In the play Romeo and Juliet, Mercutio’s death functions as a major turning point that establishes the major concerns of tragedy. In this scene, Shakespeare uses techniques to juxtapose the central themes of hatred, violence and love to establish a sense of tragic loss, which also foreshadows the inevitable, devastating finale that is awaiting the two lovers. The themes of hatred and violence portrayed through the feud between the two families, significantly shapes the formation of tragedy. As conflict arises between Mercutio and Tybalt, Romeo attempts to intervene to stop their fight, but seemingly fate conspires to bring about the death of Mercutio. At this point, the sense of tragedy becomes illuminated in the audiences’ mind. Shakespeare achieves this effect through his playful and comedic characterisation of Mercutio. In death, his comic characterisation is juxtaposed with sadness, shifting the play from comedy to tragedy. The evocative image “a plague o’ both your houses” ominously implies to the audience, that this is only the “beginning” of the tragedy. The metaphoric reference to the word “plague” also consolidates the occurrence of tragedy and expresses the destruction of love in the play. Romeo’s line “I do protest I never injured thee, but love thee better than thou canst devise” highlights Romeo’s desire to end the conflict with Tybalt. However, he is unsuccessful. This depicts the struggle of love when confronted by deep seated hatred. As we can see, the impact of the families’ feud has lead to Tybalt’s hatred against Romeo (and all Montagues), and leads to the death of Mercutio, which in terms lead us to the advent of tragedy. In the scene of Mercutio’s death, Shakespeare uses characterisation and dramatic irony... ... middle of paper ... ...oesn't wake up, Romeo will soon take his own life. The scene where Juliet wakes and finds Romeo dead is symbolic in reiterating the tragic, but overwhelming control of fate over the star-crossed lovers. Therefore, the death of Mercutio have triggered a chain of tragic incidents and therefore establishes the major concerns of tragedy. Mercutio’s death as a turning point have greatly impacted to the establishment of the major concerns of tragedy. His death have triggered a chain of tragic incidents, which in the end lead to the death of the star-crossed lovers. This turning point shifts the play from comedy to tragedy, consolidates the defeat of love against violence and hatred and reiterates Shakespeare’s message of the control of fate over destinies. Therefore, Mercutio’s death, the climatic turning point is significant in developing the major concerns of tragedy.
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.
The first reason why the play is a traditional tragedy is that the hero, Romeo, possesses a major flaw which leads him into much trouble and eventually his demise: his fiery, impetuous nature. In one of the many brawls between the Capulets and the Montagues, Romeo displays his rashness. In this encounter, Tybalt and Mercutio, Romeo’s best friend, joke around as they are dueling, but the duel takes a turn for the worse when Tybalt kills Mercutio. Romeo, devastated by the death of his best friend and hell-bent on avenging it, challenges Tybalt to a duel. Romeo kills Tybalt out of anger and is banished from Verona, separated from his love Juliet. The punishment does not fit the crime, but it cannot be denied that Romeo brought it upon himself. He acknowledges his own rash behavior by saying, “Oh, I am fortune’s fool!” (III, i, 99). If he could have controlled his temper, the whole fight would have been avoided. Not only is Romeo impulsive in battles...
Because of the masculine space being more dominant within the play it foreshadows the impending tragedy. By Mercutio forcing his views on Romeo, his attempts to keep Romeo within the masculine space and tomfoolery with Juliet’s nurse he pushes Romeo towards tragedy. The tragedy is guided from the masculine and feminine spaces weighing in the
Romeo and Juliet has many themes which are fate, death and love, these are all intertwined. At the very beginning of the play, before we even know the characters, we know that ‘death-marked’ ‘Star crossed lovers’ will ‘take their lives’ which already brings in the major themes. Shakespeare uses dramatic irony throughout the play and builds up the tension until Act 3 scene 1 where death starts to play a role. The Prologue also informs us about the Montagues and Capulets dislike for each other. The theme of love is also there thought the play. There are different types of love, the unrequited love the Romeo feels for Rosaline and that Paris feels for Juliet. There is also the love between friends such as with Romeo and Mercutio as Mercutio dies to protect Romeo’s honour and then Romeo avenges his death, and then the romantic love Romeo and Juliet share. I believe the Mercutio is one of the main characters in this play. His speeches tell us a lot about him and his actions have a large affect on the ending of the play. Mercutio’s name means mercurial meaning “an unpredictable and fast changing mood” which is an accurate description of Mercutio's personality because in Queen Mabs speech at the beginning he is joking and seeking attention, but at the end he becomes serious and angry.
