Who Is Mercutio A Foil In Romeo And Juliet
The Pivotal Pair
in William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet
When one thinks of Shakespeare's great works, Romeo and Juliet probably comes to mind. The characters of Romeo and Juliet, however, are one-dimensional. They have no real depth to their characters and do not actually carry the plot. I believe that the two characters who are really essential to the plotline are Tybalt and Mercutio, two conflicting characters whose argument sets the play and its characters to another level of urgency.
Though Mercutio and Tybalt share certain character traits, they are mostly opposites and can be juxtaposed to show the layers of contrast and complexity in each character. Though Mercutio and Benvolio are the classic "foils," I believe that this pair …show more content…
Tybalt is accomplished with a blade:
[Tybalt] fights as
you sing prick-song: keeps time, distance, and
proportion. He rest his minim rests, one, two, and
the third in your bosom. The very butcher of a
silk button. A duellist, a duellist! A gentleman of
the very first house, of the first and second cause.
Ah, the immortal passado! The punto reverso! The
hay! (2.4.20-27)
Mercutio is less of a duellist but enjoys dancing and drinking, and is forever speaking in puns and making fanciful, rambling speeches (Queen Mab speech, 1.4.53-95). The vitality of these two makes them quick to anger, and their bad tempers precipitate the play's tragedy.
Both are young and energetic, but Mercutio's energy is more potent, almost overwhelming. He is forever joking, an essentially happy character who can find humour in everything, including Romeo's misery:
Romeo! Humours! Madman! Passion! Lover!
Appear thou in the likeness of a sigh:
Speak but one rhyme and I am satisfied;
Cry but 'Ay me!' Pronounce but 'love' and 'dove';
Speak to my gossip Venus one fair word,
One nickname for her purblind son and heir,
Young Abraham Cupid, he that shot so trim
When King Cophetua lov'd the …show more content…
(2.1.7-21)
Tybalt has no such sense of humour but is annoyed and angry at Mercutio's refusal to be serious.
Alana FletcherFletcher 2
Miss Higginson
ENG 2D
12 December 2002
Tybalt: Mercutio, thou consort'st with Romeo -
Mercutio: Consort! What, dost thou make us minstrels? And
thou make minstrels of us, look to hear nothing but
discords. Here's my fiddle-stick; here's that shall
make you dance. 'Zounds, consort! (3.1.44-48)
Mercutio mocks Tybalt in his seriousness, and deliberately mistakes his meaning, finding puns where none were intended. This conversation leads to Tybalt's challenge to Romeo, Mercutio's challenge to Tybalt, and the subsequent murders.
Tybalt's character is moodier, angrier. He seems to look for a fight with his enemies, for example, at his family's masquerade party. Mercutio, Benvolio, and Romeo have come to have a good time and to see Rosaline, but when Tybalt recognizes Romeo's voice, he immediately expresses his wish to fight.
This, by his voice, should be a Montague.
Fetch me my rapier, boy. What, dares the
in William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet
When one thinks of Shakespeare's great works, Romeo and Juliet probably comes to mind. The characters of Romeo and Juliet, however, are one-dimensional. They have no real depth to their characters and do not actually carry the plot. I believe that the two characters who are really essential to the plotline are Tybalt and Mercutio, two conflicting characters whose argument sets the play and its characters to another level of urgency.
Though Mercutio and Tybalt share certain character traits, they are mostly opposites and can be juxtaposed to show the layers of contrast and complexity in each character. Though Mercutio and Benvolio are the classic "foils," I believe that this pair …show more content…
Tybalt is accomplished with a blade:
[Tybalt] fights as
you sing prick-song: keeps time, distance, and
proportion. He rest his minim rests, one, two, and
the third in your bosom. The very butcher of a
silk button. A duellist, a duellist! A gentleman of
the very first house, of the first and second cause.
Ah, the immortal passado! The punto reverso! The
hay! (2.4.20-27)
Mercutio is less of a duellist but enjoys dancing and drinking, and is forever speaking in puns and making fanciful, rambling speeches (Queen Mab speech, 1.4.53-95). The vitality of these two makes them quick to anger, and their bad tempers precipitate the play's tragedy.
Both are young and energetic, but Mercutio's energy is more potent, almost overwhelming. He is forever joking, an essentially happy character who can find humour in everything, including Romeo's misery:
Romeo! Humours! Madman! Passion! Lover!
Appear thou in the likeness of a sigh:
Speak but one rhyme and I am satisfied;
Cry but 'Ay me!' Pronounce but 'love' and 'dove';
Speak to my gossip Venus one fair word,
One nickname for her purblind son and heir,
Young Abraham Cupid, he that shot so trim
When King Cophetua lov'd the …show more content…
(2.1.7-21)
Tybalt has no such sense of humour but is annoyed and angry at Mercutio's refusal to be serious.
Alana FletcherFletcher 2
Miss Higginson
ENG 2D
12 December 2002
Tybalt: Mercutio, thou consort'st with Romeo -
Mercutio: Consort! What, dost thou make us minstrels? And
thou make minstrels of us, look to hear nothing but
discords. Here's my fiddle-stick; here's that shall
make you dance. 'Zounds, consort! (3.1.44-48)
Mercutio mocks Tybalt in his seriousness, and deliberately mistakes his meaning, finding puns where none were intended. This conversation leads to Tybalt's challenge to Romeo, Mercutio's challenge to Tybalt, and the subsequent murders.
Tybalt's character is moodier, angrier. He seems to look for a fight with his enemies, for example, at his family's masquerade party. Mercutio, Benvolio, and Romeo have come to have a good time and to see Rosaline, but when Tybalt recognizes Romeo's voice, he immediately expresses his wish to fight.
This, by his voice, should be a Montague.
Fetch me my rapier, boy. What, dares the