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Foils In Shakespeare's The Tragedy Of Romeo And Juliet

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The tragedy of Romeo and Juliet is about Romeo, a Montague, falls in love with Juliet, a Capulet, and they cannot be together because their families have a long-lasting family feud. Before everyone reads Romeo and Juliet, they think that Romeo and Juliet are in love from the beginning of the story. However, Romeo is sad and heartbroken because Rosaline didn’t want to be his lover. While Romeo is sad, Mercutio, the cousin of the prince, grows in strength and happiness. Their foil is the more Romeo is sad, the more Mercutio is joyful and tries to make Romeo happier. In the beginning of the story, Mercutio tries hard to cheer Romeo up from being so heartbroken. Mercutio is invited to go to the Capulet’s party and Romeo sees that Rosaline is invited …show more content…

Mercutio knows Romeo better than any other characters and because Mercutio and Romeo are foils, it is easy for Mercutio to tell that Romeo is in love. Mercutio also is able to tell who Romeo’s new found love and is quick to tell him that Romeo and Juliet getting married will cause more problems between their families.(Padgett Mercutio) Mercutio foreshadows the fate and tragic end to the story while he is dying he says “ A plague o’ both your houses!” (A3si) he states this at Romeo and Tybalt and at the Montagues and the Capulets, telling them that their family feud will not end until “a plague” has destroyed each house. Knowing the ending of the story, readers know that he is referring to the death of the child from each house. While Mercutio is dying Romeo is deciding what he wants to do to Tybalt for killing his friend. After Mercutio dies Romeo realizes that Tybalt must pay for what he has done, Romeo kills Tybalt in a duel. This killing spree upsets the families. Romeo did not want his friend to die on the count of his family’s feud with the Capulets. Mercutio knew that the two families did not get along and tried to stay neutral with the conflict, but because he let his feelings about Tybalt get in the way, he unfortunately paid for it with his

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