...Mercutio Characterization In the play Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare, Mercutio is a character who possesses the traits of being a comedian, being fearless, and being rude. The merging of these three characteristics brought a character that plays an imperative role in the play. He plays the role of Romeo’s close friend who eventually meets his demise after being in a sword fight with Tybalt. Romeo gets between the fight and the sword pierces Mercutio. Mercutio’s main characteristic in the play is that he adores joking around and making fun of others. In the play, he takes pleasure from making fun of the Nurse, Tybalt, and even Romeo. In Act 2 Scene 2 lines 125-130 sings about the Nurse being “an old hare hoar:” He is basically saying that she is really old and some other inappropriate statements in a witty way. In Act 2 Scene lines 19-35, Mercutio also makes fun of Tybalt. He says “More than Prince of Cats” when he is talking with Benvolio about Tybalt. He says that Tybalt plays too much by the book. Mercutio’s comedic trait is noticeable in the play. Another trait important to Mercutio’s personality in the play is his fearlessness. In Act 3 Scene 1 Line 73, he says “Tybalt, you ratcatcher will you walk?” He is trying to start a swordfight with Tybalt to defend Romeo’s honor since Romeo would not accept Tybalt’s challenge. His fearlessness brings him to his doom during the swordfight when Romeo gets between them which caused an enraged Romeo to kill Tybalt. Another...
Words: 413 - Pages: 2
... and friendship. Mercutio and Romeo are two characters in the play that are friends and both accentuate each other's personalities. William Shakespeare uses the positive uplifting Mercutio as a foil of the pessimistic romantic Romeo to highlight him as the tragic hero of the play. People get along better when they have things in common. Romeo and Mercutio have a few similar traits. They both are alike in how they speak so deeply about what they believe to be true. Mercutio and Romeo are both dramatic. They are also loyal to each other. When Tybalt threatens Romeo, Mercutio is angered and stands up for Romeo. Quote Romeo does the same when he avenges Mercutio’s death. Even though they share similarities they do have many differences. These...
Words: 678 - Pages: 3
...them. One way to describe a personality of someone is through a zodiac sign. These use the time of your birth to the types of traits you have, bad and good. Romeo is a Gemini because he is affectionate, inconsistent, and youthful. Romeo is a Gemini because he is affectionate and always looking for love. First of all, he falls in love with how a person appears. He falls in love with Rosaline without even talking to her. “Out of her favor, where I am in love”(1.1.168-173). If he never falls in love...
Words: 678 - Pages: 3
...What do you do with a man that is so impulsive and loving that he falls in love with a girl only minutes after swooning over another? You banish him; because he ends up impulsively taking revenge on he who murders his best friend. In William Shakespeare's play, Romeo and Juliet, the main characters Romeo Montague is in love with Rosaline, who is sworn from marriage, but then he and Juliet Capulet meet, fall in love, and secretly elope despite being from feuding families; Romeo is soon after banished from the city of Verona, and Juliet is betrothed to another man, Count Paris. In order to stay faithful to Romeo, Juliet fakes her death the night before the wedding; but when Romeo hears of this news, he believes it to be true and decides he cannot live without his Juliet. He then commits suicide by poison lying next to Juliet, leaving Juliet to wake up and find Romeo dead beside her after which she brings unto herself the same fate as him, using Romeo’s knife to commit suicide. Romeo proves to...
Words: 708 - Pages: 3
...techniques in The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet speak as indirect characterization to provide a better understanding of characters. By using many examples of juxtaposition, Shakespeare adds complexity to each character. Romeo’s confusion about love makes him a complex character. In response to a one way love affair, Romeo is left questioning love: “This love feel I, that feel no love in this” (1.1.175). Romeo does not understand the true meaning of love, yet he wonders why he cannot be loved. Romeo often mistakes beauty for love which leaves confusion. Romeo is caught up in Juliet’s beauty before she even opens her mouth. Romeo’s perspective...
