Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare has many contrasting characters, but the most prominent are Romeo and Mercutio. Romeo is a hopeless romantic, while Mercutio believes that love is a strictly physical ordeal. Mercutio has a strong sense of misogyny, while Romeo believes that monogamy and equal partnership reign true. Romeo and Mercutio contrast each other by their distinct personalities and beliefs, as well as their attitudes towards women and life.
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
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my heart love till now? Forswear it, sight! For I ne'er saw true beauty till this night" (I.5.52-53). He is very quick to be passionate, as characterized by him talking about his deep love for Rosaline, then turning to Juliet the very next day. Mercutio obviously has a very misogynistic view of women and their value as people.
He consistently degrades women by making jokes about them and mocking people who view women as more than pieces of meat. Mercutio illustrates this when mocking Romeo for his love for Rosaline by saying, “If love be rough with you, be rough with love; Prick love for pricking and you beat love down,”(I.4.27-28). Romeo values love and women and believes that marriage is a partnership and is mutually beneficial, and that women are worth more than their bodies. Romeo shows this by saying, “My bounty is as boundless as the sea, my love is as deep; the more love I give to thee the more I have, for both are infinite,” (II.2.133-135). He shows a very deep understanding of how love is supposed to be and how women should be valued. Romeo knows that love goes both ways and is not only physical and that women are to be loved and treated as an
equal. Romeo’s romanticism and Mercutio’s negativity towards it play a large role in the play’s meaning by showing how strong Romeo can love and how deep his affection can be to be able to withhold Mercutio’s constant criticism. Also, Mercutio’s misogynistic views and comments and Romeo’s expressions of a view of equality contribute to the meaning of the play by showing that Romeo’s love goes deeper than looks and hormones, that he actually has some attraction to the person’s character and personality, rather than simply their looks. Romeo and Mercutio contrast each other by their distinct personalities and beliefs, as well as their attitudes towards women and love.
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 an extremely cocky jokester who views the subject of love as a very physical matter. When the Montagues are on their way to the Capulet party, Mercutio mocks Romeo saying, "If love be rough with you, be rough with love. Prick love for pricking, and you beat love down" (I, iv, 27-28). Mercutio is trying to comfort his friend by proclaiming that Rosaline is just another love prick in his life, and Romeo will love again after this phase of heartbreak. Several lines past, Mercutio's Queen Mab speech about a fairy creeping on people's dreams stretches on and on (I, iv, 53-94). Romeo tries to calm his friend, and the kinsman of the Prince admits to talking of nothing; he is one "that loves to hear himself talk and will speak more in a minute than he will stand in a month" (II, iv, 137-139). His tangent proves that his witty, light-hearted remarks puncture yet highlight the passionate, love-seeking qualities of Romeo.
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.
Romeo has a very extreme look towards love. To him love is almost exclusively about what is on the outside; not what they act like. His love is pithy; he was
Many a time this supports Romeo, as Romeo is the passionate one and always in love. Whilst Mercutio is often the one saying love is “idiotic” or “a waste of time” (paraphrased 1.4). He often times uses taunts or common sense to get information out of Romeo, “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?/Here are the beetle brows shall blush for me.” (1.4). As well as “The ape is dead, and I must conjure him./I conjure thee by Rosaline's bright eyes,/By her high forehead and her scarlet lip,/By her fine foot, straight leg and quivering thigh/And the demesnes that there adjacent lie,/That in thy likeness thou appear to us!” (2.1). In the beginning quote Romeo is down and about about how his want to be lover, Rosalind, and her disdain toward him and her promise of chastity. Naturally, Mercutio uses a classic line of “Get over her with other women!” Which then goes on to reveal Romeo’s stubbornness in listening to advice of others and his inability to stop loving. (Which is revealed to be futile). The second line is referring to his taunting of Romeo that makes the Romeo, as well as the reader, begin to understand the statement “revealed to be
Romeo and Juliet is a famous tragedy written by Shakespeare. The plot is based on an Italian tale but Shakespeare makes it more dramatic by developing specific characters, such as the Nurse and Mercutio. The plot is set in Verona in the sixteenth century. The Montagues and the Capulets are two distinguished families in Verona; however, they see each other as enemies. They are fighting all the time. Romeo and Juliet, who respectively are Montague and Capulet, fall in love at their first sight. In the end, two star-crossed lovers are dead. The Montagues and the Capulets reconciled by their children’s death and end the feud which has lasted generations.
