Mercutio states, “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. 19-24) Mercutio in context is saying this monologue in an almost rude and insulting tone of voice. This suggests to the audience that Mercutio perhaps views women as commodities. When Mercutio’s buddy Romeo is getting over the fact that Rosaline will not love him back; Mercutio says, “If love be rough with you, be rough with love” (1.
In Shakespeare’s The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet, the children of two rival houses fall in love but were destined to die tragically from the beginning they met. The events causing the death of the star crossed lovers could be traced to Romeo’s best friend Mercutio. Mercutio is the one and only best friend to Romeo. He is very hot tempered, comical, and seems to view life in an unserious manner. He actively teases Romeo about his love life and is the person to stir trouble.
While Shakespeare's, Romeo and Juliet is one of the most iconic archetypes in history; people can agree that supporting character, Mercutio, was a definite favorite with his boisterous attitude and loyal heart, he quickly gained our love as the story went on. As the play went on, and Mercutio’s death took place, we can see that him dying was a big part in the continuance of the play. If Benvolio and he hadn’t pushed Romeo in to so much, if Romeo hadn’t fallen in love with Juliet, or if Mercutio would have listened to Benvolio, then maybe the brazen teenager would have lived. At the beginning of the play, Romeo was depressed and very gloomy due to the fact that his crush, Rosaline, didn’t return his affection. Of course, Mercutio wasn’t having
Mercutio is able to force Romeo to go to the Capulet’s feast where he first accosts Juliet. Although Benvolio first mentions going to the Capulet feast to clear Romeo’s head about Rosaline, Mercutio
Gifted in wit, manipulation, and powers of diversion, both Menenius and Mercutio were characters that worked more or less behind the scenes, shrouded in the shadows of their stories’ heroes and left to scheme without interference. For Romeo, Mercutio is a friend, advisor (though his advice is occasionally unscrupulous, at best), and protector, who cares dearly about Romeo and his wellbeing. Mercutio makes it his ultimate goal to keep Romeo “on track”; however, what Romeo sees as his path in life is a very different one than Mercutio sees for him. Romeo has a tendency to walk with his head in the clouds, dreaming of romance and peace, falling in love left and right, paying no attention to the harsh reality he lives in. Mercutio wants to make sure Romeo stays rooted to the ground, so he doesn’t fly off completely and leave Mercutio behind.
When Romeo first sees Juliet, he judges her based off of her appearance, this shows that he is quick to jump to conclusions and is immature. Romeo is a complex character because he can be emotionally unstable, childish and vulnerable, in spite of trying to become an
Mercutio is a foil to Romeo and makes Romeo’s view of love stand out to the readers, by showing his own opinions of love. Mercutio believes that “dreamers often lie” (1.4.56) and lovers dream of love. This shows that Mercutio thinks that love is just an illusion, this contradicts the views of Romeo and Juliet who believe they are deeply in love. By putting these two characters by each other, the reader can clearly see their different views. Mercutio also is used for comic relief.
After Romeo meets his supposed destined lover, Juliet, he returns to talk to his friends Mercutio and Benvolio after planning his marriage. Mercutio notices and points out Romeo’s new, content behavior in contrast to his old, joyless attitude: “Why is not this better than groaning for love? Now art thou sociable, now art thou Romeo, now art thou what thou art - by art as well as by nature” (2.4.90-93). Although Mercutio believes Romeo’s change in etiquette is caused by the absence of love, it is in fact the presence of it. Mercutio observes that something has made Romeo much happier, and it is indeed Romeo’s previous encounters with Juliet that have created this effect of increased contentment.
When Mercutio yells at the two families, he is angry because his fate was tied in with theirs. He curses them because of how he’s been tied into their rotten fate. In the Luhrmann version, there are many parallels between Mercutio’s Queen Mab speech and this one, but one really stands out; Mercutio’s Queen Mab speech starts innocent enough, but by the end, he’s painted the fairy as a demon. This is relevant because Romeo and Juliet’s love story starts sweet and peacefully, but by Mercutio’s death, their tarnished fate has become apparent (Luhrmann).
Essentially what is going on during this time is that Mercutio and Benvolio are forcing Romeo to go to a party so he can invest his time in a new girl instead of moping about Rosaline, who is the girl Romeo loved before. If they had never urged Romeo to go to the party, he most likely wouldn 't have gone to the party, and had never met Juliet, thus stopping the unfortunate events that were to happen next. Another example would be the event where Mercutio gets killed by Tybalt. Since Romeo’s best friend dies, he gets extremely angered, causing him to kill Tybalt. This event could have been easily avoided by Mercutio choosing his actions differently and wisely to avoid getting killed by Tybalt, or he could have calmed down instead of engaging in violence.