Mercutio Flashcards
Rough plan
Opening - lustful
Middle - changeable, two sided
End - quick witted, impulsive
Opening quotes
‘gentle Romeo, we must have you dance’
‘You are a lover, borrow Cupid’s wings’
‘If love be rough with you, be rough with love’
Opening intentions
Shakespeare uses Merctio, the epitome of an egotistical man of the patriarchy, to indict the flawed views of love held in a patriarchal society
He uses Mercutio, an embodiment of toxic masculinity, who considers love and sex to be readily interchangeable terms as daft in his belief
Indicts his lustful nature which is contrasted with Romeo
Middle quotes
‘I see Queen Mab hath been with you. She is the fairies’ midwife’
‘madman! passion! lover!’
‘By her fine foot, straight leg, and quivering thigh’
Middle intentions
Mercutio seems to be changeable, always riding the line between being humorous and serious, such as in his dichotomy
Through this, Shakespeare may he using him to demonstrate that humans are complex and often there is a battle between appearance and reality
End quotes
‘O calm, dishonourable, vile submission!’
‘Why the devil came you between us? I was hurt under your arm.’
‘A plague a’ both your houses!’
End intentions
Shakespeare uses Mercutio to indict toxic masculinity which causes young men to act in rash, impulsive ways leading to tragic outcomes
Mercutio’s death represents the consequences of futile feuds, in that often innocent people are hurt by long lasting grudges
‘gentle Romeo, we must have you dance’
- Mercutio lacks sympathy towards Romeo’s admission of his melancholy due to his unrequited love for Rosaline
- adjective ‘gentle’ sounds patronising
- perhaps due to his inability to understand the nature of love, sees it as effeminate
- however, maybe he suggests Romeo must move forwards which could be an attempt to distract Romeo
‘You are a lover, borrow Cupid’s wings’
- despite Romeo’s protestation, Mercutio chooses to ignore his friend’s despair by trivialising his circumstances
- he believes that the experience of love is fleeting as suggested by his advice referring to the god of love
- believes Romeo’s response to be melodramatic, perhaps due to lack of experience in love
- verb ‘borrow’ diminishes Cupid’s power showing how Mercutio makes love synonymous with pessimism
‘If love be rough with you, be rough with love’
- aggressive approach to love through repetition of adjective ‘rough’
- juxtaposition of ‘love’ and ‘rough’ extends to Romeo and Mercutio being character foils
- lack of emotional intelligence since he believes Romeo’s poor experience of love gives him permission to act poorly in return
- sex and love seen as readily interchangeable terms to Mercutio so he uses sexual innuendo to allude to physical intimacy
‘I see Queen Mab hath been with you. She is the fairies’ midwife’
- monologue on Queen Mab who provides insight into nature of dreams
- high likelihood he is familiar with dreams given detailed accounts of Queen Mab
- brings attention to his changeable character as he discusses dreams despite his statement that ‘dreamer often lie’
- demonstrates how love is rooted in fantasy
‘madman! passion! lover!’
- series of epithets of Romeo which are grouped together to make them sound like semantics
- speaks as if madman and lover are synonymous with love resulting in delusion
- mocks Romeo showing his distaste for love
- ostensibly, may be ridiculing but deep down maybe trying to convey his feelings of loneliness, as he has never had love & his friend is occupied
‘By her fine foot, straight leg, and quivering thigh’
- attempts to lure Romeo out by speaking of Rosaline in a bawdy, objectifying way
- reduces her to body parts emphasising objectifying view of women that they are simply vessels for man’s pleasure
- vivid description seems offensive
‘O calm, dishonourable, vile submission!’
- outraged by Romeo’s refusal to fight Tybalt, with ignorance of Romeo and Juliet
- sees ‘calm’ as ‘dishonourable’ drawing parallel with Tybalt’s hate of peace, demonstrates widespread view of men as inherently violent -> a view fostered from upbringing in patriarchal society
- idea of submitting to enemy perceived by Renaissance audience as shameful so his response keeps in expectations with the status-quo
- declarative statement with exclamation mark shows clear frustration with unfolding
- rule of three
‘Why the devil came you between us? I was hurt under your arm.’
- blames Romeo who stood between Mercutio and Tybalt
- seen as mercurial, quick to change tact and accus his friend of his involvement
- brings attention to link between his name and adjective ‘mercurial’
‘A plague a’ both your houses!’
- repetition of this sentiment further emphasises his realisation of the senselessness of this feud
- infectious image of a ‘plague’ shows him linking feud to that of an infectious disease, as it has metaphorically plagued both families resulting in deaths
- detachment of family through pronoun ‘your’
- no longer aligns himself with the Montagues and instead curses both families for their part
Overview
Shakespeare uses the character of Mercutio as a vehicle to bring attention to the detrimental effects of toxic masculinity. Mercutio, like many men at the time, is largely driven by lust and therefore considers sex and love as readily interchangeable terms. Mercutio’s name may be linked to the term ‘mercurial’ which brings attention to his changeable and often readily influenced persona.
Despite this, Mercutio remains impulsive despite quick witted and is often able to use language to masterfully communicate his observations to others.