...tio scorns Romeo, "If love be rough with you, be rough with love; /Prick love for pricking, and you beat love down/Humors! Madman! Passion! Lover! /Appear thou in the likeness of a sigh, /Speak but one rhyme and I am satisfied" (I.iv.27-28, II.1.7-9). This proves that even though they might be friends, both Romeo and Mercutio have opposing aspect to love. Romeo at beginning was all sad, which led him to his death, while Mercutio mockery drives him to his own death. These two friends died due to their much desire of love or their childish way of mockery in relationships.
Romeo and Juliet presents an ongoing feud between the Montague and Capulet families whose children meet and fall in love. Markedly, the meeting scene depicting love at first sight continues to be praised by today’s critics. Romeo and Juliet then receive the label of star-crossed lovers whose tragic demise, death, is written in the stars. In fact, Shakespeare 's work is well received and its numerous adaptations have made it one of his most enduring and notorious stories. The cinematic world brings to the screens a disastrous approach by Baz Luhrmann to do the play justice. A glance at Baz Luhrmann’s productions allows audiences to assume he delivers movies which are unlike those of any other filmmaker today, or perhaps ever. Therefore, blending
Using his imagination Mercutio describes Queen Mab to Romeo as one would describe Santa Claus, where Santa is actually fictitious, but also in a sense reality. In Queen Mab's case, people do have different dreams of the things they want, but the imaginative part is that Queen Mab sends these. dreams to people. The account of Queen Mab is supposed to prove Mercutio's imagination and that under his pugnacity there is a poet. In William Shakespeare's play Romeo and Juliet, Mercutio plays the part of Romeo's rebel friend who uses his imagination to cheer Romeo up and describe him. what he thinks of dreams. When talking about Queen Mab, the dream fairy, tells what she discovers in people's dreams, and how she can make someone dream of something.
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.
Romeo's perception of love as "rough" is generally due to his own response to the events in his life. Mercutio sees love as a "tender thing," and therefore offers this advice:
These views are another sort to Romeos who believes in the traditional poetic love as seen in Petrarch's sonnets , shown when he uses the cliché comparison of love to the thorns on a rose. These ideas are mocked by Mercutio in ' prick love for pricking and you beat love down,' through this pun Mercutio shows their opposing views on love as well as their close relationship ,seen by him trying to cheer Romeo as well as him being the only friend who can mock Romeo successfully in the play, this ribalding wit sets in Romeo's role as the innocent protagonist and
The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet, a play written by William Shakespeare, is set in Verona where two families, Montague and Capulet, have a long feud between them. This conflict causes a dilemma for the two lovers, Romeo and Juliet that are secretly married, and they take their lives to be together. Romeo, a Montague, is a teenage boy that in the beginning of the play, loves Rosaline and he is depressed because she doesn’t love him back. After talking to Mercutio, Romeo’s friend, he goes to a Capulet’s party and falls in love with the daughter of Lord Capulet, Juliet, and they secretly get married. By the end of Romeo and Juliet, Romeo’s quality of being naïve and kills himself after him being heartbroken over Juliet’s supposed death. His quality
Romeo despite being a courteous,smart and capable man, does not think about how his actions will affect others. When Tybalt kills Mercutio, Romeo is feelings all kinds of things including angry, sad and ridiculous. He says to himself, “O sweet Juliet, thy beauty hath made me effeminate and in my temper softened valor’s steel”(III:120-122). Falling in love has made his soft. He does not feel very tough when he notices seeing his friend was killed in front of him. The word “effeminate” refers to him becoming more feminine.The article, “A Brain too Young for Good Judgement” says, “In the face of ridicule, they may want revenge.”Romeo is feelings ridiculous because he stood...
Romeo has an obsessive personality. The morning before he meets Juliet, he is obsessing on Rosaline. To see Rosaline, Romeo snuck into a Capulet’s party; once there, he meets Juliet and instantly he forgets his obsession of Rosaline, thinking Juliet is the most beautiful creature on earth. Friar Lawrence even acknowledges this when he states, “Young men’s love then lies / Not truly in their hearts but in their eyes” (II iii 67-68). Romeo’s affection is easily swayed from Rosaline to Juliet.