In the book Romeo and Juliet, William Shakespeare has transformed the story of the star-crosses’ lovers into a devastated, romantic tragedy. Two lovers, Romeo and Juliet, struggles through many hardships to find a hope in their relationship, however, the feud between the two families have cut their lives short and causes the death of many other people. Romeo and Juliet’s death serve as a sacrifice to end the enmity and hatred between Capulet and Montague. Mercutio, one of Shakespeare most extraordinary character, who has constantly overflows with imagination and wit, holds an important role in the play. His actions first lead to Romeo’s banishment, then to the tragic that follows. Mercutio’s use of humorous verse and flowery metaphor reveals how misunderstanding and miscommunications often cause conflicts, anger, and even death.
Mercutio non-stop ecstasy continues to cheer Romeo from his sorrow and brings laughter upon the people around him. When Rosaline vows that she will never get marry, Romeo collapses in the state of depression. Mercutio tries to amuse Romeo and tell him to think of love as a simple sexual appetite. He teases Romeo and describes what he thinks Romeo should do “If love be rough with you, be rough with love/ Prick love for pricking and you beat love down.”(Act I, IV, 27-28). The advices that Mercutio gives to Romeo implies that he has a different view on love than Romeo does. He does not think Romeo should take love too seriously, but rather as chasing what he desires. Mercutio reveals his humorous and silly character through his uses of diction. Because of this eagerness to joke around, people sometimes misunderstand the meaning behind his words. It seems absurd for someone like Mercutio, who is imaginative an...
... middle of paper ...
... the two families of his suffering. Mercutio sets up his own deathbed when he challenges Tybalt for a fight. Since he starts the quarrel, he should not blame anyone for the outcome. Because of his hot temper, and lack of maturity, Mercutio have digs his own grave.
Mercutio is clearly to blame for the death of Romeo and Juliet, despises the facts that he is Romeo’s friend. His death have sets a battle between the Montagues and Capulets and causes the plays to turn into a tragedy afterward. If Mercutio have not provokes Tybalt into a fight, Romeo might not have take revenge on Tybalt, his new in-law cousin. As a result, Mercutio dies early, without knowing what mess he causes. Even though he does not mean it, he has indirectly kills Romeo and Juliet. Mercutio’s sharp choices of words have leads to the death of the people in Verona and the life of the young lovers.
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
Romeo senses tensions are high with Tybalt, so he states, “I do protest I never injured thee but love thee better than thou canst devise.” (Lines 65-66 Act Three, Scene One). Romeo is trying to diffuse the situation because he realizes that Tybalt is his love's cousin. Mercutio is surprised by Romeo’s behavior, so he decides to fight Tybalt himself. Mercutio’s decision to fight Tybalt leads to his own death. Romeo is angered by the death of Mercutio and states, “Now, Tybalt, take the “villain" back again/ That late thou gavest me; for Mercutio’s soul.” (Lines 123-124 of Act Three, Scene One). Romeo is indicating that Tybalt is the villain now, because he slayed Mercutio. Romeo forgets about his attempt to befriend the Capulets and slays Tybalt. Romeo, murderer of Tybalt, solely focuses on Juliet and states “Ha, banishment? Be merciful, say “death"/For exile hath more terror in his look.” (Lines 12-13 of Act Three, Scene Three). Romeo does not care about Tybalt’s life, but only cares for the way it affects his relationship with Juliet. Romeo’s mother dies out of grief because of his banishment. Romeo’s recklessness in loving Juliet has led to the death of three
Many would agree that the death of these lovers cannot be blamed on anyone but themselves. This question cannot be answered without looking deeply into each character's involvement in the tragedy. In many ways, Mercutio can be blamed for the deaths of Romeo and Juliet. If he had not persuaded Romeo to come to the Capulet?s Ball, Romeo would most likely have never fallen in love with Juliet. If Romeo hadn?t gone to the Capulets Ball, Tybalt would not have sought his life and in time forced Romeo to be banished and Mercutio and himself dead.
(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.
