He leaps off the subject of her carriage to describe its owner’s purpose. Mab’s purpose is to travel over the sleeping forms of human beings and cause them to dream of things appropriate to their station in life. For example, she drives “Through lovers brains, and them they dream of love”, “O’er lawyers fingers, who straight dream on fees” and “O’er a soldiers neck, and then dreams he of cutting foreign throats,” Here again, this sounds fanciful enough, yet somehow it veers off into a deluge of images that are nothing like the sweet, almost childlike story it seemed he was going to tell. It is not enough that soldiers dream of warfare, they must dream of
“Cutting foreign throats,/ Of breaches, ambuscades, Spanish blades,/ Of heaths five fathom; and then anon,/ Drums in his ear at which he starts and wake,/ And being thus frightened swears a prayer or two/ And sleeps again” (I,iv,83-87)
This shows how Mercutio began his speech with a reverie and ended it with nightmares. Queen Mab doesn’t seem like such a cute little creature now. He continues to talk of how Mab is the cause of much misfortune, referring to her as a “hag”.
What is just as interesting as Mercutio’s speech itself is how hysterical he gets while delivering it. As Mercutio’s images become less and less cute and more horrific and alarming, the rhythm in Shakespeare’s iambic pentameter becomes more driving allowing less and less breathing space between phrases. By the end of the passage, Mercutio is galloping through his speech. Romeo, the very person everyone felt needed cheering up, is forced to stop Mercutio – “Peace, peace, Mercutio, peace, thou talkst of nothing” to calm him down. (I,iv,95-96)
What has happened? Mercutio probably doesn’t even know, but it seems clear that Mercutio has caught a good dose of the foreboding that Romeo himself feels, despite the fact that he has already dismissed it as silly. The two friends are very close, and it is quite possible that the pair would be closely attuned to one another’s feelings and moods. Whatever the reason, however, Mercutio’s hysteria serves as a sort of foreshadowing of the disaster to come.
There is another scene which we can use to anylise Mercutio’s character; Act II scene iv. This is an important scene because it shows Mercutio in a normal situation with no pressure on him.
He is his usual witty self; joking, teasing and using metaphors. His good mood rubs off on Romeo. This is shown when Romeo jokes with him, referring to Mercutio as a “good goose” trying to bite him. This suggests a strong bond between the two friends, how they can pretend and joke about biting each other: a form of intimate contact.
When the nurse enters, Mercutio mocks her relentlessly, even though they have never met. He refers to her as a “bawd” and makes other nasty remarks about her. He also tells Peter to “hide her face, for the fans the fairer face”. All these malicious remarks suggest that he has no respect for women of the lower classes, such as nurses, but at the beginning of the scene, he also refers to Rosaline as a “pale hearted wench”. This might suggest that he has no respect for women of any class, higher or lower.
From this scene, I conclude that if you are Mercutio’s friend, he is a very likeable and funny person, but you don’t even have to be his enemy for him to dislike and mock you.
There are two main reasons why Mercutio’s character is important to the actual plot of Romeo and Juliet. First of all, Mercutio convinces Romeo to attend the ball at the Capulets’ house, where he meets Juliet. Romeo is very reluctant to go to the party and even expresses a feeling of insecurity about what the night may bring. However, after Mercutio advises and teases Romeo a little, he decides to go. It is solely because of Mercutio’s persuasions that Romeo agrees to attend the party.
The second way Mercutio’s character is vital to the plot is it is Mercutio’s death that sets off the chain of events that lead to Romeo’s banishment. First, Tybalt murders Mercutio. Romeo is so enraged 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 III, Mercutio is being his regular, quick-witted self. His language is sharp, but perhaps too sharp for his own good. He deliberately annoys Tybalt, by doing things like purposely mistaking meanings of words. For example, in line 41, Tybalt begins addressing Mercutio about the relationship between Romeo and Juliet, and Mercutio takes the word “consort” as being related to playing music, instead of friendship. Instances like this simply make the argument more and more heated until Mercutio takes Tybalt’s final blow, while Romeo is standing between them, trying to stop the fight. This symbolises how, try as he will to end the fighting between the Montagues and the Capulets, Romeo cannot do so.
Mercutio’s death also alters the mood of the play entirely. When Tybalt kills Mercutio, the attributed of a comedy die with him. From now on, the play becomes a tragedy. This shows how Mercutio is a strong representation of all that is youthful and carefree in the play. This is why I prefer Zefirelli’s version of the scene. It shows Mercutio being funny and unserious even while the fight is happening which makes things all the more tragic when he dies. When the spectators finally realise that he is actually dead, the mood of the play changes very suddenly, making the audience extremely shocked. In Baz Lehrmann’s version, I think that Mercutio’s death is all too predictable because of the bad weather and all the other dark and death implying effects before it. Mercutio’s character doesn’t change very much during the play. The only slight change one might see is when he is about to die he yells “A plague on both your houses” This may be regarded as a change because Mercutio has never been so serious before. He has never expressed any disagreement about the relationship between the Montagues and the Capulets. Now, he seems to realise the damage the fighting is capable of doing. Unfortunately, it was too late for him.
In conclusion, Mercutio’s character is obviously very complex and vital to the plot of the play. He represents youth, independence, and freedom, and makes the storyline a lot more interesting. I think he is a vital part of the play and the reason for its success.
Friar Lawrence
Unlike Mercutio, Friar Lawrence is not so energetic and extravagant in all the things he does. However, even though he isn’t on stage very often, he is one of the most important characters in the play because of the roll he plays in the eventual tragedy. He is a typical friar – caring, selfless, good intentioned and wise. His downside is that he is a bad planner. In Romeo and Juliet, there are three main events: the marriage, the plan and the eventual death, all of which relate to him.
