Mercutio

• makes puns and jokes


  "If love be rough with you, be rough with love"-uses wordplay to entice Romeo into looking at love less seriously, he portrays love as a mental and physical battle that Romeo must win
• puns


  "ask for me tomorrow and you shall find me a grave man"-even in the face of death he continues to make jokes. the dual meaning of grave hints at the seriousness of the situation or the burial site
• violence and fate

  "a plague a'both your houses"-idiom reminds that the tragedy is fated by other characters' actions and feels hatred towards the feud that led to his death

  catalyst of the play

  "plague" effects everyone, the initial love between Romeo and Juliet leads to deaths of other people
• love


  "you are a lover, borrow Cupid's wings"- he encourages Romeo to fulfill his love with Juliet and shows he is a good friend to Romeo