The playful banter of Mercutio to Benvolio becomes threatening once Tybalt enters the scene. Benvolio alerts Mercutio ‘By my head, here comes the Capulets’. However, Mercutio’s reply is ‘By my heel, I care not’- Mercutio is already spoiling for a fight, but Tybalt is determined to find Romeo. Within the exchange of Mercutio and Tybalt, Shakespeare hints at the violence to come through his use of imagery within their speech. The first hint of conflict comes from Mercutio ‘Couple it with something, make it a word and a blow. Here Mercutio is showing off. His language is playfully insulting. Luhrmann uses close-ups here to make Mercutio look larger than life. Giving the effect to the audience that Mercutio is the alpha male out of the two. Although the Bravado and playful language Shakespeare uses here are very masculine traits, at this point in the film Luhrmann portrays Mercutio as a very effeminate figure. In the film Mercutio teases Tybalt almost as if he is flirting with him, and this evidently enrages Tybalt. However, Luhrmann’s portrayal of Mercutio as effeminate isn’t intended to infer he’s gay, instead it shows that Mercutio is very comfortable with his sexuality, and enjoys using this self assurance to tease Tybalt, perhaps like some men is more uncomfortable about gays or effeminate men, as the female is often seen as the weaker sex. In contrast Tybalt and the Capulets are shown as anything but effeminate. In the film their black clothing and even stance are very threatening.
Once Romeo enters the scene, Tybalt loses interest in Mercutio immediately. After-all Tybalt is seeking Romeo, as he is the one he challenged. But Romeo knows nothing of Tybalt’s challenge as he has just come from marrying Tybalt’s cousin Juliet, and has not yet gone back to the house. This is dramatic Irony, as the audience knows that Romeo and Juliet have been married but neither Mercutio nor Tybalt do. The audience also knows about the challenge to Romeo, which Romeo has no idea has been made. When Romeo try’s to placate Tybalt, ‘The reason that I love thee Doth much excuse the appertaining rage to such a greeting’ (Romeo cannot kill Tybalt, he is the cousin of his wife), then Mercutio says ‘O calm dishonourable vial submission’. Mercutio feels that Romeo is dishonouring himself, and perhaps thinks he is showing cowardice by submitting to Tyblat’s authority, which is why Mercutio is angry at Romeo and feels he must take on Tybalt himself. The feeling of pride Mercutio has in defending Romeo and the Montague’s honour results in his death.
In the film Luhrmann, like Shakespeare, uses many cinematic techniques to accentuate his ideas about themes within the tragedy; Luhrmann uses Mercutio’s death to set the scene for the inevitability of Romeo and Juliet’s ‘fate’. As Tybalt and Mercutio’s rage rises the sky begins to darken. Mercutio condemns the Capulet’s and Montague’s with ‘a curse on both your houses’ which is an inference of the supernatural and fate. This is then reflected in the weather as the wind rises and sea churns menacingly. This pathetic fallacy, when a playwright emphasises the tone and mood at the time through the weather, is a concept which the Shakespearean Elizabethan audience would recognise.
Even faced with death Mercutio is still the centre of attention. To signify this as he dies, Luhrmann cleverly places him on a stage at the centre. He turns away from the others however, as the realisation of his death is very evident on his face. His exit of the back off the stage signifies his death and exit from the play. Mercutio’s wit and exuberance is very masculine as he tries to seek the admiration of his peers. Luhrmann shows this by making him the dominant character in the passage. And even in death Mercutio does not lose his sense of wit. When Romeo asks ‘the hurt cannot be much’ Mercutio answers ‘if you ask for me tomorrow you shall find me a grave man’. Mercutio knows that he will not survive his injury, however he does not directly tell this to Romeo or the others. Putting Mercutio on a stage as he dies is very poignant, as his character is very much the showman. However, I also think the use of the stage is Luhrmann attributing the Play ‘Romeo and Juliet’ back to Shakespeare as the play was written to be performed on the stage and the use of it in the film heightens the sense of drama.
The expectations of ‘Romeo and Juliet’ for the Elizabethan audience would be entirely different to that of the modern audience. By the time Shakespeare wrote, the English enjoyed hearing their language used cleverly. As language for them was very important, Shakespeare focused on it, using it to create the concepts of masculinity through masculine traits like wit, puns and sarcasm. Shakespeare’s witty use of language is why I prefer his version of the play, as Luhrmann cuts a lot of the speeches. Luhrmann’s interpretation of ‘Romeo and Juliet’, on the other hand, has to be different as he is filming to entertain a modern audience who expect special effects and a new story rather than clever use of language. Luhrmann therefore uses special effects such as the weather and the use of a stage to heighten the sense of drama as well as punctuate the violence in the story.
