Mercutio Flashcards
“A plague o’ both your houses. They have made worms’ meat of me.”
Act 3 Scene 1
The first sentence is repeated twice within Act 3 Scene 1. Thus, the repetition of this phrase enforces the impression that Mercutio, unlike the majority of characters within the play, completely disregards fate. Rather, he instils his opinion that it was the pointless feud between the two families that had caused his death.
Mercutio describes his death in euphemistic terms (a euphemism being a mild or indirect word or expression substituted for one considered to be too harsh or blunt when referring to something unpleasant) as he does not actually say that Tybalt had murdered him but rather suggests that he had made a “worms’ meat” of him.
“If love be rough with you, be rough with love.
Prick love for pricking, and you beat love down” Act 1 Scene 3
The plosive lexis (lexis being a fancy word for ‘group of words’ in this case the words “be”, “prick”, “pricking” and “beat” agglomerate to create a succession of harsh sounds) reinforces the impression of Mercutio’s harsh, and raw perception of love because this almost suggests that he views love making as a violent action.
The violent verbs “prick” and “pricking” create phallic imagery, which shows Shakespeare’s audience how he views love as purely sexual, whilst this also depicts the dominance that men were supposed to have over women within an Elizabethan relationship.
The symmetry of the sentence structure here, as both sentences are split in half by the implementation of a comma, contrasts Mercutio’s opinion of love. This is because the symmetry makes it seem as if love is very complete and perfect, which is not what Mercutio believes. Yet, his harsh opinions completely contrast Romeo and Juliet’s pure and tender expression of love.
“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” Act 2 Scene 1
Mercutio’s listing of Rosaline’s body parts alludes to the popular poetic ‘blazon’ technique. This listing of body parts reinforces the impression of Mercutio’s sexual and primitive view of love as he again creates sexual imagery through his speech.
“O Romeo, that she were, O, that she were
An open-arse, thou a poperin pear!” Act 2 Scene 1
Again, the plosive lexis created through the mentioning of “poperin pear!” reinforces the impression that Mercutio views love in a harsh and rough way.
To build upon this, the mention of “poperin pear!” creates more sexual imagery (not surprising from Mercutio) as this was a fruit that was often at the time compared to a woman’s genitalia. Thus, Mercutio believes that love is based on sexual desire and not true affection.
“O calm, dishonourable, vile submission!”
Act 3 Scene 1
The tricolon here creates a lexicon of fragility (lexicon being another fancy word for saying ‘group of words’) which emphasises Romeo’s effeminate inability to fight, whilst exaggerating Mercutio’s male aggressive behaviour.
