Romeo And Juliet Character Analysis – Mercutio
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Shakespeare has no doubt created some of the most dynamic and interesting characters in written history, and in Romeo and Juliet there were several memorable ones. Aside from the hero and heroine, the voluble and witty Mercutio is as memorable a character as is found in all of Shakespeares plays. He acts as a significant character in terms of plot advancement; but more importantly, Mercutio himself is a fascinating man in many aspects.
Mercutio is not part of the Montague family, he is however a friend of Romeos and related to the Prince of Verona. One would think this puts him relatively outside the family feud, but we learn that Mercutio is only all to willing to play along with this adversary, and ultimately his quick and volatile nature lead to his untimely death.
Mercutio was first introduced to us in Act I, Scene 4; when Romeo, Benvolio and the gang are on the way to the Capulets feast. Although it was only his first appearance, he captured immediate attention with his comments. We get the feeling that Mercutio will not stay a sideline character. He is shown joking and punning with Romeo on heaviness and lightness as well as how it relates to love. Mercutio and Romeos friendship and obvious closeness is to be noted.
“A gentleman, Nurse, that loves to hear himself talk, and will speak more in a minute than he will stand to in a month.”
That was Romeos description of Mercutio seen in Act II, Scene 4. Indeed, Mercutio is a man of many words and his language is full of jokes, puns and sexual double meanings. To understand Mercutio fully we must first understand his words, and sometimes that can be hard to as his word play is easily interpreted in more than one way. More than anyone else in the play Mercutio uses puns. To an Elizabethan this was the sign of a quick wit, to be able to see different meanings in the same word. Shakespeare knew that well and incorporated his own wit into Mercutios character. We come to associate Mercutio with puns and it seems almost characteristic of him to do so compulsively, even after he received his death-wound.
“Look for me tomorrow and you shall find me a grave man.”
It is sadly ironic how Mercutio is hinting that perhaps he is facing something serious for the first time in the play, and allows the audience to sympathize for him.
Mercutio demonstrates that he is an interesting personality from his language, which is forceful, mature and witty. He stands in strong contrast to his immediate companions Benvolio who tends to speak rather impersonally with consideration and Romeo, whose words are mostly romantic and poetic.
Mercutios unique personality is also demonstrated in his views and ideas which parallel those of our hero and heroines. Shakespeares genius was that themes in his works were always explored on both spectrums with no clear line on what is right or wrong. Love and loyalty are two of the many thematic areas explored with two sides of the story. Mercutios character in the play is a bit of a dark horse, the side character who almost seems to present more ideas and dynamics than the main ones. When everyone is optimistic and hopeful about love Mercutio presents his different view on it, one that is entirely focused on the physical aspect.
The very first scene Mercutio appears in he introduces what is to be his constant theme, that of the bawdy side of sex. For Shakespeare to give Mercutio who is technically a side character, such a long and opinionated speech on the dark side of a theme is something to be reckoned with; as aside the main characters Romeo, Juliet and perhaps the Prince, no other character is given a speech of this length. Mercutios view on love completely overturns the idea that the story of Romeo and Juliet is an example of perfect romantic love. There is of course a purpose for this and that is to explore different aspects of a theme and keep the audience guessing.
Mercutios relationship with Romeo is also very interesting. Once you start to see what kind of character Mercutio is, one might wonder how he is such close friends with Romeo whose personality cannot be anymore of an opposite to his. In our first encounter with Mercutio he was talking with Romeo, and we can clearly see some of Mercutios remarks are personal to Romeo and is trying to get at something. Mercutio then launches into his famous Queen Mab speech which obviously unsettles Romeo. Despite their slight argument we can see that the two get along exceptionally well.
There is evidence to show that Mercutio values his friendship with Romeo a lot. Even though on the outside he might not show it, his subtle words and actions points out that he cares for Romeos wellbeing and wishes the best for his friend. This can be seen when Mercutio remarked that Romeo is back to his old self. Although