Death plays a key role in Romeo and Juliet. During the story, six deaths occur that fashion Shakespeare’s publication into the calamity that’s known around the world. Each death pushes the story forward continuously, leading to the finale where the two lovers die due to love and hate from both feuding families.
As the play progresses Shakespeare offers some hope that the lovers would be saved, however each time fate is against them. If Mercutio would have escaped his death Romeo would have had no reason to kill Tybalt. ‘Mercutios dying curse a plague on both your houses’. This reminds ...
In the play The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet, many people lead to the outcome of Romeo and Juliet’s deaths. The play is about a boy, Romeo, and a girl, Juliet, from two rival families that fall in love. The two families, the Montagues and Capulets, have been fighting for a long time and it affects the entire city of Verona, where they live. It is debated whether or not the deaths of the star-crossed lovers could be blamed on numerous people. The tragedy of their deaths was the faults of multiple characters and could have been prevented.
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.
(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
Love is selfless toward all the ones you love. However, Romeo and Juliet’s actions are the contrary of this statement. Romeo and Juliet showed no care of the generational feud between their families. They selfishly married without acknowledging their parents and hoped to solve the conflict by hiding the truth. Other than proving their selfishness, this shows that the two are also fairly naive to believe that their love can overcome all the consequences and break the hostility between their families. Their impulsive decisions have not only largely impacted their lives, but also placed the lives of their family and friends in bet. Out of the six deaths in the play, Mercutio was the first to lose his life. Mercutio was one of Romeo’s best friends. Although he was not a member of neither the two families, his death was indirectly caused by the feud of the two families. Also directly, caused of Romeo. Since Romeo had just married Juliet, he wanted to be friendly with Juliet’s cousin-Tybalt.
In “The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet” by William Shakespeare, two very young people fall in love but cannot be with each other because of the feud in between their families. The feud ends when Romeo and Juliet both kill themselves because of heartbreak over the other. The minor characters Mercutio, Tybalt, and Friar Lawrence serve as foils to Romeo, to help support the theme of patience.
The plot for Romeo and Juliet stems from a love story based on Romeo meeting Juliet at a ball where Tybalt from the Capulet family attends. Friction begins when Tybalt voices his dislike for Romeo of the Montague family. This sets the stage for a confrontation between Tybalt and Romeo. Mercutio's character takes on importance as the confrontation takes form. If there were no Mercutio than Juliet would still be alive. Unfortunately, Romeo would not be alive because Tybalt would have surely killed
In act 3, scene 1, Mercutio is dying, “No, ‘tis not so deep as a well; nor so wide as a church door.” Mercutio is on his deathbed and he is describing his wound, trying to make himself sound like a hero. Mercutio put himself in a tense situation by preparing to fight. He knew that the consequences were severe, yet he eggs Tybalt on and gives others a reason to fight. If not for Mercutio’s dramatic and attention-seeking personality, Romeo, Juliet, Tybalt, Paris, and he would all still be
Shakespeare uses Mercutio’s insight as a contrast to every other character to show how ridiculous the other characters actually are. If you pay attention to the plots and story lines, this play is a love story. If you understand Mercutio’s purpose, then this play is one of the greatest satires on human emotions ever made.
Now that Mercutio was eradicated from the scene so we can concentrate on the main characters of the game. Mercutio was so diverting and full of life. He brought the humor out of every sad situation. Shakespeare only eliminated Mercutio so early in the play because he wanted to get serious and straight to the point. Mercutio was aware of the