What is the summary of Act 3 in Romeo and Juliet?

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Scene 1

Scene 1 takes place in a public place. Mercutio, Benvolio enter with a page and several servants. Benvolio is complaining about the heat of the day and Mercutio teases him for it. As they talk Tybalt followed by a couple of servants enters the scene. He asks Benvolio and Mercutio if they have seen Romeo. As Benvolio and Mercutio tease Tybalt, Romeo enters the scene.

Tybalt challenges Romeo to a duel, but Rome refuses because Tybalt is now his family Mercutio takes Romeo's refusal as a sign of cowardice and challenges Tybalt in Romeo's stead. Tybalt and Mercutio start to fight. Romeo tries to stop the fight, then as he steps between the two Tybalt stabs Mercutio under Romeo's arm dealing him a mortal blow and then runs away.

Romeo attempts to comfort Mercutio who dispatches his page to find a doctor. Romeo tries to encourage Mercutio but it is obvious he will die. Eventually Benvolio helps Mercution off the street and the two exit the scene. Romeo is by himself for a short time while he speaks about being angry with Tybalt, then Benvolio enters the scene again to let Romeo know Mercutio is dead. Tybalt comes back into the scene and Romeo challenges him to a fight. The two fight and Romeo kills Tybalt.

Benvolio tells Romeo to run away as several citizens have seen the fight and are upset. Romeo exits the scene. A short time later the Prince, both Lord Montague and Lord Capulet, and several citizens enter the scene. Benvolio tells the prince what happens. The Prince, instead of sentencing Romeo to death, instead decided to banish him and fine both families. Everyone exits the scene.

Scene 2

Scene 4 takes place in Capulet's Orchard. Juliet enters the scene worrying about the fact that Romeo has yet to arrive. The Nurse enters the scene and tells Juliet of Tybalt's death. Juliet fears this means that Romeo is dead. The Nurse informs Juliet that Romeo is not dead but banished and is currently hiding in the fryers cell. Juliet asks the Nurse to go to Romeo and have him give her a farewell visit that night. Everyone exits the scene.

Scene 3

Scene 3 takes place in Friar Laurnce's cell. Friar Laurence enters the scene bidding Romeo to come out of hiding. Romeo comes out and the Friar tells him that Romeo is banished. Romeo bemoans his fate because being banished is like a living death. There is a knock at the door and it is Juliet's Nurse. The Nurse enters the scene and informs Rome and the Friar that Juliet is very distraught over the news of Romeo's banishment. Romeo tries to kill himself but is stopped by the Friar and the Nurse. The Friar tells Romeo to go and visit Juliet that night and leave for Mantua in the morning. He also tells Romeo that while Romeo is in Mantua, the Friar will find a way to make Romeo and Juliet's marriage public and gain Romeo a pardon.

Scene 4

Scene 4 takes place in a room on the Capulet's house. Capulet, the Lady Capulet, and Paris enter the scene discussing Juliet's sorrow at the death of Tybalt. Paris complains that her mourning is stopping him from courting her. Capulet tells Paris that he will command Juliet to marry him. Paris is happy with this. Capulet tells his wife to inform Juliet of her betrothal.

Scene 5

Scene 5 takes place in Capulet's Orchard. Romeo and Juliet enter wishing that the morning was not upon them. For a brief minute they try to pretend that it is evening and not morning, but eventually they face the reality of Romeo's banishment and Romeo exits the scene.

After Romeo exits, Juliet begins to cry and her mother, Lady Capulet, enters the scene. She mistakes Juliet's sorrow to be caused by the death of Tybalt and tells her that she plans to have Romeo poisoned. Then Lady Capulet tells Juliet that her father has arranged for her to marry Paris. Juliet of course refuses to marry Paris and argues with her mother until Lord Capulet arrives.

Juliet argues her marriage with Paris to her father. Eventually he grows tired of her arguing with him and tells Juliet that she will obey his command then leaves the scene. Lady Capulet tells her daughter not to speak to her for a while and leaves. Alone with her Nurse Juliet decides to go speak with Friar Laurence for advice.

As they walk in the street under the boiling sun, Benvolio suggests to Mercutio that they go indoors, fearing that a brawl will be unavoidable should they encounter Capulet men. Mercutio replies that Benvolio has as quick a temper as any man in Italy, and should not criticize others for their short fuses.

Tybalt enters with a group of cronies. He approaches Benvolio and Mercutio and asks to speak with one of them. Annoyed, Mercutio begins to taunt and provoke him.

