Mercutio’s Desire for Attention
Young men, when surrounded by their friends and peers, tend to act in a more impulsive and careless way. They often do things to impress the people around them. They might be more inclined to show off and take reckless actions. In the first act of Romeo and Juliet, Mercutio displays this tendency by eliminating his self-control that might otherwise be present. Shakespeare strongly establishes Mercutio’s desire to prove himself as strong through his unwillingness to back down, his carelessness to danger, and his need to be seen.
Shakespeare displays Mercutio as a stubborn character when he refuses to leave even when Benvolio urges him to because the conversation was becoming heated. This is best shown when Mercutio says “I will not budge for no man’s pleasure, I.” (1, 1, 58) He uses his persistence to prove himself as though he is stronger than all of the Capulets who were getting angry. Even when the sense to leave the scene is presented by Benvolio, Mercutio abandons his better thinking and stands his ground. This confirms the claim that Mercutio feels that he has to validate his worth by proving his strength.
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He disregards the impending argument that would take place if he did not back down, even though that would not be a safe situation. Benvolio warns “We talk here in the public place of men. . . Or resolve coldly of your grievances, or else depart, here all eyes gaze on us.” (1, 1, 53-56) Despite Benvolio’s cautioning, Mercutio ignores the need to back down and give up on the quarrel, and he just gets more riled up. Mercutio sees the fight as a challenge to prove himself more relentless and enduring than other people. Overall, he is established as reckless from throwing away his self-preservation
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
Mercutio is a confusing character. He rarely seems to hate anybody yet he is almost always “Hot-headed;” getting into fights and losing his patience towards others.
Mercutio's prankster personality plus Tybalt's hatred of all Montagues instigates the common end to three very different characters. Romeo does not wish to draw a sword, and therefore becomes the peacemaker. "Gentlemen, for shame! Forbear this outrage!" (III, i, 82). Under Romeo's peacekeeping arm, Tybalt thrusts his rapier, and Mercutio curses both Montagues and Capulets. "I am hurt. A plague a both houses! I am sped" (III, i, 86-88). To Mercutio, destiny is not the cause of his death, but rather specific people brought about his fatality. His behavior is static as he teases while being carried away by
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
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
It is obvious to the audience that ‘this hot day’, affects his behaviour. So he contributes to the tension in this scene. Mercutio is warned by his friend Benvolio to leave because ‘the Capels are abroad, And if we meet we shall not ‘scape a brawl’. Mercutio does not accept this advice and insists on staying. This is an indication that he is looking to engage in conflict.
(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 progressing.
It is difficult for the audience to ignore this attractive role. His functions are entertaining the audience and being a turning-point figure. To begin with, he always says jests and puns to make the whole play livelier and the audience will burst out laughing at his words and funny actions. Next, his appearance is crucial to link the plots. He convinces Romeo to attend the Capulets’ ball and that is the place where he first meets Juliet. In addition, Mercutio’s death turns the atmosphere of the play. From now on, Romeo and Juliet becomes a tragedy. It is a success that Shakespeare adds this fantastic role to Romeo and
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
The excerpt shows how even Mercutio recognizes the feud between the Montagues and Capulets being destructive, and how it is now gotten so out of hand he has been dragged into it. Mercutio tries to open Romeo’s eyes on how if this feud continues there will be a demise for both families; but by Romeo choosing to ignore this advice and killing Tybalt he is setting himself up for his failure/downfall. Thus, Romeo is shown as a tragic hero because his demise is partly his fault and not an accident.
In the play Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare, Mercutio, a friend of Romeo plays a deep role within the play. Many characters in Romeo and Juliet can represent the masculine or feminine spaces. The masculine space is chaotic and more towards the sexual and material side of the play, which have more of a tragic potential. While the feminine space is peaceful, more romantic and spiritual in giving a better chance for the comic potential. Mercutio represents the masculine space while Romeo prefers the peacefulness of the feminine space. Mercutio tells Romeo to be rough with love, he tries to keep him within the masculine space after the ball, and he fools with the Juliet’s nurse because of his actions he pushes Romeo towards tragedy.
Mercutio is a clever, short-tempered, and a sharp witted man who loves to fight out of anger when threatened or criticized. Mercutio is known for having anger issues and does not think before getting involved. After a run in with Tybalt, “Consort? What,
...s both traits in cases of somber situations such as the moments leading up to his death, such as his decision to stay and fight Tybalt, and once defeated ending with a joke. As a character Mercutio resembled a man of foolish courage. This is a major issue for many of the characters in this play for many of the plans created follow the gist of being brash and quickly, but not thoroughly, prepared. Yet in life preparation is sometimes not always granted and having this swift impulsiveness may benefit some in certain situations. Although life may seem to always take some calculated thinking before proceeding to the next step, but sometimes it just requires a little instinct and gut feeling for the most important and hardest decisions.
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.
By saying to Romeo that he “gave us the conunterfeit fairly last night”, Mercutio demonstrates that he doesn’t trust Romeo and assumes that Romeo tricked them and fooled him, even without actually asking him. By questioning Romeo, Mercutio shows that he isn’t a good friend to Romeo. Mercutio also shows that real friends don’t question each other’s motives and assume the worst about each