The second reason why Mercutio's character is essential is that it is Mercutio's death that sets off the chain of events that leads to Romeo's banishment which then leads to the tragic ending. First, Tybalt murders Mercutio and Romeo is so offended by this that he kills Tybalt. As a consequence, Romeo is banished from Verona and therefore from seeing Juliet. During the first scene of Act 3, Mercutio is being his normal, quick-witted self and he deliberately annoys Tybalt, while Romeo is standing between them trying to stop the fight because he knows that he is in Tybalts family and that it would offend Juliet if anything awful happened. This symbolises how Romeo tries to end the fighting between the Montague’s and the Capulet’s, but he can’t.
In Act 1 Scene 4 Mercutio persuades Romeo to attend the Capulet feast. Mercutio is a humorous, witty comedian and he is a close friend of Romeo, although it seems that they have more of a brotherly bond. Mercutio also uses sexual wordplay whilst attempting to cheer up Romeo ‘prick love for pricking’. When Mercutio uses this he is also telling Romeo to get over Rosaline and enjoy himself. Mercutio also tells Romeo to not be afraid to take charge saying, ‘If love be rough with you, then be rough with love’. This shows how Mercutio simply cannot understand Romeo's love for Juliet, and that he sees his love as simply a confusion of emotions. In this scene the audience learns that Mercutio is a deep-thinker who shares his thoughts and opinions with his friends and Mercutio’s friends listen and take notice of him which shows that they think highly of him and respect him. Mercutio never reveals his true emotions and he admits this ‘give me a case to put my visage in: a visor for a visor’ and because of this we never know if he is being himself.
Mercutio constructs a large ‘Queen Mab’ speech which is based on dreams and fantasies which are granted by an imaginary fairy, he uses this speech to convince Romeo to attend the feast. In this speech all of Mercutio’s ideas come out and make the speech seem unrealistic, however this speech brings excitement into the scene. In this speech Mercutio uses a lot of metaphors to make us realise what he is talking about and he also uses techniques to persuade Romeo. As shown in this speech, Mercutio is very imaginative. He describes in intimate detail everything. The audience really appreciate Mercutio in this scene because whereas Romeo is love-sick and sorrowful, Mercutio is enjoying himself and because of this we can compare them as opposites which is why Mercutio is included in this scene.
In Act 2 Scene 1 Mercutio is annoyed with Romeo because Romeo deserted him at the Capulet’s feast ‘you gave is the counterfeit fairly last night’. Romeo and Mercutio seem to have exchanged roles and Mercutio uses sexual wordplay and bawdy language to describe Rosaline and women, ‘by her high forehead and her scarlet lip, by her fine foot, straight leg and quivering thigh, and the demesnes that there adjacent lie’.Mercutio believes that women are only needed for sex and constantly describes them dreadfully ‘an old hare hoar’. Which is how he describes the nurse.Mercutio doesn’t like Rosaline because he believes that she is the person who is keeping Romeo from seeing him but Mercutio has no knowledge of Romeo's new-found love for Juliet which is who Romeo has really been with.Benvolio was also deserted at the party but is not annoyed with Romeo and wants to talk to Romeo. Therefore Mercutio answers Benvolio's appeal to call Romeo ‘I’ll conjure thee’. The audience would think Mercutio was being selfish and would dislike him at this specific part of the play. Mercutio uses bawdy and crude language to his advantage and from these he creates witty remarks.
During the witty exchanges between Romeo and Mercutio, Mercutio appears to be losing and he can’t compete with Romeo anymore. However they are actually evenly matched. Whereas before when Romeo was unhappy Mercutio won now that Romeo is happy and in love Romeo wins. The audience would be disappointed that Mercutio isn’t as witty as they thought he was but all the same they would be amused by the witty comebacks from Romeo. The two contrast as opposites in this scene which is interesting because they change characters quite a lot.
Mercutio is very disappointed and ashamed of Romeo in Act 3 scene 1 because Romeo refuses to fight Tybalt.Tybalt is an excellent swordsman ‘he fights as you sing’ .Mercutio would rather die than be dishonourable and he makes this quite clear. However Romeo is now Juliet’s husband and therefore would be killing his own family which is why Romeo refuses to do so. Romeo also believes that love is better than honour ‘I do protest I never injured thee’, Romeo doesn’t want to hurt Tybalt because of his love for Juliet.Tybalt doesn’t know of Romeo and Juliet’s marriage and treats Romeo badly and provokes him ‘thou art a villain’ and ‘boy’. In this scene Mercutio is being very serious which is unusual for him but he still manages to play on words ‘find me a grave man’.
Mercutio is really miserable in this last scene and when he describes Benvolio he is really describing Tybalt’s actions and he is annoying him, and how Romeo could have prevented this if he hadn’t got married. He is also being witty and is once again provoking Tybalt.When Mercutio says ‘a plague, o’ both your houses!’ it makes the audience feel sympathy for Mercutio and makes the scene more emotional.
Mercutio’s character is a very likeable one; he is humorous and engages the audience no matter what his actions are. A modern audience wouldn’t particularly react any different to the audience in Shakespeare’s time although the women nowadays may dislike Mercutio’s character due to the bad language that he uses whilst referring to them.
In conclusion, Mercutio's character is obviously very superior and essential for the humour of this play. He represents independence, youth, and freedom, and makes the story line a lot more interesting. The character of Mercutio achieves the effect that Shakespeare intended which was that he would bring a different interest into the play due to the character of Mercutio.
