Benvolio

Question 1

‘for now, these hot days, is the mad blood stirring’ - benvolio, act 3 scene 1

Answer 1

• Benvolio begins act 3 with this observation about the dangerous, irrational, violent world of Verona.
• 5 act structure used which means that act 3 is the climax thus high tension + threat of banishment from prince.
• It’s also the peripeteia (protagonist’s fortunes shift from good to bad).
• Pathetic fallacy acts as a warning to what is about to occur
• Benvolio is saying here that it is the hot weather which makes men more inclined to fight, so much so that it is inevitable.
• To an English Elizabethan audience Verona would have been known for its hot weather and stereotypical Italian passion.
• Another interpretation could be that battle is inevitable on a social level as to reject a battle would have been detrimental to a man’s status infringing on his masculinity in the eyes of society.

Question 2

‘take thou some new infection to thy eye, And the rank poison of the old will die’ - benvolio, act 1 scene 2

Answer 2

• Benvolio is saying that when Romeo meets a new lady then his old love for Rosaline will die.
• Benvolio calls Rosaline’s hold over Romeo as an “infection”, this is an extended metaphor which demonstrates how lovesick Romeo is.
• Shakespeare also uses foreshadowing here as he calls Juliet’s love a “poison” - at the end Romeo dies by taking poison.

Question 3

‘come, he hath hid himself among these trees / to be consorted with the humorous night’ - benvolio, act 2 scene 1

Answer 3

• Benvolio recognises the Petrarchan isolation into which Romeo has retreated and the futility of attempting to coax him out of it.
• His allusion to Romeo’s isolation among the “trees” and the “night” heightens the sense of isolation.
• Romeo has completely cut himself off from human contact, retreating wholly into nature.
• This also conjures a bathetic (an unintentional anti-climax) image of Romeo sitting in a stop among the trees and the damp (“humourous”) night; Benvolio’s tone is disparaging in his description of Romeo isolated in the trees.

Question 4

‘go, then; for ‘tis in vain / to seek him here that means not be found’ - benvolio, act 2 scene 1

Answer 4

• Benvolio’s sentiment here recognises again the extent of Romeo’s self-imposed solitude.
• It is impossible to find a character who “means not to be found”, demonstrating the dramatic extent of his isolation.
• Indeed, the fact that Benvolio and Mercutio exit after this line cements and augments his isolation -Romeo’s refusal to engage in a discussion with these others perpetuates his solitude.

Question 5

‘not Romeo, prince, he was mercutio’s friend. his fault concludes but what the law should end, the life of tybalt’ - benvolio, act 3 scene 1

Answer 5

• Benvolio talks on behalf of Romeo.
• Benvolio is saying here that Romeo is justified for his actions.
• This also reflects the laws of time as revenge was thought to be a kind of justice, and so the actions of Romeo were justified.