Romeo utters this line immediately after killing Tybalt in the first scene of Act Three. As his kinsman Benvolio urges him to flee, knowing that the Prince will possibly sentence him to death if he is captured, Romeo stands as if in a daze. He realizes the gravity of what he has done. He has cost his friend Mercutio his life by his ill-timed intervention in his fight with Tybalt, and he has doomed his...
Romeo utters this line immediately after killing Tybalt in the first scene of Act Three. As his kinsman Benvolio urges him to flee, knowing that the Prince will possibly sentence him to death if he is captured, Romeo stands as if in a daze. He realizes the gravity of what he has done. He has cost his friend Mercutio his life by his ill-timed intervention in his fight with Tybalt, and he has doomed his recent marriage to Juliet. With this line, he is, essentially, cursing his bad luck. This is all the more powerful because the audience knows that Romeo and Juliet are doomed, and that the death of Tybalt has probably set in motion the events that will bring about their fate. As it turns out, Romeo has reason to decry his bad luck. The Prince does not sentence him to death, but to be banished to the nearby town of Mantua. The Friar's scheme to reunite the two lovers, and avoid Juliet's pending marriage to Paris, falls apart. The death of Tybalt at Romeo's hands is thus a major turning point in the play, which Romeo acknowledges, in a way, with this statement.
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