As one of the most complex characters in the play, Romeo and Juliet, Mercutio’s purpose is to act as a static catalyst for the death of most of the characters. Shakespeare uses Mercutio’s character cleverly as the kind of character that stays in the background, but influences the rest of the cast in the utmost amount. Mercutio’s light and occasionally sardonic humor at inapt times relieves the play from being a complete tragedy and allows the audience a false sense of security before calamity strikes, such as the death of his character. Mercutio also stands as a consistent character to prove that despite the fact that the majority of Shakespeare’s characters are unpredictable and impulsive, there has to be at least one character to steady the rest of the characters. Mercutio’s purpose in the play is to be a static character and act as a catalyst for the eventual death of Romeo and Juliet.
Mercutio acts as a flat character in the play unlike the other characters who end up developing through experience. Mercutio consistently attempts to guide Romeo in the direction that is not only beneficial but more so in favor to Romeo as well. During his first appearance in an effort to encourage Romeo to dance—also in an attempt to cheer him up—Mercutio demonstrates such with the words, “Nay, gentle Romeo, we must have you dance (1.4.13)”. At first sight Mercutio is already directing Romeo to the advantageous outcome. His words are simple but they hold great meaning and reveal how much he cares for Romeo. His one sentence has an underlying meaning of wanting Romeo to overcome his current infatuation rather than merely wanting him to dance. At the scene directly prior to Mercutio’s death, he continues to show his unchanging behavior by defend...
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...s the worst worry he can hold while Mercutio lives. Not only is Mercutio a static character and a catalyst, he is also shown to be both at once, which proves he holds a greater purpose than most simpler characters in the play.
Mercutio possesses two main purposes in the play: acting as a static character and a catalyst. Mercutio is what keeps Romeo on his feet and prevents him from making poor choices. Though Mercutio dies halfway through the play, he still remains as the man he was while alive while the other characters face hardships that change them. As well, Mercutio’s death removes the one static character from the play, forcing the others to rely on their own flawed judgment. In Romeo’s case, this results in his death, as the death of Mercutio is more than the death of a friend, but also a flat character, making him the only possible catalyst in the play.
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
Thought the play, these lovers go through many obstacles that range from arranging a wedding and finding a time to meet to Juliet trying to get out of marrying Paris. The entire time fate is tossing them around. Romeo realizes this after he kills Tybalt, Juliet’s cousin, in a brawl. At first, Romeo does not want to fight because Romeo and Juliet are already married at this time and he knows that they are cousins. Tybalt asks for a brawl from Romeo but Mercutio fights instead. Mercutio gets killed by Tybalt and that is what makes Romeo mad and fight Tybalt.
Romeo was very loyal to his friends and family, and it is possible that Mercutio thought that Romeo would help him fight off Tybalt (since he was unaware of Romeo and Juliet’s secret marriage that somewhat united Romeo and Tybalt). However, this argument is easily deemed invalid. Romeo was not in the town square when the fight had first began, so Mercutio expecting his help in the fight would be a far-fetched idea. A person who is not present cannot help or hinder the situation at hand. In addition, Romeo tried to break up the fight when he said, “Gentlemen, for shame forbear this outrage! Tybalt! Mercutio! The Prince expressly hath forbid this bandying in Verona streets. Hold, Tybalt! Good Mercutio!” (Shakespeare 121). Romeo tried to stop the fight and therefore gave Mercutio more time before death, albeit minimal. The blame cannot be placed on Romeo since he did all that he could to stop the fight from
Mercutio is one of the most unique characters in Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. His language is always powerful and imaginative. The Nurse is a very important character in the play because as her title suggests, she is. a Nurse for the Capulet family. She is also a surrogate mother to Juliet.
In my opinion, Mercutio is a good character but is one of the characters to blame for the tragic events because of his negative characteristics such as being ill-tempered and being provocative. I think Shakespeare included him into the play because he is the link between the Montagues and Capulets and his death symbols the humour leaving the play and seriousness playing a larger role. And his actions brought Romeo and Juliet together by bringing Romeo to the Capulets and he is also the one of the people to end their lives.
