Romeo and Juliet Revised

Romeo and Juliet

Draft 2

Literary Essay

            The tale of Romeo and Juliet has many twists and turns, but the twists and turns that make up the character of Mercutio are extremely intriguing and in my opinion make the whole story. A kinsman of the prince and a close friend of Romeo, he adds so much to the story in just the four scenes he is in. Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare is the tale of two star-crossed lovers, bound apart by a family feud. Slowly the feud grows violent and Mercutio and Tybalts’ deaths trigger a new level of hate between the families. I think that Mercutio’s death teaches the reader a lot, but most importantly that haste leads to tragedy. His cunning yet humorous attitude teaches the reader a lot about what’s important in life and what isn’t.

            Mercutio teaches the reader a lot about love. He constantly makes fun of love and Romeo’s emotional swings. He makes fun of love through lines with hidden sexual meanings. For example he says, “That’s as much to say, such a case as yours constrains a man to bow in the hams” in one scene where Romeo tells Mercutio and Benvolio about his night with Juliet after the party. By hams, Mercutio means hamstrings. He is stating that Romeo had to “bow his hams” implying he had sex with Juliet. This is one example of Mercutio mocking Romeo and Juliet’s relationship. This line shows how Mercutio believes that when a man talks of love what he actually is thinking about is sex. That is the only appeal of love to a man. This is one example of Mercutio teaching the reader about love through hidden meanings.

            Mercutio is also very wise and caring. He makes a lot of Jokes and likes to tease people, but in the end he cares a lot about Romeo and has a lot of good advice. In one scene, the two roughhouse on the ground like friends. This is the first part in the whole story where Romeo hasn’t been moping about Rosaline or talking about love but in fact enjoying company with his friends.  Mercutio offers Romeo some insight and shows him how talking and socializing with friends is better than groaning of love. “Is not this better than groaning for love? Now art thou sociable, now art thou Romeo, now art thou what thou art?” This is an example of Mercutio showing Romeo that friends are more important than women. This line is wise and thoughtful and shows how much Mercutio cares about his friend Romeo.

            Both of these examples support one center message. That Mercutio has a great influence on the characters of this story. After Mercutio’s death, Juliet and Romeo think too fast. They want to move far away to Mantua and they already have gotten married. Rather than taking their time, their impatience leads to Romeo not receiving a vital message and poisoning himself because he find Juliet dead, and Juliet “killing” herself to avoid being married to Paris. As you can see, Mercutio has a vital role in trying to teach Romeo to be patient and have fun.

In closing, you can see how important the role of Mercutio is. He teaches a valid point in showing that haste leads to tragedy. His death leads to Romeo killing Tybalt without thinking of the consequences. I think people should listen to Mercutio and pay close attention to the hidden meaning beneath his words because he teaches a lot of lessons.