Words: 618 - Pages: 3
...“Tybalt, the reason that I have for loving you helps me overcome the anger I should really feel… I see you don’t really know me” (Shakespeare, 3.1). This quote shows that overcoming differences is a hard quality to have. When being in someone else’s shoes it is easy to comprehend other troubles. This quote relates to the theme of Romeo and Juliet because of the family’s differences that they have to overcome. Romeo is someone who acts quickly, loyal, and an impulsive character, and this leads to his death. Romeo impacts the events in many ways because he is one of the protagonists. Romeo is a character who acts out of vain multiple times and acts quickly. This leads to his inevitable death because he kills his wives’ cousin, Tybalt, and this...
Words: 610 - Pages: 3
...One of Shakespeare’s most famous plays is Romeo and Juliet, a drama about two teenagers who tragically fall in love, but are kept apart by their rivaling families. Romeo Montague, one of the main characters, fits the role of a tragic hero. He fits the role of a tragic hero for these three reasons: the making and discovery of his failure; his suffering too much for his mistake; and in the end, dying. Some say that the fact that he committed suicide makes Romeo unfit for the role of a tragic hero. However, Aristotle’s criteria do not specify how a tragic hero should die. Romeo's failure and discovery of his failure fits among the list of tragic hero traits. For example, Romeo avenges his best friend, Mercutio by killing Tybalt. In the script, Romeo says, “Shot from the deadly level of a gun, did murder her, as that name’s cursed hand, murder'd her kinsman”(Act 3, Scene 3, 67). This is important because it shows how terrible Romeo feels about taking Tybalt’s life, and worries about what Juliet will think of him due to his mistake. Romeo frets about what he had done and how it will affect their relationship. He worries that his failure will destroy his chance of a happy, loving...
Words: 489 - Pages: 2
...adults and they probably hadn’t experienced true love, until they met. Juliet is a dynamic character who is obedient, eager, and loyal in both positive and negative ways. The first trait seen from Juliet is her obedience. In the beginning of the play, Juliet says to her mother, “Madam, I am here. What is your will?” (I, iii, 7). This quote shows the audience that Juliet is respectfully prepared to do what her mother instructs. Juliet states, “I’ll look to like if looking liking move. But no more deep will I endart mine eye than your consent gives strength to make it fly” (I, iii, 99-101). This quote...
Words: 680 - Pages: 3
...status. It was considered "fashionable" in the Renaissance for aristocratic families to have feuds, but they were not to engage in public fighting, a taboo which is broken by the Capulets and the Montagues. However, line 4 indicates that these equal families are in an ungoverned situation where no rules will be obeyed, which is why they are able to fight. The Chorus reveals one of the most important themes of the play in line 5-8, which is that Romeo and Juliet are destined not only to love each other, but to die, which will end the feud. The fact that Shakespeare tells us the end of the play before it even begins is intentional—this creates a tension between what we as the audience know must happen, and what could have happened if the characters had acted differently. Thus the theme of fate versus free will emerges: do Romeo and Juliet die because it was their destiny, or do they die because of their actions and the actions of those around them? The third major point that surfaces in the opening prologue is one of extremes. There is extreme hatred between the Capulet and Montague families. The only solution to this situation is, according to line 11, the "end" of Romeo and Juliet. Thus we see a situation in which one extreme, hatred, is ended by its opposite: love. Scene i: This scene is really a compilation of three mini-scenes. The first mini-scene begins with the fighting between the servants, after some brief comic relief through the jokes of Sampson and Gregory. The fact...
Words: 1744 - Pages: 7
...ANALYZING NOVELS & SHORT STORy Good feedback is kind, thorough and timely. It’s professional and focused. It leaves the writer feeling challenged to do better but great about their strengths. Even if that just means the location they chose was cool. Give your feedback relative to the skill set of the writer. Never lie or obfuscate. Just serve it up gently. An upset writer isn’t going to hear your points anyway. But an encouraged one will. Trust me on this. — Julie Gray PRINTER FRIENDLY PAGE Literary analysis looks critically at a work of fiction in order to understand how the parts contribute to the whole. When analyzing a novel or short story, you’ll need to consider elements such as the context, setting, characters, plot, literary devices, and themes. Remember that a literary analysis isn’t merely a summary or review, but rather an interpretation of the work and an argument about it based on the text. Depending on your assignment, you might argue about the work’s meaning or why it causes certain reader reactions. This handout will help you analyze a short story or novel—use it to form a thesis, or argument, for your essay. Summary Begin by summarizing the basic plot: “Matilda by Roald Dahl is about a gifted little girl in small town America who learns to make things move with her mind and saves her teacher and school from the evil principal.” This will help ground you in the story. (When you write your paper, you probably won’t include a summary because your readers...
