The tension is mounting because the audience knows that Romeo is guilty of killing Tybalt and they know that the Prince has said that whoever is caught fighting will be killed. The tension is heightened by Lady Capulets plea for Romeo's death. "Romeo slew Tybalt. Romeo must not live." This is especially dramatic because it shows that the feud runs so deep that even the women are ruthless and vicious because of it. The tension is relieved slightly when the Prince and Lord Montague reasons that Romeo killed Tybalt who would have been killed anyway by the law.
