Mercutio Flashcards
How is Mercutio unromantic?
-Mercutio is Romeo’s best friend.
-Mercutio is witty (funny) and light-hearted. He is a contrast (a foil) to Romeo.
-He does not believe in romance. He thinks of relationships between people as purely sexual and not romantic of loving.
-When we first meet Mercutio in Act 1 Scene 4, he is trying to tell Romeo to get over this apparent love for Rosaline.
-He says: ‘If love be rough with you, be rough with love. Prick love for pricking and you beat love down’.
-He tells Romeo to ignore the hardships of love and to follow what he wants. He says if he gives up on women, then it will be harder for him to get one again.
How is Mercutio crude?
-Mercutio also shows his sexualised, crude (rude in a sexual way) side in Act 2 Scene 1 when he and Benvolio are looking for Romeo after the party.
-He is talking about Rosaline’s body parts, saying: ‘I conjure thee by Rosaline’s bright eyes… her fine foot, straight leg and quivering thigh.’
-Mercutio is quite aggressive about women and his friends’ relationships. He makes a lot of negative, derogatory (insulting) comments about women in the play.
Why could Mercutio possibly be homosexual?
-Mercutio makes a lot of jokes about penes. There is some suggestion that Mercutio is a homosexual character. Some people think this is why he reacts aggressively when Tybalt asks if he ‘consortest with Romeo’ in Act 3.
-But Mercutio could also just be enjoying the male friendships that he has in the play.
How does Shakespeare present Mercutio as a witty character?
-Shakespeare presents Mercutio as a witty character right up until he dies. Meructio says that the fatal wound he receives is just ‘a scratch’, even though he knows that he is dying.
-As he dies, he shouts ‘a plague o’ both your houses’. This highlights the tragic nature of the play. Romeo’s best friend is now asking for both the Montagues and the Capulets to be punished for their fighting.
-The audience has grown to like Mercutio, so the audience may sympathise with Romeo’s vengeful attack on Tybalt.
What effect does Mercutio’s death have on the play?
Mercutio’s death marks the point where the play changes. The play becomes more and more tragic after his death.
Was Mercutio aware of Romeo’s love for Juliet?
-It is important to remember that, although Romeo and Mercutio are best friends, Romeo never even hints to him that he loves Juliet.
-Romeo never tells Mercutio what happened at the party and doesn’t say that he has married Juliet.
How is Mercutio aggressive?
-Mercutio and Tybalt are quite similar. They both react quickly when they are encouraged to fight.
-In Act 3 Scene 1, Mercutio also becomes angry that Romeo is refusing to fight and defend himself after Tybalt has insulted him. He says that Romeo’s refusal is a ‘dishonourable, vile submission’.
-Because he is angry, Mercutio then steps in to defend his friend and the Montague family name. This causes his own death.
‘If love be rough with you, be rough with love. Prick love for pricking and you beat love down.’ (Act 1 Scene 4)
-This quote highlights the difference in personalities between Romeo and Mercutio. –Romeo is a romantic and loves the idea of love.
-Mercutio feels that love is momentary and purely sexual (he does not take love seriously).
‘I conjure thee by Rosaline’s bright eyes… her fine foot, straight leg and quivering thigh’. (Act 2 Scene 1)
-Again, Mercutio shows that he doesn’t take Romeo’s romantic feelings seriously at all. Instead, he makes crude comments about Rosaline’s body. This strengthens the idea that he thinks of women as sexual objects and does not really think about love.
-He says this after Romeo has met Juliet. It’s interesting that Romeo doesn’t tell his best friend about Juliet. So here, Mercutio still thinks that Romeo is in love with Rosaline.
‘Dishonourable, vile submission’. (Act 3, Scene 1)
-Tybalt insults Romeo by calling him a ‘villian’. During the Elizabethan era, this word was very insulting to someone’s honour.
-We would expect a man at this time to reply and defend himself. Mercutio steps in and fights Tybalt because Romeo doesn’t defend his honour. This fight leads to Mercutio’s death.
‘A plague o’ both your houses.’ (Act 3, Scene 1)
-Mercutio fights to defend his best friend’s honour. This is part of the reason why Mercutio wishes a ‘plague’ on both families as he dies.
-The noun ‘plague’ has very negative connotations. England had experienced several waves of the bubonic plague which killed thousands of people.
-Mercutio wishing such a horrible fate on these two families adds to the tragedy. Even Romeo’s best friend (and an ally of the Montagues) has had enough of the feuding (fighting).
