Mercuito

• Mercutio


  Encapsulates the comedic relief in Romeo and Juliet, contrasts the views of many other characters
• Stephen Greenblatt: 'Mercutio is a "force within the play that functions to deflate the possibility of romantic love and the power of tragic fate"'
• Mercutio's views


  Juxtapose the potent, tender love that Romeo and Juliet share
• Mercutio


  • Provides a realistic yet harsh view of love, his views do not completely dampen the potent theme of love within the play
• Family honour


  Extremely important to many individuals in the Elizabethan era
• Mercutio's death and final words


  Reveal the possible dangers of allowing family honour to consume an individual
• Courtly love


  True, pure and full of restraint, Mercutio contradicts this with his explicit speeches about sexual desire
• Religion


  Central to Elizabethan life, Mercutio's crude and sexual views on love contradict Catholic and Protestant religious teachings
• Mercutio


  • Violent, cynical, unconventional
• Mercutio and the Nurse


  Similarities in their views on love
• Mercutio and Romeo


  Strong bond, Mercutio's death acts as a catalyst for Romeo's violent behaviour
• Mercutio and Tybalt


  Dislike each other due to Mercutio's association with Romeo and Tybalt being a Capulet
• Mercutio: '"A plague o' both your houses. They have made worms' meat of me."'
• Mercutio: '"If love be rough with you, be rough with love. Prick love for pricking, and you beat love down"'
• Mercutio: '"I conjure thee by Rosaline's bright eyes, By her high forehead and her scarlet lip, By her fine foot, straight leg, and quivering thigh"'
• Mercutio: '"O Romeo, that she were, O, that she were An open-arse, thou a poperin pear!"'
• Mercutio: '"O calm, dishonourable, vile submission!"'