Mercutio, the joker and comic relief of the play, dies first and foremost. Tybalt spies Romeo at Lord Capulet’s extravaganza and vows to continue his fighting match by saying:
Unaware of what happened at Capulet’s party, Mercutio assumes that Romeo is still heartbroken from Rosalind. Line 15 in Act II, Scene IV provides an alternative perspective that exposes the true nature of young love. “Alas poor Romeo, he is already dead, stabbed with a white wench’s black eye, run through the ear with a love song.” Mercutio assumes that love only results in pain, with Romeo’s troubles with infatuation only supporting his belief. Mercutio’s dissatisfied tone, in addition to his perspective on the matter, reveals how others view Romeo. Moreover, it reveals how much love influences
Mercutio- Mercutio is possibly Romeos friend because he is nearly always there for him. Mercutio is very passionate and is almost always fighting. Mercutio is also very defensive over his friends especially Romeo.
During Shakespeare’s play, Romeo and Juliet, Romeo is under the influence of Mercutio with his joking air, Benvilo with his peaceful manner, and Juliet with her loving attitude. Mercutio often raises his spirits and give Romeo more confidence in himself. Benvolio helps to keep Romeo calm and reasonable throughout each of his ordeals. Finally, Juliet provides him with hope through her undying love for him. Romeo is often swayed by many characters, but he is swayed by those whom he keeps closest to him and he loves the most.
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.
As life proceeds its slow waltz, and humans live their lives, meeting countless other people in the same predicament of nearing an unavoidable end. In this cycle of monotony and conversation there can be people found that are different. Those who are never bothered by the burdens of death and monotony, and hurry through life to greet death as a lost friend they had encountered many times on their sprees of invincibility. From the handful of people who resemble these characteristics, one can be found in the William Shakespeare play Romeo and Juliet. In which the zany character to be found is Mercutio, who is of neither Montague nor Capulet but falls to the hands of Capulet in the defense of Romeo of Montague in a fight of a childish altercation. In which even at his fall in Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare still displays his distinct characteristics that greatly define him such as: humor and impulsiveness.
The story of Romeo and Juliet had many tragic, yet meaningful events that somewhat constructed what we know today as, “The tragic love story of Romeo and Juliet.” In fact, all of those ‘tragic yet meaningful events’ are all the deaths of Mercutio, Tybalt, Romeo, and Juliet. All of the tragic, meaningful events show what theme the story portrays. Romeo and Juliet itself is a well-known so called ‘love’ play/story, but when you really ‘dig deeper’ into it you will soon come to realize that it is more of a death play than a love play. Romeo and Juliet could be considered more of a death play than a love play because, majority of the events that happened were violent and the violence resulted in death; the only two people who showed ‘love’ throughout the story was Romeo and Juliet. It is clearly shown that death brought nothing but sorrow, sadness, and problems to Romeo and Juliet from beginning to end. Analyzing the story, it is obviously shown that death is written all over Romeo and Juliet, and that all the deaths of certain characters formed Romeo and Juliet itself. Therefore, with that being said, the theme that will be most strongly portrayed is death.
In the the play ‘Romeo and Juliet’ written by William Shakespeare the character Romeo is used to help the readers understand an important message of the destruction that is caused when passion overrides reason. Shakespeare uses Romeo to highlight an important message is shown several times throughout the course of the play. Shakespeare uses the character Romeo to help readers understand this important message when Romeo sneaks into the Capulet's’ garden to see Juliet in act 2, scene 2. He is also used to show an important message in act 3, scene 5 when Romeo kills himself once finding out about Juliet’s apparent death.
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 first passage is the Prologue l. 1-14, and the chorus gives the audience some background information before the play starts. My second passage is III, i, 91-108, and Mercutio has just been stabbed by Tybalt and is speaking his final words to Benvolio and Romeo before he dies. The first passage gives the setting to the play and a brief overview of who is involved and what will take place. It explains that two lovers, from two different families, have fallen in love but it is forbidden and, through a series of events (which the audience will watch) they die and their families still dislike each other. In the second passage Mercutio is ranting on about how if it weren’t for the feud between the two houses he would not be dying to distract himself from the pain of being stabbed. His discussion with Romeo and Benvolio is