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Romeo and juliet's death essay
Romeo and juliet's death essay
The history of romeo and juliet essay
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Act three, scene one is a pivotal moment in Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. Tybalt confronts Mercutio and Benvolio, demanding to know where Romeo is. When the young hero meets them, he is challenged to a duel, which he refuses because Tybalt is now his cousin due to Romeo’s marriage to Juliet. Mercutio and Tybalt begin to fight, resulting in Mercutio’s death and placing the romantic leads on an inevitable crash course with misunderstanding and eventual suicide.
Around line 90 of act three, scene one, Mercutio is stabbed by Tybalt. He yells, “I am hurt; / A plague o’ both your houses! I am sped: / Is he gone, and hath nothing?” (3.1.87-9). Sped here means, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, “to be discharged or let go”. This is interesting because it could be taken to mean that Tybalt has let Mercutio go and that they have stopped fighting, which they have, or it could also mean that Mercutio’s life has let go of him and he is about to die. Romeo and Benvolio apparently think that the former explanation must be the correct one and don’t catch on to the pun. Neither man realizes that their friend is mortally wounded, especially when he is still joking bitterly with them as he normally does. Benvolio doesn’t notice that he is hurt at all, asking Mercutio, “What, art thou hurt?” (3.1.90). Romeo tries to comfort Mercutio, telling him, “...the hurt cannot be much” (3.1.93). Line 89 consists of Mercutio asking his friends if Tybalt has fled and if he has received any injuries. Tybalt has indeed fled from the three and Shakespeare provides no clue as to the nature of any injuries he may have sustained from the duel with Mercutio.
Lines 94 to 99 are full of Mercutio’s wit. Speaking about his injury to Romeo, he says:No, ‘...
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...nd him a letter. The death of Mercutio becomes the death of Romeo’s fun-loving side. The fact that we don’t hear anything about Mercutio, how there is no mourning and not even a funeral helps reflect that. Tybalt has a whole city mourning for him and he is the cousin of one of the trouble-making families. But Mercutio, the cousin of the prince, doesn’t even have a small funeral. Not even his ashes are scattered. Just like the complete disappearance of anything having to do with Mercutio, we never hear Romeo joking light-heartedly after his friend’s death. That side of him has completely disappeared.
Mercutio’s death scene makes the ultimate ending of the play possible. After he dies, events progress much more rapidly towards the tragic end of the two lovers. It is the point of no return, where fate takes over and the demise of Romeo and Juliet becomes inevitable.
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.
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
Mercutio can be blamed for Romeo and Juliet’s peril because he initiated the fight with Tybalt and forced Romeo to go to the Capulet’s party. At the beginning of the play, Romeo gets invited to the Capulet’s party by a servant, unless he was a Montague. At first, Romeo did not want to go, but Mercutio eventually convinced him under the pretext that Rosaline, Romeo’s love, was going to be there. The next day, Tybalt, a Capulet, went looking for Romeo because he knew that Romeo was at the Capulet party. Instead, he stumbled upon Mercutio and Benvolio and asked them where he could find Romeo. However, Mercutio did not want to tell him and insisted on having a duel. Tybalt killed Mercutio during the fight, and Romeo kills Tybalt because he has the need to avenge his friend. Unfortunately, Prince Escalus punished Romeo by banishing him from Verona. This made Romeo and Juliet’s love
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.
At the beginning when Tybalt and Mercutio are quarrelling, the audience feels the tension. The audience then awaits the outcome of Tybalt and Mercutio’s fight and are disturbed by the result of Mercutio’s death. All through this scene we are wondering what is going to happen next, there is so much going on. We worry about Romeo’s safety throughout this scene, and this is not resolved by the end, leaving the audience in suspense.
Romeo was very loyal to his friends and family, and it is possible that Mercutio thought that Romeo would help him fight off Tybalt (since he was unaware of Romeo and Juliet’s secret marriage that somewhat united Romeo and Tybalt). However, this argument is easily deemed invalid. Romeo was not in the town square when the fight had first began, so Mercutio expecting his help in the fight would be a far-fetched idea. A person who is not present cannot help or hinder the situation at hand. In addition, Romeo tried to break up the fight when he said, “Gentlemen, for shame forbear this outrage! Tybalt! Mercutio! The Prince expressly hath forbid this bandying in Verona streets. Hold, Tybalt! Good Mercutio!” (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
His statement means he doesn’t want to cause Tybalt any harm but would rather leave the scene. Mercutio steps in for Romeo, Romeo comes between them, and Tybalt’s sword stabs Mercutio when Romeo was holding Mercutio back. As Mercutio lays wounded and waiting for a surgeon, he blames Romeo for his injury saying,
After Tybalt killed Mercutio and Romeo challenges him to a duel, Romeo demands, “That late thou gavest me, for Mercutio’s soul/ Is but a little way above our heads/ Staying for thine to keep him company/ Either thou or I, or both, must go with him” (Shakespeare Act III scene i, lines 119-123). This quote shows how Romeo’s downfall is partly his fault because he is defying the prince’s command to no longer fight with the Capulets by challenging Tybalt. Since Romeo is aware that he is defying the prince and fighting anyway it is proven he is contributing to his own demise or downfall. When Mercutio is wounded after fighting Tybalt , he cries, “I am hurt/ A plague o’ both your houses!” (Shakespeare Act III scene i, lines 84-85). 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 in 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 a tragic hero because his demise is partly his fault and not an
In act three scene one it says this about the fight, "Tybalt insults Romeo, but Romeo, who has just returned from his wedding, remains calm. Mercutio, on the other hand, is furious with Tybalt, and they begin to fight. As Romeo tries to separate them, Tybalt stabs Mercutio, who later dies." Romeo feels this sudden rage. Romeo then, "Romeo
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.
...yalty. The line said by Mercutio: “O calm, dishonourable, vile submission! Alla stoccata carries it away (He draws) Tybalt, you ratcatcher, will you walk” The use of Descriptive triplet in the words ‘vile,’ ‘dishonourable’ and ‘submission’ all have negative connotations which emphasises Mercutio’s anger with Romeo because he won’t defend for himself, thinking Romeo is submissive and cowardly in not wanting to fight.. Mercutio had paid the ultimate price of love, to protect Romeo’s honour and loyalty, his life. Mercutio’s tone of bitterness emphasises his anger with the conflict with the two families taking his life cursing them both (families): “I am hurt. A plague a’ both house! I am sped. Is he gone and hath nothing.”
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.
	As well as the lives of Romeo and Juliet being affected, so were the lives of people around them that they loved and cared for. Not knowing of the secret marriage, Tybalt and Mercutio engage in a duel. Romeo tries to stop the duel when he says "Gentle Mercutio, put thy rapier down" (3.
In William Shakespeare’s play “Romeo and Juliet,” Mercutio is introduced as Romeo (the main character) and Benvolio’s (Romeo’s cousin and friend) good friend and relative of the Prince. Mercutio is a very beloved friend to Romeo, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t unkind or disrespectful. He is also very dramatic and perverted, yet somehow laid back and relaxed at the same time. He is very interesting in the way that he can seem kind, but be an awful person and friend at the same time. If Mercutio weren’t as dramatic or such an attention-seeker, he wouldn’t have died and eventually caused Tybalt, Paris, Romeo, and Juliet’s deaths and the sadness that followed each death.