Romeo and Mercutio

Throughout the works of William Shakespeare, the main character is complemented with another character that acts or serves as the protagonist’s foil. In Romeo & Juliet, the protagonist, Romeo, is fickle, idealistic, impractical and naпve. To balance Romeo as a character, Shakespeare creates Mercutio; a good friend of Romeo’s who acts as his conscience. While Romeo has an idealistic perspective of the world and more specifically of love, Mercutio balances Romeo’s weak points as a dreamer. Mercutio is pragmatic, sensible, and clever and a master on word play. Throughout the play, Mercutio mocks Romeo’s naпve and ridiculous fascination with love. Early in the play, Romeo goes on and on about his deep infatuation with the beautiful Rosaline. Come night at the Capulet ball, Romeo ‘falls’ in love with Juliet. Romeo’s inconsistency ultimately brings him to his demise. Shakespeare utilizes this literary device of creating two extreme characters to draw the characters and to complement each other and make them their own.

The first instance of this relationship that exists between Romeo and Mercutio is evident in ACT 1, SCENE 4. Romeo, Mercutio, and Benvolio are headed to the Capulet’s party. While Romeo is idealistic in his naпve trust in love, Mercutio is more pragmatic and is not blinded by the follies of love. In a sense, Mercutio almost pities the fact that Romeo is so ignorant to reality. Because Romeo is so romantic and unrealistic, Mercutio acts as his conscience, a guiding basis for Romeo’s irrational decisions. When Romeo announces absentmindedly, “I dreamed a dream to-night.” (Act 1, Scene 4) Mercutio responds with his famous Queen Mab speech, “O, then, I see Queen Mab hath been with you. She is the fairies' midwife, and she comes in shape no bigger than an agate-stone…Through lovers' brains, and then they dream of love; O'er courtiers' knees, that dream on court'sies straight, O'er lawyers' fingers, who straight dream on fees,

O'er ladies ' lips, who straight on kisses dream…Then dreams, he of another benefice:

Sometime she driveth o'er a soldier's neck, And then dreams he of cutting foreign throats…”(Scene 1, Act 4) Mercutio’s famous Queen Mab speech is meant to mock Romeo and his dreams as a lover. These two characters exist on a two different spectrums. This scene reinforces that while Romeo is a dreamer; Mercutio is the sensible character of the two and helps to keep Romeo as a character grounded and rational. When Romeo tells Mercutio that he “…talk’st of nothing”, Mercutio responds by saying that “dreams…are the children of an idle brain.” (Scene 1, Act 4)

After the ball and after Romeo lays his eyes on Juliet, Romeo decides that he cannot possibly return home. He decides to climb the wall that surrounds the Capulet property and search for Juliet. Mercutio and Benvolio try to find Romeo to no avail. Mercutio mocks Romeos ridiculous and fickle obsession with love, “Nay, I'll conjure too.

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… 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 And the demesnes that there adjacent lie, That in thy likeness thou appear to us!” (Act 2, Scene 1) Benvolio warns Mercutio that if Romeo could hear, “thou wilt anger him.” (Act 2, Scene 1) It is evident in this scene that Mercutio sees Romeo’s “love” as fickle as he was droning on and on about his shallow love for Rosaline just earlier in the day. Mercutio mocks Romeo and his superficial feelings towards Rosaline.

As Benvolio and Mercutio are walking the streets of Verona, Benvolio warns Mercutio that they should retreat for fear of a fight might occur. Tybalt, a kinsmen of the Capulet’s