His first scene is Act II, scene iii in which Romeo tells Friar Lawrence on his love for Juliet. This is an important scene because it is our introduction to his character. When he says “the grey eyed morn smiles upon the frowning night…And flecked darkness like a drunkard reels” this suggests that he sees the night as loathsome and he enjoys the life the sun brings to the earth. We can see this point again when he says “ the day to cheer and the night’s dank dew to dry.” We can also infer that he loves plants and the way that they work when he exclaims that plants “to the earth some special good doth give. He also shows his knowledge of the poisons and medicines in various plants by saying “within the infant rind of this weak flower, poison hath residence and medicine power.” So, from that first speech we can see that he is a peaceful man, perhaps wary of the dark side, who admires mother nature and all the good she brings.
The fact that Romeo comes and tells Friar Lawrence about Juliet suggests that he is a very trustworthy man who people can confide in.
When he expresses his shock at Romeo’s hasty decision and says,
“Holy Saint Francis, what change is here!
Is Rosaline that thou didst love so dear,
So soon forsaken?
Young men’s love then lies
Not truly in their hearts but in their eyes.”
This shows that he is starting to doubt Romeo and is now seeing him as a person
who skips from woman to woman. However, he starts to think of others and how
the marriage might settle the disputes, so he says “in one respect I’ll thy assistant
be, for this alliance may so happy prove/ to turn your households rancour to pure
love.” This shows how he is a well-intentioned selfless man. He tries to make sure
he marriage is successful because he understands that if they rush into it, there
could be problems, as shown in line 94 when he tells Romeo that people who rush
in often make mistakes. “Wisely and slow, they stumble that run fast.”
Another of his scenes is the marriage scene. (II,iv) The stage directions indicate that he is doubtful. Perhaps he is having second thoughts about the whole affair, but he still carries out the marriage. When he says “so smile the heavens upon this holy act,” this suggests that he wants God’s approval of that he is doing. He also hopes “that after hours with sorrow chide us not “ which again shows he is doubtful about the marriage and hopes that nothing bad comes from it. This is one of the many times in the play that the eventual tragedy is hinted at. Friar Lawrence’s doubt has no effect on Romeo, who says “Amen, Amen, [our equivalent would be ‘yeah, yeah, whatever’] but come what sorrow can, it cannot counterveil the exchange of joy/ that one short minute gives me in her sight.”
In lines 9-15 he makes a short speech aimed directly at Romeo. The metaphor “the sweetest honey/ is loathsome in its own deliciousness” means that something so sweet can become sickly and you could quickly lose your appetite for it. Initially, the Friar is trying to convince Romeo that Juliet would be someone he would grow out of, i.e. his love for Rosaline. In the last two lines of the speech, the Friar is convincing Romeo that something as important as love and marriage should not be jumped into, when it could be done slower, so confidence can be had in that the right decision is being made and there are no room for regrets.
After conversing with Romeo about the importance of marriage, Friar Lawrence is given a short time to think and finally realises how much Romeo really cares about Juliet and gives his consent to marry them.
His final scene is also the final scene of the play. He already knows that his letter has not reached Romeo and therefore is extremely anxious and worried. We can see this when he says “Fear comes upon me,/ o much I fear some ill, unthrifty thing.” When he says to Balthasar “go with me to the vault” this suggests that he is afraid of what he might find there, another indication that he is very worried.
He talks to Juliet when he is in the vault. He wants to take her and leave as soon as possible because he is scared people would accuse him of murder. “Come, I’ll dispose of thee/ among a sisterhood of holy nuns./ stay not to question, for the watch is coming.”
When he finally decides to spill the beans on what happened, he begins “I am the greatest, able to do the least” this shows how he admits that he is the most suspected person, but more importantly, by “able to do the least” he means that he is old and withery. He is starting to think about his age and acknowledges that he hasn’t much time left on the earth. We can see this again when the Prince instructs him to explain. He starts by saying “ I will be brief , for my short date of breath.” Friar Lawrence just wants to tell and forget about the matter.
Friar Lawrence is probably the most important character for the movement of the play as a whole. His decision to wed the couple results in Juliet having to appear dead because of her marriage to Paris. He fails to get the message to Romeo about this, which results in him going to her grave and killing himself. This causes Juliet to kill herself too.
Friar Lawrence interacts with all the other characters very placidly and in a very friendly way. It is because of this that Romeo confides in him about his love for Juliet. He knows what his pupils are like and how the behave. We can see this when he calls Juliet “pensive daughter” and shows his knowledge of her headstrongness by saying “thou hast the strength of will to slay thyself.” In this act we can also see that he is empathetic to Juliet. He says “O, Juliet, I already know thy grief”.
Contradictory to form, however, earlier in act III scene iii he lays in to Romeo , because of his crying. “Art thou a man?” he questions, “thy tears are womanish!” Perhaps Friar Lawrence is trying to do the best for Romeo in getting him to toughen up a bit. This is important because it shows us how men were supposed to be like in Shakespeare’s time. He continues his onslaught, telling Romeo that he is to blame for his banishment “hast thou slain Tybalt?” and “powder in a skills soldier’s flask is set afire by thine own ignorance.” Perhaps he is cross with Romeo for putting this on him and making it his responsibility.
Friar Lawrence did everything he could to try and allow Romeo and Juliet to live in peace. Maybe with a little more time he could have planned things better. The countless mistakes by Friar Lawrence are understandable, but deadly. He was a man of good intentions, but one of short sight.
