Here, he is saying that Benvolio has a very short temper and is easily wound up, indicating that he truly is very bored, as even though Benvolio is his friend, he wants to stir things up. In the Franko Zefferelli version of Romeo & Juliet, he has Mercutio wear a handkerchief over his head and make silly noises, where as in the Baz Luhrman production, Mercutio shoots at the waves in the sea. The frustrating weather is also emphasised frequently through-out the beginning of the scene;
‘The day is hot’
Along with this heat comes dust, and with heat and dust, it can be quite easy for people to become angry quite quickly, meaning a meeting between the two families could quite well prove to be fatal;
‘…And, if we meet, we shall no ‘scape a brawl’
When Tybalt enters, he speaks to the Montagues in an almost polite way, showing no deliberate hostility;
‘Gentlemen, good e’ en!’
But, as the audience is already aware, Mercutio is bored and doesn’t want to talk, so it is no surprise when he replies with a deliberately provocative remark;
‘… But one word with us? Couple it with something; make it a word and a blow’
In the Baz Luhrman version of the play, Mercutio is making a sexual reference; implying that Tybalt is a homosexual, which is obviously an attempt to anger him and start a fight. Tybalt is portrayed more aggressively. His body language is clear that he isn’t in a good mood, and his words are spoken in such a way that they are deliberately designed to provoke Mercutio;
‘… thou consort’st with Romeo?’
The words are spoken in a spiteful and bitter tone, so that the audience is not surprised when Mercutio takes great offence to the statement, which may be due to the fact that Mercutio (strictly in the Baz Luhrman production) is actually a homosexual himself.
However, in the Zefferelli version, Mercutio is the aggressor and is keen to be the centre of attention all the time. Though the text is the same, the character’s tone of voice is done in a different way, and the words are spoken as if Tybalt is in the right and he only wants to talk with Romeo. The play is interpreted differently, with Mercutio now being the one who deliberately wants to start conflict;
‘I will budge for no man’s pleasure’
Tybalt replies in a gentlemanly manner, even in a friendly way, when he leaves Mercutio as Romeo enters;
‘… Peace be with you sir, here comes my man’
In the Zefferelli version, Mercutio decides to interoperate this as meaning that all the attention will now be on Tybalt and Romeo. This annoys him because he still wants to be the centre of attention (as always). Tybalt naturally wants to speak to Romeo, and doesn’t care whether Mercutio is the centre of attention or not, which Mercutio is unable to accept. Mercutio and Tybalt have a duel in a playful manor, with both characters mocking what would happen in a real fight. Romeo realises that the duel is becoming a fight for attention from the crowd, and could become dangerous, so he tries to break it up, and in the process, Tybalt accidentally stabs Mercutio;
‘Why the devil came you between us?’
The audience become aware of what has happened, and recognises that is a tragic event. Mercutio has been mortally wounded and Romeo is partly to be blamed, as the accident may not have occurred if he hadn’t intervened. The tragedy that the audience is made aware of is that Mercutio has been slain; not by a real fight, but in an accident. He knows this;
‘I am sped!’
Mercutio knows that he is going to die, and he knows that it is both Romeo’ s and Tybalt’s fault.
Baz Luhrman shows the film in a different way in his film. This time Tybalt is the aggressor and Mercutio insults him playfully, as it is part of his nature, while Tybalt is only interested in finding Romeo. When Romeo enters having just married Juliet, he tries to embrace Tybalt as his cousin, but Tybalt is too angry with Romeo and chooses to ignore his polite attitude. Mercutio is clearly not as involved in the scene as in the Zefferelli version. Shakespeare’ s language is used differently and therefore, when Mercutio parts, it is more of a shock to the audience.
Zefferelli’ s version shows Mercutio’s death as a way of presenting his showman-like character. He lives to be the centre of attention, and so makes jokes even though he is dying;
‘Ask for me tomorrow and you shall find me a grave man’
Mercutio uses a pun on the word ‘grave’, telling the audience both that tomorrow he will not only be a serious because he is wounded, but also in a grave. Because of this, he is still the centre of attention, using hyperbolic language, exaggerating the pain of the wound;
‘A scratch, a scratch’
and so the crowd laughs and jokes at him although he is dying. Mercutio’s pride prevents him from admitting that he is obviously afraid of his death. In this version of the scene, Zefferelli shows that unfortunately at the one point in his life when Mercutio should have been taken seriously, all the people around him are laughing. Until he is actually dead, know one around him actually knew how badly he was wounded.
Baz Luhrman interoperates Romeo and Juliet differently. It doesn’t make Mercutio’s death ironically tragic. The scene is shown differently, with Mercutio’s death not really being accidental on Tybalt’s part. Romeo appears confused, not knowing the extent of Mercutio’s injuries.
Tybalt’s death by Romeo is a significant point in the play at which Romeo’s life with Juliet is ruined, where as, up until that moment, all could have still worked for him. Where as in the Zefferelli production, Mercutio’s death is partly Romeo’s fault and can be shown as him trying to shift the blame of Mercutio’ s death over onto Tybalt, in the Luhrman production, the scene is far more emotional, as Mercutio’s death wasn’t an accident. Romeo screams at Tybalt in anger and grief;
‘Either though, or I, or both must go with him’
He repeats this line several times, to connote the deep emotion he is feeling. In contrast, after Romeo has killed Tybalt, the scene becomes completely silent, a sign to the audience that Romeo is utterly shocked at what has happened, and showing that he never really fully intended to kill Tybalt.
In Franko Zefferelli’s production, Romeo seems to be angry with himself more than anything;
‘O, I am fortune’s fool!’
He uses personification to show his despair here at the fact that he thinks that fate is playing games with him.
This scene turns the whole play around, with the well-paced deaths of Mercutio and Tybalt only the start of the tragedies that are to follow. Romeo is banished from Verona by the prince for murdering Tybalt, and separated from Juliet. At the end of the play, the lovers commit suicide because they cannot bear to spend the remainder of their lives separated. The play careers towards this tragic climax as a result of the deaths of Mercutio and Tybalt; after these deaths, the deaths of Romeo and his Juliet are inevitable. For these reasons, the scene is one of the most significant and important scenes throughout the whole of William Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet.