Mercutio's Impact On Romeo And Juliet

Mercutio, the Forgotten Impact

Romeo and Juliet , written by William Shakespeare, is one of the most beloved and influential plays in the history of humanity. It is a magnificent love story where audiences get to witness the drama and events that lead to the death of the two star-crossed lovers. Many wonderful characters in Romeo and Juliet are loved, but no character had such a vibrant personality and is able to steal the spotlight the way Mercutio does. He speaks in many scenes where he uses his humorous phrases to amaze and make his audiences laugh like when Mercutio convinces Romeo to dance, which in turn allows Romeo to fall in love with Juliet and Mercutio's Queen Mab speech which uses sexual humor for comedic effect. However, even though

Mercutio plays a big role in convincing Romeo to dance in the party as Romeo at this time is feeling depressed because Rosaline doesn't love him in return. If Mercutio did not convince Romeo to dance at the party, he may have never fallen in love with Juliet at the party. The evidence that shows Mercutio convinces Romeo to dance was when Mercutio states “Nay, Gentle Romeo, we must have you dance.” (Quote: Act 1, Scene 4, Line 13.) This event that occurs with Romeo and Juliet falling in love is the reason Romeo and Juliet is such a good play as everyone wants to find out what will happen to Romeo and Juliet. Mercutio is responsible for helping Romeo fall in love with Juliet and he also has a role in helping Romeo become enemies with Tybalt on a more personal level as Tybalt seeks revenge on Romeo once he finds out that Romeo was at the party. Once Tybalt kills Mercutio and Romeo takes vengeance upon Tybalt, the tragic events begin to unfold. If it were not for Mercutio convincing Romeo to dance, Romeo would have never spoken to that servant, thus Tybalt would have never heard Romeo speak and seek revenge upon

Most of the scenes in Romeo and Juliet leading up to the death of Mercutio and Tybalt are happy, joyful and create a more peaceful mood but once the death of Mercutio and Tybalt occur, the climax hits and the mood of the play is now changed to a more depressing mood with death, sadness and tragedy. Mercutio is the true driving point in the mood change because once the cheerful, humorous and happy character like Mercutio dies, the rest of the play follows up with death and sadness. Mercutio's death is also much needed for the mood of Romeo and Juliet to change because it gives a reason for the mood of the play to be changed into a more depressing style of play as the death of Mercutio signified that the jokes and carefree mood to the play is over. The death of Mercutio impacted the main character Romeo the most as Romeo stated “Alive in triumph—and Mercutio slain! Away to heaven, respective lenity” (Act 3, Scene 1, Line 84-85) which shows that after his death, he does not believe in peace between Tybalt and him and kills Tybalt which causes Romeo to be banished which was caused by the death of Mercutio. If it were not for Mercutio, Romeo would have never made such a hasty choice to kill Tybalt meaning the ending of Romeo and Juliet would never be the