'Romeo and Juliet' - Discuss The Importance of Mercutio to the Play.

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‘Romeo and Juliet’

Discuss The Importance of Mercutio to the Play

     Mercutio is a vital asset to the play for several different reasons and he contributes considerably to the play. Mercutio is an entertaining, lively but deep character and the audience love to see him on stage because he lightens up the tension of the play. The play itself is a tragedy because it ends unhappily but is split into two sections of tragedy and comedy. Mercutio contributes tremendously to the comedy aspect of the play that is really important so that the tragedy side of the play will be extenuated.  

     The Elizabethan audience gets to know Mercutio because he is Romeo’s best friend. Mercutio is supportive of Romeo because he tries to make Romeo happy. For example when Romeo was depressed because of Rosalind, Mercutio made a complimentary comment to make Romeo happy. Mercutio says, ‘You are a lover: borrow Cupid’s wings.’ So therefore Mercutio is important to the play because he adds joyfulness to the depressing aspects of the play. This is also suggested because Mercutio tells Romeo to come to a party with him and says, ‘Nay gentle Romeo, we must have you dance.’ This type of behaviour by Mercutio would seem appealing to the audience because it is enjoyable to see a character that is so exuberant. Mercutio is important to the play because he was the main reason why Romeo and Juliet met, because it was he who persuaded Romeo to go to the party. The friendship between Romeo and Mercutio includes mockery as well, because Mercutio says to Romeo ‘A slip, a slip, can you not conceive?’ Here Mercutio is teasing Romeo, and this type of light-hearted behaviour makes the audience relaxed, so they will be able to focus efficiently on the tragic scenes that are yet to come. Also when Romeo enters act 2 scene 4 by himself, Mercutio makes fun of him by saying, ‘without his roe’. Here Mercutio is suggesting the fact that Romeo spends too much time with the woman he loves. The style of how Mercutio will say this on stage, will suggest that Romeo does not spend time with Mercutio any more, therefore this statement also indicates that Mercutio is annoyed with Romeo. Also the mocking behaviour throughout the entire scene also suggests that Mercutio is annoyed with Romeo. Mercutio’s behaviour is comical here and this comedy is opposite to the tragedy, this is good because the tragedy scenes can be exaggerated.

     Mercutio is important to the play because the audience is able to see Romeo through Mercutio’s eyes because of the remarks that he makes about Romeo’s behaviour, so the audience is able to see Romeo’s life from another perspective. Mercutio thinks that the way Romeo is acting is disgraceful because he says, ‘Alas poor Romeo, he is already dead’. Mercutio pretends that he has the power to make Romeo come back from the dead by doing magic. This is rather amusing and attention grabbing and is suggested in the play when Mercutio says, ‘The Ape is dead and I must conjure him’. When Romeo comes back to Mercutio after talking with Juliet, Romeo and Mercutio start playing with words and start punning against each other. Mercutio says to Romeo, ‘Now art thou sociable’, so once again the audience are able to see through Mercutio, how Romeo’s behaviour continually changes.

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     Mercutio seems to run parallel to the nurse at times during the play. This is because Mercutio is Romeo’s close companion and the Nurse is Juliet’s companion, and both of them are very entertaining to watch because they both contribute to the comical aspect of the play. Their humour is rather different to each other though, this is because Mercutio is intelligent and his humour is cleverly punned, for example Mercutio insults Romeo at the beginning of act 2 scene 4, because he says to Romeo, ‘That’s as much as to say, such as a case as yours ...

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