In the words, ‘Come sir, your ‘passado‘.’ Mercutio is making a fool of Tybalt’s sword skills even though Tybalt’s skill level is superior to Mercutio’s skill level. Dramatic irony is introduced here because Tybalt then appears and slays Mercutio. Mercutio tends to liven up the play with his hot headedness at times and his moods. When he is in a good mood everyone else around him is in a good mood and the day is good. When he is in a bad mood everything seems rushed and even the weather is bad. The weather changes around his mood.
In Mercutio’s first appearance in the play he is in a street outside the Capulet mansion with Romeo and Benvolio and they are about to go into a party hosted by Lord Capulet. Benvolio isn’t going to go in but Mercutio wants Romeo to go into the party because he wants Romeo to think about other women other than Rosaline.
‘Nay, gentle Romeo, we must have you dance’, is what Mercutio says to try and encourage Romeo to join the party. Here Mercutio could cause major trouble because he is asking a Montague to go onto Capulet property knowing that if Romeo is caught he could quite easily be killed. Mercutio is prepared to be reckless to take the risks involved. During the party Tybalt spots Romeo with the guests so is infuriated and goes to his father to ask his father if he can get rid of Romeo from their house. They hide their faces with masks:
‘Give me a case to put my visage in’. This is Mercutio asking for his mask.
When Mercutio relays to us the Queen Mab speech he shows his true personality to Romeo and the others when one moment he is happy and speaking good words, and then he suddenly changes to a gloomy foreboding character which frightens both Romeo and Benvolio.
‘Peace, peace, Mercutio, peace! Though talk’st of nothing’. This is when Romeo and Benvolio are trying to calm down Mercutio. He turns from once a jolly character into a scary character and this part of the play changes the mood and the audiences view on Mercutio. All through the first part he is a fun jokey character and then he completely changes. He gets very fiery with Romeo and Benvolio when they try to calm him down and that takes them back. Mercutio turns out to be a comedian on one part and then maybe a depressed and lost soul who is missing something. From a close look at Mercutio’s early language in the play it is easy to see that on one hand he is a mischievous jester but on the other hand as the play progresses we see the darker side of Mercutio.
In the second appearance of Mercutio he starts to mock Tybalt’s duelling skills while he jokes with his good friend Benvolio. He disregards Tybalt and shows no respect for a dueller who is superior to him. These are scenes of Mercutio as his jolly character again in these scenes of jest and hilarity. He uses his sharp sense of wit and humour to makes jokes on the man who would later end his life.
‘Tybalt, you rat-catcher, will you walk?’
Mercutio gets offended when Tybalt arrives when Mercutio is talking to Romeo and Tybalt starts insulting Romeo. Mercutio is a very good friend of Romeo’s if not a soul mate and when Romeo does not stand up for himself Mercutio steps in to defend him. Mercutio acts like an older brother to Romeo who protects the younger brother. Mercutio seems to be a confident to Romeo and he is prepared to listen in times of trouble and to give Romeo support and advice when it is needed. This eventually turns into a fatal duel which turns out to be Mercutio’s last. Tybalt gets very annoyed with Mercutio but the main reason he comes to insult and perhaps kill Romeo is because he turns up to the party which made Tybalt very cross that a Montague had trespassed on Capulet ground. He doesn’t at this point know that his sister, Juliet, was in love with Romeo and that Romeo was in love with Juliet.
When the duel between Mercutio and Tybalt starts you can see that something bad is going to happen because Tybalt is very good at this type of fighting.