Mercutio

• Key characteristics

  .functions as romeos comedic sidekick

  .foil to romeo
• "If love be rough with you, be rough with love: prick love for pricking" (A1S4)

  .introduces us to mercutios raw view of love

  .uses violent words, suggests he only views love as purely sexual, this depicts the dominance that men have over women

  .mercutio twists romeos words into a sexual pun, revealing his comedic side
• Queen Mab speech

  .starts of like a child's fairy tail, however as the speech unfolds I becomes more and more sinister

  .symbolises the chaos that is so key to mercutios character

  .warns us he is more than comic relief but dangerous
• Why does Shakespeare use prose for mercutios character?

  .lines are uncontrolled and follow no rules or regulations, mirrors his character
• A3

  .mercutio has an early absence

  .both comedic sidekicks dissappear

  .because the time for joking is now gone and the tragedy is enhancing
• "O calm, dishonorable, vile submission!"

  .use of triplet

  .implies mercutios disgust towards romeos refusal to fight, he sees his as lacking masculinity and honour, so mercurio takes his lplace and initiates a fight with tybalt

  .scarifises himself for Romeo, shows a deep friendship
• "A plague a both your houses" (A3S1)

  .mercutio is wishing a disease upon them

  .a symbol of bad luck upon other houses, his wish comes true but instead the deaths are of his best friend, romeo and juliet
• "Borrow cupids wings and soar with them above a common bound"

  .implies romeo is not a fighter but a lover

  .love can allow you you make a huge leap

  .encourages romeo to to for his love and carry on searching, shows a positive side of mercutio where he wishes the best for his friend
• "Fair gentlewoman" (A2S4)

  .here mercutio is insulting the nurse just because of her presence

  .we also know from previous scenes he has insulted Rosaline also. This Implies his disrespect towards women, we never see him show any

  attraction to women

  .mercutio is symbolic of how men treated women in the Edward's era, that they were superior

  .he also mimics romeo for loving Rosaline, this could suggest meructios wish for more than a platonic relationship with romeo
• "Quivering thigh" (A2S1)

  .here mercutio is talking about rosaline in attempt to lure him to them

  . Use of sexual imagery shows us how women were viewed in elizabethan era, purely for reproducing and for mens desire .mercutio mocks romeo for his love and emotions because he wants to appear the most masculine