When suddenly Baz Luhrmann nineteen minutes into his work presents a drag Mercutio dressed scandalously in a ridiculous white wig and wearing red lipstick to top it all off, it seems he has no regard for the original Romeo and Juliet. In his portrayal of a character as crucial as Mercutio, Luhrmann crosses the fine line between the individual possessing eloquence and profuse wit Shakespeare creates, and a downright maniac. Before entering the Capulets’ mansion Mercutio’s acclaimed Queen Mab Speech in Act One, Scene Four, displays the aforementioned eloquence and vivid imagination of the character. Specifically, Mercutio claims, “Oh, then I see you’ve been with Queen Mab/...True, I talk of dreams,/Which are the children of an idle brain,/Begot of nothing but vain fantasy,”(I iv 53, 97-99). Anyone with a rational mind does not expect Mercutio to deliver his lines about dreams being merely the result of the anxieties and desires of those who sleep while holding ecstasy and jumping agitatedly. Luhrmann offers an insane Mercutio in his take on Romeo and Juliet and all it achieves is a massacre of the brilliance of the dialogue. The unconventional director stages the exchange to end with Romeo accepting a psychoactive drug inducing him in a euphoric state, then shattering any proceeding potential romantic mood.
In a story of unorthodox love, family feuding, and violence, many are at blame for the deaths. One of the people I think is responsible for Romeo and Juliet’s death is Mercutio. Mercutio had evoked a fight with his enemy Tybalt. In Act 1 Scene 1 lines 228-229 Benvolio tells Romeo “By giving liberty unto thine eyes.
Had Mercutio unintentionally set Tybalt off, it would be easier to place blame elsewhere. However, Mercutio made many attempts to start a fight. When Tybalt asked to have a word with someone, Mercutio’s response was “And but one word with one of us? Couple it with something. Make it a word and a blow,” (Shakespeare 117). Granted, Tybalt didn’t have good intentions, but he made no snide remarks that would call for a response such as the one Mercutio offered up. Without provocation, Mercutio made comments that he knew could start a fight. When Tybalt did not fight him after that, Mercutio continued to provoke him by saying, “Will you pluck your sword out of his pilcher by the ears? Make haste, lest mine be about your ears ere it be out,” (Shakespeare 121). For no reason other than the fact that Tybalt is a Capulet, Mercutio threatens him. He told Tybalt that he must pull out his sword and fight if he doesn’t want to be an easy target. By continuously provoking it, Mercutio is responsible for the fight that caused his
Of all the things that occur in Romeo and Juliet, the death of Tybalt is one of the most climatic parts of the story. Yet, this all started from another killing of a different person, Mercutio. Mercutio, a relative of the Prince and friend of Romeo, and Tybalt, nephew to Lady Capulet and Mercutio’s arch enemy, were in a heated conversion when Romeo walked in after getting married to Juliet and saw what was going on. Tybalt and Mercutio began to fight and Romeo tried to come in between them to stop the whole thing. Unfortunately, as Tybalt was under Romeo’s arms, he stabbed Mercutio and he died soon after. In all the rage, Romeo was furious that his friend was dead and starts to fight with Tybalt. Eventually, Romeo slays Tybalt and he falls to the floor and dies. Romeo runs away in agony before the Prince soon arrives at the scene of the fight with all the other citizens that were awakened by this fray to see what happened. Although Romeo is guilty of homicide, he is charged for manslaughter as he unlawfully killed a person in the heat of passion while defending Mercutio’s honor.
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
Mercutio has always had an anti-romantic mentality, and shows no restraint in voicing his opinion and chastising others for their beliefs. Mercutio uses poetry to mock Romeo for his vision of love in Act II, “Romeo, Humors! Madman! Passion! Lover! Appear thou in the likeness of a sigh, speak but one rhyme and I am satisfied,” (II.1.7-9). He obviously has a very cynical side and does not mind showing it to people, no matter how those people react to him. On the other hand, Romeo has always had a very ardent sense of love. Romeo shows deep understanding of his love for Rosaline by exclaiming, "Did
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:
After catching Romeo at a party he was not supposed to be at, Tybalt had it out for Romeo. Just after Romeo and Juliet’s wedding, Tybalt comes looking for him wanting to fight. Romeo does not want to fight because he now loves Tybalt since he is family to him, but neither Tybalt or anyone else knows this reason. Quickly, Mercutio steps in and tells Tybalt that he will fight him in honour of Romeo. Sadly, this led to the death of Mercutio.
The first one who held partial responsibility for causing the deaths of Romeo and Juliet is Mercutio, Romeo’s best friend. The first accusation toward Mercutio is that he is the one who started the third fight in Verona, in turn, led to Prince Escalus’s declaration of giving death to anyone who starts anymore fight. Mercutio is also the one who convinced Romeo to go to Capulet’s party where Romeo met Juliet and fall in love with her, started
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.