William Shakespeare is often regarded as the greatest playwright ever. He has written plenty of plays with hundreds of characters. Of all his characters one stands out: the energetic and witty Mercutio. His signature ever-changing personality makes him the star of Romeo and Juliet for a few reasons. The main one is that he feels like a real human, he also has a great sense of humor, amazing loyalty, and the ability to always be there for his friends. These traits help the audience relate to and understand Mercutio. It's typical for Shakespeare’s plays to have many characters that are common tropes and have just one emotion make up their whole personality. Tybalt for example just constantly wants to fight which makes it hard for people to relate to him. Mercutio on the other hand has his share of highs and lows. He goes from trying to encourage Romeo to crash a party and have a good time with him to going on a long monologue about dreams and deeper philosophical questions. His ever-changing personality makes him relatable and likable. He has good days and bad days but throughout he still always maintains his friendship with Romeo. All of this makes him understandable and a whole lot more likable. …show more content…
Mercutio breaks this trope by using his wit to be funny and make a lot of puns. He uses comedy to show how smart he is, not for the audience to laugh at how dumb he is. This ability sets him apart and helps him feel more like a friend. You laugh with Mercutio as he heckles Romeo and you feel like you are inside their friend group. Even he death he jokes “Ask for me tomorrow, and you shall find me a grave man.” (Shakespeare 3.1 101-102). This unique outlook on comedy helps make Mercutio shine and stand out as a more likable