Scene summary
On a hot day, Benvolio suggests to Mercutio that they withdraw, because if they run into the Capulets in the street, a fight will break out. Mercutio mocks him, saying that Benvolio picks a fight over anything, over one hair more or less in another man's beard, over a cough in the street, over a tailor who wore his doublet before Easter. Tybalt arrives with other Capulets and asks for a word; Mercutio replies that he should combine it with a blow. Tybalt says Mercutio goes around with Romeo, and Mercutio takes this as an insult. Benvolio asks that they withdraw to a private place, but Mercutio refuses. When Romeo arrives, Tybalt calls him a villain and challenges him. Romeo, already secretly kin to the Capulets, refuses the duel and says he loves him more than Tybalt can imagine, until he knows the reason. Mercutio calls this "vile submission" and draws his sword against Tybalt, whom he calls the king of cats and from whom he wants to take one of the nine lives.
Romeo asks the two to put away their swords, reminding them that the Prince has forbidden such fights in Verona, and steps between them; under Romeo's arm, Tybalt wounds Mercutio and flees with his men. Mercutio says it is a scratch, but that it is enough, that tomorrow they will find him "a grave man," and that the plague take both houses. He asks Romeo why he stepped between them. Benvolio takes him inside a house. Romeo laments that his friend, the Prince's kinsman, was wounded in defense of him, and that Juliet's beauty has softened him. Benvolio returns and says Mercutio has died. When Tybalt reappears, Romeo trades mercy for fury and says that he or Tybalt, or both, must accompany Mercutio; they fight, and Tybalt falls. Benvolio tells Romeo to flee before the Prince condemns him, and Romeo says he is the plaything of fortune.
The citizens rush in, and the Prince, Montague, Capulet, and the women arrive. Benvolio recounts the fight: Romeo spoke calmly to Tybalt, who would not listen, and Mercutio died when Romeo tried to part them; only afterward did Romeo kill Tybalt. Lady Capulet, Tybalt's aunt, says Benvolio is a kinsman of Montague and is lying, and demands Romeo's death. Montague replies that Romeo was Mercutio's friend and only did what the law would do, killing Tybalt. The Prince, who lost a kinsman in the fight, banishes Romeo, fines both houses, and says that the clemency that pardons a killer is another way of murdering.
Analysis
Romeo refuses the duel because, unknown to Tybalt, he has just married Tybalt's cousin: he says he loves him "more than you can imagine," until he knows the reason. Mercutio, who does not know, reads this as "vile submission" and takes up the duel on Romeo's behalf. Wounded under Romeo's arm, Mercutio dies, and this is what changes Romeo: he attributes his weakness to his love for Juliet and, seeing his friend dead, trades mercy for fury.
A plague o’ both your houses
(III.1)
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