The Significance of Mercutio in William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet
Romeo and Juliet is about two lovers whose families are at war and how
the two overcome the family feud for their love for each other.
Mercutio is one of the central characters in the play; he is one of
the prince's kinsmen and is best friend to Romeo of the Montague
household. The name Mercutio is derived for the word mercurial which
means eloquent, active and changeable; Mercutio is all three because
through out the play he changes his mood from a light-hearted joking
to fiery insults in a short time. Mercutio is very persistent and is
always ready to do things which again show the relevance of his name
because of his activity. Mercutio is also very eloquent using a very
good choice of words to humiliate the target for instance he uses an
oxymoron to insult Tybalt by calling him "the very butcher of a silk
button", when saying this Mercutio uses the vicious word "butcher" and
then contradicts it with a very delicate and soft word of "silk
button" thus suggesting he is very effeminate and that he is better at
sewing than fighting. Mercutio has many major impacts on the play and
the characters, for example, Mercutio influences Romeo greatly and in
many ways, he also provides a lot of drama and humour to the play.
Mercutio in addition provides an alternative view of love to Romeo's
very thoughtful view, Mercutio illustrates all of the main themes of
the play as well and Mercutio is the catalyst of all of the tragic
events in the whole play. It will be those affects that I shall be
looking on.
Mercutio is a significant influence over Romeo. The most obvious
eff...
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...ect on Romeo's choice to commit suicide because with the apparent
death of Juliet at that point and the death of his best friend Romeo
would have had very few people to speak to about the deaths and to
console him. I think Mercutio is quite successful when showing the
themes of the play, like the theme of tragedy and fate are shown very
well with his death, and the theme of tragic love is made known in two
scenes, his speech about the great ancient beauties and his own death
with Romeo's reaction and sorrow. These all help predict the biggest
part of the play, the deaths of Romeo and Juliet because after
Mercutio's death the play gets darker and introduces more sorrow, such
as Romeo's exile then Juliet's marriage announcement and the loss of
the message to Romeo about Juliet's fake death and finally the double
suicide.
Throughout the speech, he frequently adds a sort of flare to the way he speaks; for example, he uses over ten lines(in the text)to simply describe the size of Queen Mab. The manner in which he speaks is loud, confident, and stylish; therefore, he attracts attention. He also manages to subtly mock Romeo when speaking about how those who are in love dream of love; this is to add a comedic flare, even though that is what he is. Mercutio’s entertainer like personality is due to the fact that he is amusing. In this tragic and serious play, he is the obnoxious character that breaks the seriousness for a while with a witty remark.It also explains why he is the dramatic foil to Romeo. This goes along with his flamboyant attitude. Nevertheless, he is also vulgar at times, which adds to his loud personality. Now, brown represents Earth and reliability, and Mercutio, in his own way, represents
He is often up and happy, which immediately turns to serious brooding. The best example of this comes at his death. He has been stabbed through by Tybalt’s cruel blade and the killer has flown. All his fellows gather around laughing when Mercutio yells that he is injured. After sending for a surgeon he stumbles about saying, “No, ‘tis not so deep as a well, nor so wide as a church door; but ‘tis enough, twill serve: ask for me tomorrow and you shall find me a grave man. I am peppered I warrant for this world. A plague o’ both your houses! Zounds, a dog, a rat, a mouse, a cat to scratch a man to death” (III.i.94-99). In this quote Mercutio seems to go from cracking jokes and making puns to all seriousness, screaming plague upon the quarrel between the two houses. This was very serious considering the plague was running rampant at that time, killing thousands of people. To wish plague on someone is to wish the most feared thing of their age on them and their family. This is not the only example of such emotional instability as he often ranges from very high to very low, creating quite the dramatic and loud character. Mercutio’s characteristics are wide and varied, making him into an extremely complex, extremely prominent character. Shakespeare places this persona of varying emotions who may not be thinking exactly what he seems to be into the story of Romeo and Juliet, a stage full of such
In many ways Mercutio can be blamed for the deaths of Romeo and Juliet. If he had not persuaded Romeo to come to the Capulet?s Ball Romeo would most likely have never fallen in love with Juliet. If Romeo hadn?t gone to the Capulets Ball, Tybalt would not have sought his life and in time forcing Romeo to be banished and Mercutio and himself dead. Or was it those few words that left Mercutios mouth when he knew he was dying? ?A plague on both your houses! I am sped. Is he gone, and hath nothing?? - Act 3, Scene 1, line 90. Could he have really put a curse on the Capulet and Montague households? That both families will come together at the result of death.
While reading Shakespeare's play “Romeo and Juliet” it is easy to see that everybody in the story is at fault for the deaths of Romeo and Juliet. Personally however, I believe that three of the main characters are more at fault then the other characters. First is Mercutio, Romeo’s best friend. Next is Benvolio, nephew of Lord Montague and Romeo’s other friend. Last is Friar Lawrence, Romeo and Juliet Franciscan Priest. In a story of unorthodox love, family feuding, and violence, many are at blame for the deaths.
