Mercutio Essay
>>> How to write an essay? Order on the website: HelpWriting.Net
Mercutio Essay
E N D
Presentation Transcript
Tybalt And Mercutio In Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, an old and deep–rooted family feud exists between the two primary families in the story: the Capulets and the Montagues. These two families are past and present enemies, whose hatred for one another leads to deathly duels, which continue their animosity towards one another, generation after generation. Romeo attends a Capulet ball and falls in love with Juliet, a Capulet. Tybalt, a cousin of Juliet and also a Capulet, becomes angered that Romeo, a Montague, attended the ball. He sends Romeo an invitation to a duel. Tybalt, who is very short–tempered, wants revenge on Romeo for attending the Capulet ball. Meanwhile, Mercutio, who is the best friend of Romeo, takes the side of Romeo and the Montagues,...show more content... Tybalt and Mercutio are both very loyal characters in Romeo and Juliet. Tybalt protects the Capulet name, and Mercutio protects his best friend, Romeo. They are both honorable men, willing and ready to fight to protect those that they believe in and love. They are also both individuals who do not back down from a fight. In Act III, Scene 1, Tybalt comes up to Mercutio, and Mercutio provokes a fight with him: "and but one word with one of us? Couple it with something; make it a word and a blow." While Tybalt then responds, "you shall find me apt enough to that, sir, and you will give me occasion." Mercutio and Tybalt also have very different personalities. While Mercutio is always making jokes, having fun and enjoying life, Tybalt is more serious and straight–forward. Mercutio is someone who everyone enjoys being around, while Tybalt is someone who nobody particularly likes because he is too serious and always looking to start a fight. They are sometimes like complete opposites – Tybalt is hot tempered and Mercutio is carefree and provides some comic relief. However, they each have the same feeling inside that keeps them from understanding the true love between Romeo and Juliet. Tybalt rejects the thought of Romeo and Juliet being together as he sees Romeo as a threat to his family's reputation. Mercutio simply makes fun of Romeo, regardless of who he is in love with, just for being in ...Get more content on HelpWriting.Net...
Essay on Mercutio At the time Mercutio makes his famous "Queen Mab" speech in Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, he and Romeo, together with a group of their friends and kinsmen, are on the way to a party given by their family's arch–enemy, Lord Capulet. Their plan is to crash the party so that Romeo may have the opportunity to see his current love, Rosaline, whom they know has been invited to the Capulet's masque that evening. Romeo, whom his friends seem to consider generally very witty and fun, originally thought the party–crashing would be a wonderful idea, but suddenly is overcome by a sense of great foreboding; although they "mean well in going to this mask . . . 'tis no wit to go" (I, iv, 48–49). This annoys Mercutio, who does not...show more content... He leaps off the topic of Mab's carriage, however, to describe its route. Mab's function is apparently to drive over the sleeping forms of human beings, and cause them to dream of things appropriate to their station in life. For example, she causes lawyers to dream of fees, ladies of love, and soldiers of warfare. Here, again, this sounds fanciful enough; yet he somehow veers off into a deluge of images that are at complete odds with the sweet, almost childlike story it seemed he was going to tell. It is not enough that soldiers dream of war: they must dream of "cutting foreign throats, / Of breaches, ambuscadoes, Spanish blades, / Of healths five fathom deep; and then anon, / Drums in his ear, at which he starts and wakes, / And being thus frighted swears a prayer or two / And sleeps again" (I, iv, 83–87). In other words, Mercutio began his speech with a reverie and ended with nightmares. Mab does not seem like such a cute little creature now. In a sense, this is how the play goes, as well. Romeo begins by having a harmless crush; at the point in the story when Mercutio gives his speech, Romeo's infatuation with Rosaline is about to lead him to the home of yet another girl, Juliet, with whom he will fall madly in love. This love affair, however, is doomed in every respect. It is doomed not only because the Montagues ...Get more content on HelpWriting.Net...
Examples Of Mercutio Mercutio In spite of appearing in only four scenes of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, Mercutio plays an important role to the plot of the play. His imagination and wit provides the play with the much– needed comic relief. Although Mercutio is neither a Montague nor Capulet, his loyalty to Romeo leads him to be involved in the family feuds, resulting in his tragic end. In his four scenes in the play, Mercutio plays an important role through his imagination, loyalty and wit. Wit is not a characteristic that many can claim to have; however, it is a talent which Mercutio quite evidently displays in the play. Mercutio shows his wit when Romeo approaches him with his plight regarding Rosaline. "If love be rough with you, be rough with love. Prick love for pricking, and you...show more content... We can see that evidently in one of the most famous speeches from Romeo and Juliet, the Queen Mab speech: "Her wagon spokes made of long spinners' legs, The cover, of the wings of grasshoppers; Her traces, of the smallest spider web; Her collars, of the moonshine's wat'ry beams; Her whip, of cricket's bone; the lash, of film; Her wagoner, a small grey–coated gnat, Not half so big as a round little" (I.IV.59–65). Throughout the Queen Mab speech Mercutio shows imagination as he describes to Romeo what he had dreamt of. He describes what Queen Mab's effect is on the different dreamers in colourful detail. He also describes her visual appearance through his expressive imagination. Mercutio attempts to explain to Romeo that Queen Mab (dream fairy) gives dreams to individuals depending on their personality, for example lovers dream of love. However, the imaginative speech leads Mercutio into a rather depressed mood in which he concludes that dreams are just delusions. His speech is also trying to convey a message to his beloved friend Romeo as Mercutio tries to explain that his dream was only terrifying because of Queen ...Get more content on HelpWriting.Net...
Romeo and Mercutio Essays Throughout the works of William Shakespeare, the main character is complemented with another character that acts or serves as the protagonist's foil. In Romeo & Juliet, the protagonist, Romeo, is fickle, idealistic, impractical and naïve. To balance Romeo as a character, Shakespeare creates Mercutio; a good friend of Romeo's who acts as his conscience. While Romeo has an idealistic perspective of the world and more specifically of love, Mercutio balances Romeo's weak points as a dreamer. Mercutio is pragmatic, sensible, and clever and a master on word play. Throughout the play, Mercutio mocks Romeo's naïve and ridiculous fascination with love. Early in the play, Romeo goes on and on about his deep infatuation with the beautiful Rosaline....show more content... These two characters exist on a two different spectrums. This scene reinforces that while Romeo is a dreamer; Mercutio is the sensible character of the two and helps to keep Romeo as a character grounded and rational. When Romeo tells Mercutio that he "?talk'st of nothing", Mercutio responds by saying that "dreams?are the children of an idle brain." (Scene 1, Act 4) After the ball and after Romeo lays his eyes on Juliet, Romeo decides that he cannot possibly return home. He decides to climb the wall that surrounds the Capulet property and search for Juliet. Mercutio and Benvolio try to find Romeo to no avail. Mercutio mocks Romeos ridiculous and fickle obsession with love, "Nay, I'll conjure too. Romeo! Humours! Madman! Passion! Lover! Appear thou in the likeness of a sigh: Speak but one rhyme, and I am satisfied; Cry but 'Ay me!' pronounce but 'love' and 'dove;' Speak to my gossip Venus one fair word? 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 And the demesnes that there adjacent lie, That in thy likeness thou appear to us!" (Act 2, Scene 1) Benvolio warns Mercutio that if Romeo could hear, "thou wilt anger him." (Act 2, Scene 1) It is evident in this scene that Mercutio sees Romeo's "love" as fickle as he was droning on and on about his ...Get more content on HelpWriting.Net...