Mercutio's Role in William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet

Mercutio's Role in William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet

In this essay I will be looking at Mercutio's character to see if the

role he plays is comical or if there is another reason why he is in

the play. Mercutio is the nephew of the prince and Romeo's best

friend. I think that Mercutio does have a comical role in the play

because of the jokes he makes and the way he acts with people, but

there is evidence that suggests he has a serious side as well.

You get a good example of Mercutio being comical in act1 scene 4, when

Mercutio is out side Capulet's house trying to cheer up Romeo because

of his love sickness. He goes on to tell Romeo about Queen Mab

visiting him in his dreams and he explains who she is. He then shows a

rude side as he starts teasing Romeo about sex. Then he starts getting

angry with Romeo and says 'You are a lover' borrow cupids wings and

sour with them above a common bound.' This shows a rude side to

Mercutio. Another rude quote he says would be 'if love be rough with

you, be rough with love: prick love for pricking and you beat love

down.' In this scene he has shown more than just a comical character

he has shown the reader that he has a serious side. Another quote that

shows the serious nature of Mercutio is 'she is the fairest midwife

and she comes no bigger than an agote stone'.

Act2 scene 1 Mercutio is teasing Romeo about how his love for rosaline

had failed, he pretends to conjure Romeo magically. He says that Romeo

has got odd moods and is that to be the origin of passion. In the

scene he presents this by saying 'nay ,ill conjure too, Romeo!

Humours! Madman! Passion! Liver!' Mercutio then starts to tease Romeo

about Venus being the god of love. After that he talks about cupid,

but in the play he's referred to as young Abraham. He says how young

Abraham shot so suitably King Cophetua loved the beggar maid.