Scene 1
Act 3 opens with Mercutio and Benvolio walking as usual around the town. Benvolio's keen instinct is telling him that a brawl could erupt in the street at any moment, and he warns Mercutio that they should go home at once. Mercutio is not as peace loving as his dear friend and chastises Benvolio for even suggesting that they cower inside. To aggravate Benvolio, Mercutio cites nonsensical examples of fights Benvolio has participated in -- one with a man cracking nuts, another with a man who tied his new shoes with 'old riband'. Benvolio sees the Capulets coming and knows a confrontation is inevitable. Tybalt demands to see Romeo so that he can slay him with his ever-ready rapier. Mercutio confronts Tybalt, but, because Mercutio is not a Capulet, Tybalt brushes him aside and moves straight toward Romeo who has just come upon the scene. Romeo, now related to Tybalt, refuses to fight. He cannot reveal why he does not defend his honour, but suggests that they should stop the bitter feud and embrace each other once and for all:
I do protest, I never injured thee,
But love thee better than thou canst devise
Till thou shalt know the true reason of my love;
And so, good Capulet,-- which name I tender
As dearly as mine own,-- be satisfied (3.1.70-4).
Mercutio cannot stand by and watch Romeo stand down like a common coward. He draws his sword and challenges Tybalt. Romeo tries to stop the fight but to no avail -- Tybalt fatally wounds Mercutio. He dies cursing both families, "a plague on both your houses/They have made worms meat of me" (3.1.91-2), despite the fact that his own intemperance has caused his death. Romeo is crushed by the knowledge that Mercutio has lost his life for him, and he draws his sword, attacking Tybalt with ferocity. Tybalt is no match for the skilled and enraged Romeo, and he falls dead to the ground. Romeo stands over Tybalt and all the consequences of his actions flood his mind. By the Prince's decree, Romeo will be executed for disobeying the peace, thus leaving Juliet a widow. And he has betrayed his new bride by killing her beloved cousin. The Prince, the Capulets, and Montague happen upon the tragic scene and Benvolio tries his best to explain why Romeo was forced to kill Tybalt. Because Romeo has slain the instigator of the violence and the murderer of Mercutio, the Prince decides that Romeo should not be executed but banished from Verona instead. If Romeo ever returns, Prince Escalus cautions, he will certainly be killed.
Act 3, Scene 2
Juliet waits at the Capulet house, unaware of the horror unfolding in the street outside and longing for Romeo to come to her bed. But instead of Romeo, the Nurse enters, crying "He's dead, he's dead!". Juliet fears that the Nurse is referring to Romeo and begs her for more information. When the Nurse tells her that it is Tybalt who is dead at the hand of the banished Romeo, Juliet lashes out at her traitorous husband: "O serpent heart!" But she almost immediately forgives Romeo, realizing that Tybalt would have not spared the life of Romeo if he had won the duel. Her thoughts turn to Romeo's banishment. She knows that she cannot live without her husband and exclaims "'Romeo is banished', to speak that word/Is father, mother, Tybalt, Romeo ,Juliet/All slain, all dead" (3.2.120-3). The Nurse, realizing that Juliet is about to commit suicide, promises her that she will find Romeo and bring him to comfort her.
Act 3, Scene 3
Romeo, who has taken refuge in Friar Laurence's cell, hears the news that he has not been sentenced to death, but banished from Verona. He expresses his anguish at the knowledge that he will not be reunited with Juliet. Suicidal, he laments: "Banished? O friar, the damned use that word in hell/Howlings attend it" (3.3.46-7). The Nurse arrives at the door, announcing that she comes from Lady Juliet. Romeo anxiously asks if Juliet now hates him for killing Tybalt and if she is coping with his banishment. The Nurse tells Romeo that Juliet weeps and weeps, alternating between cries of Tybalt and Romeo. She also tells him that he must visit Juliet one more time. He agrees, risking execution if anyone sees him. Friar Laurence, after chastising Romeo for his outrageous display of weakness, instructs Romeo that he should flee to Mantua after his final meeting with Juliet, and he will send him regular updates on Juliet and his family. Romeo and the Nurse bid the Friar farewell and head toward the house of Capulet.
Act 3, Scene 4
In this brief scene, Capulet, his Lady, and Paris discuss Juliet's great distress over the death of her kinsman, Tybalt. Capulet decides that the best remedy for her grief is to wed Paris the following Thursday.
Act 3, Scene 5
Dawn approaches, and in Juliet's chamber the lovers share their final moments together. Juliet cannot bear the thought of Romeo leaving, and she tries to convince him that the night is not yet over: "it is not yet near day. It was the nightingale, and not the lark/That pierc'd the fearful hollow of thine ear" (3.5.1-3). But Romeo knows that it was no nightingale singing, but the lark, "the herald of the morn" (3.5.6). He insists that he must go but Juliet persists, and Romeo gives into his darling, agreeing that it is not morning because Juliet wills it so. He will stay and die to make Juliet happy a little longer. Realizing that they have no choice but to part, Juliet tells Romeo that he should go "O, now be gone; more light and light it grows" (3.5.35). The Nurse comes to warn the lovers that Lady Capulet is coming and Romeo climbs out the window to the orchard below, reassuring Juliet that they will be reunited. Juliet's mother rushes in, elated with what she believes to be wonderful news of the upcoming marriage of Juliet to Paris. When Juliet refuses to marry Paris, Lady Capulet is dumbfounded. Capulet, hearing the refusal as he comes to congratulate his daughter, is outraged and insulted. Not only is Juliet flagrantly disobeying him, but she is also rejecting a man whom he has personally chosen above all others. Juliet pleads with Capulet, but he is deaf with rage. He storms out of Juliet's chamber and Juliet turns to her mother, making a final plea for help. Lady Capulet, while not as furious as her husband, refuses to hear another word. "Talk not to me ... for I have done with thee" (3.5.204-5). She exits the room and Juliet is alone with her Nurse. She begs for comfort but the Nurse will give her none, telling her instead to forget Romeo who is forever banished, and marry the noble Paris as Capulet commands. Juliet pretends to come to her senses and tells Nurse to go and inform her mother that she has gone to Friar Laurence to confess her sin of disobedience to her father. The Nurse happily agrees and runs off with the news. Juliet is disgusted with the Nurse's hypocrisy:
Ancient damnation! O most wicked fiend!
Is it more sin to wish me thus forsworn,
Or to dispraise my lord with that same tongue
Which she hath prais'd him with above compare
So mant thousand times? (3.5.237-9)
She decides to place her last hope in Friar Laurence. If he cannot help her, she will surely commit suicide. Mabillard, Amanda. Romeo and Juliet Plot Summary. Shakespeare Online. 18 Sept. 2008. < http://www.shakespeare-online.com/plays/romeoandjuliet/romeops2.html >.quotesdbs_dbs17.pdfusesText_23
[PDF] Romeo and Juliet Act 3 Page 69 Act 3, Scene 1