Mercutio

Question 1

Mercutio belongs to the…?

Answer 1

Rising action - he is a comic character, but a more sophisticated one than the Nurse

Question 2

Mercutio is one of a group of young men who are ruled by the…?

Answer 2

Honour code

Question 3

Mercutio seems to enjoy…?

Answer 3

Fighting

Question 4

In 1.4 heading to the party, Mercutio uses punning wit…eg?

Answer 4

‘Let them measure us by what they will/we’ll measure them a measure and be gone’ suggesting he cares little about the impact of their gatecrashing

Question 5

Mercutio has an earthy, even crude attitude to love, making jokes about…?

Answer 5

Love, sex, Cupid

Question 6

A key piece of advice for R is…

Answer 6

‘If love be rough with you, be rough with love’

Question 7

The Queen Mab speech is an example of…’

Answer 7

Mercutio’s fantastical wit and imagination - contrasting him with the Nurse as a different kind of comic character

Question 8

Queen Mab speech brings in satire about…

Answer 8

Parsons, soldiers and courtiers - suggesting M’s cynical view of society

Question 9

Mercutio is angry when R gives him ‘the slip’ and taunts him with references to Rosaline’s…?

Answer 9

‘Quivering thighs’ and the regions nearby - more crude sexual jokes

Question 10

2.4 M and B talk about the challenge (to a duel) sent by Tybalt to..?

Answer 10

Romeo - Mercutio jokes about it, Benvolio worries about it

Question 11

Mercutio thinks love has unmanned R…eg?

Answer 11

‘Poor Romeo…he is already dead…shot through the ear with a love song’/‘And is he a man to encounter Tybalt?’

Question 12

Mercutio hates that Tybalt (‘Prince of Cats’) fights…?

Answer 12

‘By the book’

Question 13

Mercutio mocks Romeo as a weak courtly lover: ‘Now is he for the numbers that Petrarch flowed in’ and tells him…

Answer 13

Joking is better than ‘groaning for love’

Question 14

Mercutio (unattractively) mocks the Nurse, calling her…?

Answer 14

‘A sail, a sail’, and saying her ‘fan’s the fairer face’

Question 15

Mercutio also calls the Nurse…?

Answer 15

‘A bawd’ (pimp - partially true) and an ugly prostitute

Question 16

In 3.1. M’s final scene he accuses (projecting) Benvolio of being someone who…

Answer 16

Always falls out with people

Question 17

Mercutio is reckless, Shakespeare shows him laughing about life insurance:

Answer 17

‘The fee simple’ ‘O simple!’ Another punning joke

Question 18

In 3.1 he is continually witty and reckless in the dialogue: Shakespeare uses…?

Answer 18

Stichomythia between T and M, with M saying, ‘Make it a word and a blow’

Question 19

Mercutio hates Romeo’s attempt to reach out to Tybalt, saying…?

Answer 19

‘O calm dishonourable vile submission’

Question 20

M provokes T into fighting, calling him…?

Answer 20

‘king of cats’

Question 21

M jokes as he fights and dies…

Answer 21

‘Ask for me tomorrow and you shall find me a grave man’: this line also tells us that his death marks the death of comedy in the play

Question 22

Mercutio blames the feud, ‘a plague o’ both your houses’ but…

Answer 22

He started the fight

Question 23

M’s death turns R into a…?

Answer 23

Revenger - ‘fire-eyed be my conduct now’

Question 24

M ‘s death is a tipping point for the play…?

Answer 24

It turns it into a tragedy