ipl-logo

Mercutio Is To Blame In Shakespeare's Romeo And Juliet

540 Words3 Pages

The death of Romeo and Juliet is surrounded with a lot of controversy on who is to blame. Some speculate that Friar Lawrence or Lord Capulet is to blame. However, could it be the most unusual suspect in the entire story? Romeo’s best friend Mercutio. In Shakespeare’s The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet, the children of two rival houses fall in love but were destined to die tragically from the beginning they met. The events causing the death of the star crossed lovers could be traced to Romeo’s best friend Mercutio.
Mercutio is the one and only best friend to Romeo. He is very hot tempered, comical, and seems to view life in an unserious manner. He actively teases Romeo about his love life and is the person to stir trouble. At the beginning of the story Romeo dreams of his impending death and expresses it to Mercutio, but Mercutio brushes it off telling Romeo “ True, I talk of dreams; which are the children of an idle brain, beast of nothing but vain in fantasy”, (Act 1, Scene 4, line 98-100). It shows that Mercutio does not take …show more content…

Several moments leading to Mercutio’s death, Romeo approaches Tybalt stating he must love Tybalt as family, but Tybalt wants to fight. Confused, Tybalt starts to harass Romeo. Mercutio becomes so angered by Romeo's attempts to just walk away from Tybalt that he declares, “ O calm, dishonorable, vile submission! Alla stocatta carries it away: Tybalt you ratcatcher will you walk!”, (Act 3, Scene 3, line 68-70), and challenges Tybalt himself. However, Mercutio's rash, emotionally driven response is a poor response, not only because fighting on the streets breaks the Prince’s newly decreed law, but also because it leads to his own death. His death sparks vengeance in Romeo which gets him exiled for killing tybalt, and inspiring the Capulets to wed their Daughter,

Show More
Related
553 Words | 3 Pages

Mercutio is one of the most intelligent characters is this play. In this quote Mercutio is telling Romeo that he shouldn't let a dream he had keep him from doing what he wants. "True I talk of dreams which are children of an idle brain. Begot from nothing but vain fantasy; Which is thin of substance as the air, and more inconsistent than the air. Who woos even now the frozen bosom of the north and being angered puffs away from thence turning his face to the dew dropping south.

Read More
848 Words | 4 Pages

Mercutio is making light of Romeo’s deep depressing love for Rosaline, he’s mocking love and making it a joke. This creates an emphasis on Romeo’s utter affixation with love. Mercutio’s playfulness and ability to make a serious subject humorous and reasonable bring out the deep, dark, and depressing side of Romeo, who is completely the opposite when it comes to love. Romeo does not see love as a joke and we see him fall into a depression, Mercutio only makes this sadness more apparent as he talks so jokingly of love. Shakespeare uses Mercutio to lighten Romeo’s depression and make it more

Read More
623 Words | 3 Pages

Mercutio is different from Romeo because he does not believe in love and makes fun of Romeo and falling in love so heavily all the time. When Romeo describes his love for Rosaline using a rose with thorns as a metaphor. Mercutio laughs and says ”If love be rough with you, be rough with love; Prick love for pricking and you beat love down”(I.4.27-28). In another scenario of Romeo and Mercutio’s foils is when Romeo tells his friends about a dream he had about the party and is expecting a disastrous outcome of the party. Mercutio makes fun of Romeo because he does not believe that dreams can become visions of impending danger.

Read More
557 Words | 3 Pages

Connor Flanigan Mr. Zamanis English 9 6 March 2024 Romeo & Juliet Few characters are capable of bringing comedy and truth into a play like Mercutio can. Mercutio is one of the key characters in Shakespeare's play Romeo and Juliet. This play is a tragedy of two young starstruck lovers, in the midst of a family rivalry that causes them to inevitably die together. Mercutio, Romeo's best friend, is viewed by many as one of Shakespeare’s greatest characters. He is one of Shakespeare’s greatest characters because of his loyalty, humor, and confidence.

Read More
514 Words | 3 Pages

In Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare, the characters, Mercutio, Tybalt, Paris, Romeo, Juliet and Lady Montague all die, and Mercutio is to blame. Act 1, Scene 4 of Romeo and Juliet, is about Mercutio convincing Romeo to go the party being held by the Capulet family. Romeo does not want to go, because he is a Montague and not welcome into the house of Capulet. After some convincing, Romeo agrees and goes to the party, where he is spotted by Tybalt. Tybalt hates the idea of a Montague in his family home, and searches for romeo in the square the next day.

