When Mercutio dies, the comedy comes to a sudden stop.” Romeo makes a joke “beat down their weapons.” The audience would have been laughing at the jokes. Even when Mercutio is about to die he still makes jokes “Ay a scratch a scratch”, so even when he is hurt he just make people believe it is a scratch.
Before Mercutio’s death, the play is simply based on Romeo and Juliet’s love for each other. Gradually, Shakespeare is trying to show the audience how their relationship is bonding but on the other hand, how the families are despising more of each other.
In this paragraph I will discuss how Mercutio’s death changed the play. The play changes from comedy to tragedy because Mercutio is the jester of the play therefore when he dies; the jokes also die. Characters change at this point. Romeo who is normally Romantic becomes a lot more violent. Romeo’s revenge on Tybalt shows that tragedy will follow. Mercutio curses both the families “A plague in both your houses”. At the time (Shakespeare/Elizabethan), the audience believed in curses. Some of the types of audiences that went to see the play would have been poor or middle classes as the play is targeted at this audience, due to the common language used.
In this paragraph I will discuss how the play has lost it’s comedy and has turned into tragedy. After Romeo has killed Tybalt he realises what he has done “O, I am a fortunes fool”. He blames his fate for what he has done. Juliet is very confused when she finds out what Romeo has done. Romeo realises he is banished. Juliet is confused and scared because she has to drink poison to pretend that she is dead because she does not want to marry Paris.
“My only love sprung from my only hate”. This quote shows that Juliet is confused because the only person she could love was from the family, which her parents hate.
Romeo tries to be civil towards Tybalt at the start of the scene however kills him at the end and Mercutio loves Romeo but curses him at the end. This is showing that the relationships between Tybalt and Romeo and also Mercutio and Romeo turn to tragedy. Shakespeare may have killed off Mercutio, as he is a friend of both families and to create a reaction from the audience, as he was likeable. When Tybalt dies, the audience might not have much sympathy, as this would be revenge on behalf of Mercutio’s death.
Mercutio is portrayed as the middle character who links the play to different people and scenes. Shakespeare might have wanted him to be more of a friend to Romeo in the play. Mercutio helps in some aspects to confuse the audience. E.g. when he is dying, he says it is a scratch yet he is actually dying. Also, he curses both the families. The audience were not expecting this because firstly, he is a friend of both families and secondly, they would not have known that the hatred of both families killed Mercutio.
Mercutio’s death is so important to the plot because it shows where the play changes from comedy to tragedy as a main character, Mercutio dies. It is also important because from this point, the characters change and the mood is changed from being emotional to gloomy.