Romeo enters. Tybalt turns his attention from Mercutio to Romeo, and calls Romeo a villain. Romeo, now secretly married to Juliet and thus Tybalt’s kinsman, refuses to be angered by Tybalt’s verbal attack. Tybalt commands Romeo to draw his sword. Romeo protests that he has good reason to love Tybalt, and does not wish to fight him. He asks that until Tybalt knows the reason for this love, he put aside his sword. Mercutio angrily draws his sword and declares with biting wit that if Romeo will not fight Tybalt, he will.

Mercutio and Tybalt begin to fight. Romeo, attempting to restore peace, throws himself between the combatants. Tybalt stabs Mercutio under Romeo’s arm, and as Mercutio falls, Tybalt and his men hurry away. Mercutio dies, cursing both the Montagues and the Capulets: “A plague o’ both your houses” (3.1.87), and still pouring forth his wild witticisms: “Ask for me tomorrow, and / you shall find me a grave man” (3.1.93–94). Enraged, Romeo declares that his love for Juliet has made him effeminate, and that he should have fought Tybalt in Mercutio’s place.

When Tybalt, still angry, storms back onto the scene, Romeo draws his sword. They fight, and Romeo kills Tybalt. Benvolio urges Romeo to run; a group of citizens outraged at the recurring street fights is approaching. Romeo, shocked at what has happened, cries “O, I am fortune’s fool!” and flees (3.1.131).

The Prince enters, accompanied by many citizens, and the Montagues and Capulets. Benvolio tells the Prince the story of the brawl, emphasizing Romeo’s attempt to keep the peace, but Lady Capulet, Tybalt’s aunt, cries that Benvolio is lying to protect the Montagues. She demands Romeo’s life. Prince Escalus chooses instead to exile Romeo from Verona. He declares that if Romeo is found within the city, he will be killed.

Read a translation of Act 3, scene 1 →

Analysis

The sudden, fatal violence in the first scene of Act 3, as well as the buildup to the fighting, serves as a reminder that, for all its emphasis on love, beauty, and romance, Romeo and Juliet still takes place in a masculine world in which notions of honor, pride, and status are prone to erupt in a fury of conflict.

Read more about the play’s setting and its symbolic worlds.

The viciousness and dangers of the play’s social environment are dramatic tools that Shakespeare employs to make the lovers’ romance seem even more precious and fragile—their relationship is the audience’s only respite from the brutal world pressing against their love. The fights between Mercutio and Tybalt and then between Romeo and Tybalt are chaotic; Tybalt kills Mercutio under Romeo’s arm, flees, and then suddenly, and inexplicably, returns to fight Romeo, who kills him in revenge. Passion outweighs reason at every turn.

Read more about why Mercutio fights Tybalt.

Romeo’s cry, “O, I am fortune’s fool!” refers specifically to his unluckiness in being forced to kill his new wife’s cousin, thereby getting himself banished (3.1.131). It also recalls the sense of fate that hangs over the play. Mercutio’s response to his fate, however, is notable in the ways it diverges from Romeo’s response. Romeo blames fate, or fortune, for what has happened to him. Mercutio curses the Montagues and Capulets. He seems to see people as the cause of his death, giving no credit to any larger force.

Read important quotes by Romeo.

Elizabethan society generally believed that a man who was too much in love lost his manliness. Romeo clearly subscribes to that belief, as can be seen when he states that his love for Juliet had made him “effeminate.” Once again, however, this statement can be seen as a battle between the private world of love and the public world of honor, duty, and friendship. The Romeo who duels with Tybalt is the Romeo who Mercutio would call the “true” Romeo. The Romeo who sought to avoid confrontation out of concern for his wife is the person Juliet would recognize as her loving Romeo. The word "effeminate" is applied by the public world of honor upon those things it does not respect. In using the term to describe his present state, Romeo accepts the responsibilities thrust upon him by the social institutions of honor and family duty.

Read more about the individual versus society as a theme.

The arrival of the Prince and the angry citizens shifts the focus of the play to a different sort of public sphere. Romeo’s killing of Tybalt is marked by rashness and vengeance, characteristics prized by noblemen, but which threaten the public order that citizens desire and the Prince has a responsibility to uphold. As one who has displayed such traits, Romeo is banished from Verona.

Read more about violence as a theme.

Earlier, the Prince acted to repress the hatred of the Montagues and the Capulets in order to preserve public peace; now, still acting to avert outbreaks of violence, the Prince unwittingly acts to thwart the love of Romeo and Juliet. Consequently, with their love censured not only by the Montagues and Capulets but by the ruler of Verona, Romeo and Juliet’s relationship puts Romeo in danger of violent reprisal from both Juliet’s kinsmen and the state.

Read more about love as a cause of violence as a theme.