Read More
459 Words | 2 Pages

Mercutio is a close friend of Romeo he is seen with wit, humor, and a quick temper. He is very independent and refuses to let others' expectations have a constraint on him. Mercutio begins to understand himself through interactions with other characters such as Romeo, he begins to find his place in the world. He has a deep commitment to himself and his identity disregarding the social norms. Even though he is a great character it gets to the best of him and leads to his death against Tybalt.

Read More
263 Words | 2 Pages

Romeo is to blame for Mercutio’s death in Act III of Romeo and Juliet. First of all, Romeo did not fight back when Tybalt insulted him. Tybalt calls Romeo a villain and other various names, but Romeo responds by saying (paraphrase), “I love you more than you believe for we are family, even if you are oblivious to this fact. I love the name Capulet as much as I love my own name”(3.1.72-75). When Romeo says this, Tybalt becomes confused and enraged.

Read More
684 Words | 3 Pages

“A pair of star-crossed lovers take their life, Whose misadventured piteous overthrows. Doth with their death bury their parents ' strife. The fearful passage of their death-marked love” (Prologue). The agonizing story of Romeo and Juliet is abounding with plot twists and destructive decisions. The star-crossed lovers’ deaths were unavoidable, no matter what decisions led up to them.

Read More
698 Words | 3 Pages

This carries to a friend of Romeo’s named Mercutio, who suffers quite a death. Three young men were involved with his murder, however the answer to whom is responsible is clear. Mercutio is to blame for his murder because he is stubborn, an instigator, and the first to draw a weapon. Despite this, it is also interpreted that Romeo is the culprit,

Read More
1043 Words | 5 Pages

Romeo allows his thirst for revenge to cloud his logical reasoning when he kills Tybalt who has just murdered Mercutio, Romeo’s best friend. Mercutio defends Romeo against Tybalt’s insults with comebacks and later his sword. As Romeo attempts to intervene, Mercutio is stabbed by Tybalt and Romeo is enraged. Once he finds out from Benvolio that the wound had killed him, Romeo,”Who had but newly entertained revenge,” (III.i.173), kills Tybalt and flees the scene. Romeo declined to

Read More
914 Words | 4 Pages

Throughout the whole play both Romeo and Mercutio were there for each other when in need of a friend or even just some comforting words. Mercutio always seems to say the right things to put Romeo back on track and in focus. While Romeo was relentlessly weeping over his unrequited love for Rosaline, Mercutio, with his wise and caring words said, “‘Why is not this not better than groaning for love? Now art thou sociable.

Read More
720 Words | 3 Pages

He says “O calm, dishonourable, vile submission! ‘Alla stoccata’ carries it away, Tybalt, you rat-catcher, will you walk” (p. 78). Romeo’s love for Juliet blinds him, though he doesn't appear to be a fan of violence, he probably would have become angrier, but not fought if he had not been in love with Juliet. Mercutio however, immediately stands up for Romeo and begins fighting Tybalt, showing how he at least cares about his friends, but is also short-tempered to a

Read More
717 Words | 3 Pages

Tybalt challenges Romeo to a duel and he declines the challenge and insists that he won’t fight Tybalt. Mercutio is angered by Romeo’s “cowardice” and takes on Tybalt himself. Romeo wants Mercutio to stop fighting Tybalt so he decides that it’d be a good idea to block his arm in mid combat and Tybalt stabs Mercutio from under Romeo’s arm and Mercutio falls dead after rambling about plagues and a pun or two. Romeo doesn’t realize that it is his own fault that Mercutio died after Mercutio even blamed his wound on him. Romeo lets his emotions decide his actions and becomes enraged and ignores that Tybalt is now his family and fails to see that he was the reason Mercutio was killed.

Read More
890 Words | 4 Pages

This meant that Juliet could not admit she was already married to Romeo her “enemy”. “He’s alive and victorious, and Mercutio’s dead . Enough time with mercy and consideration”act 3 scene 1 line 1. This shows that Tybalt had killed Mercutio because Mercutio hung with Romeo and hated Montagues. This lead to the death of Mercutio.

Read More
597 Words | 3 Pages

He was considered witty and irrational, but Mercutio was also immature, prideful and short-tempered. By Mercutio forcing Romeo to attend the masquerade, he was aiding his own death. If Mercutio had never prompted his friends to go to the gathering, Tybalt never would’ve spotted Romeo therefore he wouldn’t have sent the challenge letter for the duel that Mercutio fatally took upon himself to fight. More explicitly though, if Mercutio would’ve listened to Benvolio when he said,“I pray thee, good Mercutio, let’s retire./The day

Read More

More about Mercutio Is To Blame In Shakespeare's Romeo And Juliet

Related Topics

Open Document