Mercutio's Humor

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Many comedic elements occur throughout play, and through these hilarious events, it is clear that even in a tragedy the tale can be amusing. Humor adds a livelier mood to the drama when Mercutio, Romeo's witty friend, teases Romeo as a helpless victim of an overzealous, unsatisfied love. Shakespeare’s purpose of creating comedy is to relieve the audience from the tension and drama embedded in the love story. Over the course of the work, humorous characters provide comic relief; for example, Mercutio mocks, “If love be rough with you, be rough with love; / Prick love for pricking, and you beat love down. / Give me a case to put my visage in: / A visor for a visor! what care I / What curious eye doth quote deformities?” (1.4). As Romeo mopes …show more content…

Shakespeare contrasts comedy and tragedy by depicting the differences in how Mercutio sees romance. Without the silliness of Mercutio, the play would always have a melancholic ambiance. Through Shakespeare’s theatrical storyline some of the characters provide wit; for instance, Mercutio describes Queen Mab: “She is the fairies’ midwife, and she comes / In shape no bigger than an agate-stone / On the fore-finger of an alderman, / Drawn with a team of little atomies / …An in this state she gallops night by night / Through lovers’ brains, and then they dream of love” (1.4). This discourse of an imaginative fairy showcases Mercutio’s fantasy and spirited personality. His comical manner endows a period of respite from Romeo’s love crisis. Thru this break from the commotion, the audience can enjoy Mercutio’s mirthful whim. Romeo believes that dreams are true and one can foresee their future within their dreams. Mercutio is a skeptic who believes that dreams are just one’s fantasy brought by desire and the dream fairy, Queen Mab. His speech and comparisons between love and hate, violence and desire are so ridiculous that finally Romeo pleads for him to stop scorning the disposition of dreams. When the spectators imagine Queen Mab “drawn with a team of little atomies” it gives them a rest from the apprehension the tragedy portrays. This scene can be interpreted as a funny reverie that can make the viewers laugh and smile. Furthermore, Mercutio states that Queen Mab makes people “dream of love”, which creates a jubilant mood. While Romeo is depressed that Rosaline will not return his love, Mercutio illustrates the hopeful picture of dreaming about love and affection. In the narrative Mercutio presents merriment that incorporates the importance of comedy in a

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