It is human nature to place blame and point fingers at someone, but it is a lot less common to take responsibility for your own actions. Sometimes, we put ourselves in positions that are detrimental to our lives or well-being. Even though we are responsible, it is likely that we will place the blame elsewhere. In Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, Mercutio found himself with a similar conflict. Tybalt, Juliet's cousin, killed Mercutio during a fight in the town square. It would be easy to say that Tybalt caused Mercutio’s death since it was his sword that killed him, but that is simply false. Mercutio ignored many warnings and continued to antagonize the fight that lead to his death. The character ultimately responsible for Mercutio’s death is
Between these two stories i think that they both share a hidden them of “Brotherly love never quits” In Romeo and Juliet most of the characters show this in one way or another, but in that was then this is now the evidence usually floats between mark and bryon through most of the story. Firstly, In the book Romeo and Juliet, in Act I, scene ii, Benvolio and Mercutio are out in the streets of verona joking around with each other and Mercutio states “God send me no need of thee” This reveals to the reader that Mercutio and Benvolio have a very close and brotherly like relationship, close enough to joke around with each other. I think that Mercutio and Benvolio are very close and always have been and Benvolio is more of the peacemaker between Mercutio and Benvolio, Mercutio does not care what he says and that causes him to get into many situations.
Mercutio, though a minor character, had and enormous impact on the outcome of the play. Before the Capulet Ball, Romeo had been debating whether to go or not. Mercutio persuaded him to go by giving a big speech to him about a dream he had. This makes him partially responsible because the Ball is where Romeo first met Juliet. Mercutio also caused Romeo to be banished from Verona. Mercutio got in a fight with Tybalt and ended up dead. His death enraged Romeo enough to make him kill Tybalt in revenge. When the Prince saw what happened, he sent Romeo into exile. Romeo's banishment to Mantua made it near impossible for Romeo and Juliet to see each other. Mercutio was to blame, though only partially for the deaths of Romeo and Juliet.
In Act One of William Shakespeare’s play, Romeo and Juliet, we meet Romeo, Mercutio, and Tybalt. Right away, we get an idea of who these characters are and what kind of role they will play throughout the story. Romeo, Mercutio, and Tybalt share many distinctive characteristics and personalities in the story. We learn that Romeo is the romantic and handsome son of the Montagues. In the beginning of the story, he was depressed, but his mood quickly changed as the story went on. We also learn that Mercutio is Romeo’s closest and good friend who tries to make Romeo forget about his first love, Rosaline. He is a great entertainer and he’s very sarcastic too. Instantly, we learn that Tybalt is a Capulet and Juliet’s cousin. He is very hot-headed, aggressive, and violent. He loathes the Montagues very much. Finally, in Act One of William Shakespeare’s play, Romeo and Juliet, we meet three characters, Romeo, Mercutio, and Tybalt and we directly get an idea of what the characters are like.
(CLOSING STATEMENTS) With his audacious nature, Romeo kills Tybalt in a challenge and later kills himself, which causes significant problems in the plot. Unfortunately, as a result of Romeo’s actions, Juliet stabs herself with his dagger because she no longer wants to live in a world without him. Along with Romeo, Mercutio is another character who makes poor decisions based on his overdramatic personality and tendency to disagree with Benvolio's way of thinking. These two choices cause characters around Mercutio to not take him seriously, and for this reason, he later dies in the play. Although Mercutio’s actions impact the storyline, Friar Laurence’s choices primarily cause the play to become such a tragedy. For instance, his poor decisions to marry Romeo and Juliet and flee Juliet’s tomb eventually cause the couple’s love for one another to become inseparable, and they take their lives at the end of the plot. (CLINCHER) As the readers delve deeper into Romeo and Juliet and unravel what went wrong, they will begin to realize that the decisions made by the characters created catastrophic
The most famous foil character in ''Romeo and Juliet'' is Mercutio. He is known for his sharp wit and quick, often ribald, humor and is considered a foil to Romeo. He lacks Romeo's effusive romance, his adoration and almost courtly approach to the idea of love. He often urges Romeo to just find a woman to sleep with and stop worrying about the ephemeral, yet all consuming, love Romeo is desperate to achieve. Mercutio warns Romeo to be skeptical of love and not to rush ahead, but Romeo is all rush, no
Romeo & Juliet (1968) was originally a play that was written by William Shakespeare, but as time progressed, plays became less popular and films became more popular. In 1968, Franco Zefirelli directed the film Romeo & Juliet that was nominated and won fifteen awards. Some of these awards are two Oscars, three Golden Globes, and five Silver Ribbon Awards. Romeo & Juliet is a romantic tragedy about forbidden love between two young teens whose families despise one another (CITE). Juliets family is referred to as “the Capulets”, and Romeo’s family are “the Montagues” (CITE). Zefirelli uses lighting and framing to capture the audience’s attention and design to reflect that the Capulets and Montagues during the Medieval time era. Meanwhile, he portrays
In Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, the views of love held by the character Romeo contrast sharply with the views of Mercutio. Romeo's character seems to suffer from a type of manic depression. He is in love with his sadness, quickly enraptured and easily crushed again on a passionate roller coaster of emotion. Mercutio, by contrast is much more practical and level headed. His perceptions are clear and quick, characterized by precise thought and careful evaluation. Romeo, true to his character begins his appearance in the play by wallowing in his depression over Rosaline who does not return his love:
The character of Romeo is important because he brings humour into the play. The play 'Romeo and Juliet' is a tragity because both the main characters die. Mercutio's character is humorous, comics, entertaining and morose. This is important because he brings light relief to the play. The effects he has on the other characters and the audience are that they laugh and their mood get a new life.
When we first meet Romeo in the scene one of Act I, he expresses his
says that if he were to, “strike him dead I hold it not a sin”. In