Words: 1862 - Pages: 8
...century in Verona, Italy. Society in Verona has clear beliefs and expectations for both males and females. Women are often regarded as inferior and weak whilst the men focus on violence and sexual domination, always expected to be prodigious and valiant. These stereotypical gender roles relate to main characters Romeo and Juliet, star-crossed lovers who are pressured into acting the way their gender is depicted throughout the play. In this text, Shakespeare asserts that acting feminine is seen as weak. Feminine characteristics are depicted in such a way because the Capulet servants talk about their...
Words: 1390 - Pages: 6
...Romeo’s impulsiveness and immaturity is portrayed at the line "O, teach me how I should forget to think!" (I.i.227). This is a demonstration of these traits because Romeo asks Benvolio how to control his own emotions, thus showing how he is unable to grasp the concept that his emotions are his own and that he has full control over them. Because Romeo lets his emotions cloud his judgement, he kills himself. Juliet, on the other hand, though seemingly smart for her age, is also impulsive. Juliet recognizes how quickly the two fell in love, saying “it is too rash, too unadvised, too sudden” (II.ii.118). However, this does not affect her decision to ask Romeo to consider marriage only a moment...
Words: 521 - Pages: 3
...Is Mercutio Bipolar? Have you ever encountered someone with bipolar disorder? In the play “Romeo and Juliet” two star crossed lovers are cursed with an unfortunate fate. Juliet, a young Capulet women, falls for Romeo whom belongs to the rival household; The Montagues. Romeo’s closest companion, Mercutio, is believed to be bipolar. Bipolar disorder is an illness that can cause mood swings, leaving you feeling depressed one moment and cheerful the next. This was shown through Mercutio's character interaction. Mercutio suffers from bipolar disorder in the play Romeo and Juliet by Shakespeare, therefore illustrating Shakespeare incorporated foreshadowing of devastating events through Mercutio's character traits. Firstly, Mercutio expresses bipolar qualities in his dying scene. In Act 3 Mercutio goes from being a violent to a more comical character. This scene first starts with an argument between houses, Mercutio ends with getting stabbed and killed by Tybalt. A scholarly article states “In this scene of his death, Mercutio proves to have a quick temper and a dangerous love mockery” (The Facts On File Companion to Shakespeare). This shows how quickly his...
Words: 690 - Pages: 3
...the Chorus enters. In a fourteen-line sonnet, the Chorus describes two noble households (called “houses”) in the city of Verona. The houses hold an “ancient grudge” (Prologue.2) against each other that remains a source of violent and bloody conflict. The Chorus states that from these two houses, two “star-crossed” (Prologue.6) lovers will appear. These lovers will mend the quarrel between their families by dying. The story of these two lovers, and of the terrible strife between their families, will be the topic of this play. ANALYSIS This opening speech by the Chorus serves as an introduction to Romeo and Juliet. We are provided with information about where the play takes place, and given some background information about its principal characters. The obvious function of the Prologue as introduction to the Verona of Romeo and Juliet can obscure its deeper, more important function. The Prologue does not merely set the scene of Romeo and Juliet, it tells the audience exactly what is going to happen in the play. The Prologue refers to an ill-fated couple with its use of the word “star-crossed,” which means, literally, against the stars. Stars were thought to control people’s destinies. But the Prologue itself creates this sense of fate by providing the audience with the knowledge that Romeo and Juliet will die even before the play has begun. The audience therefore watches the play with the expectation that it must fulfill the terms set in the Prologue. The structure of the play itself...
Words: 15625 - Pages: 63
...Chaucer portrays the Wife as a very unconventional character which becomes more evident throughout the text as she voices her opinions on things such as marriage and sex. ‘’Thoroughly selfish ‘’ indicates that the Wife only cares about herself and is in no way altruistic. It could also be argued that she is ‘unlikeable’’ as she seems to portray her views in an anti-feminist manner due to her lack of support for women as well as her deceitfulness and using her sexuality to manipulate men. However, this could be a result of being in a male dominated society, and despite the negative stereotypes that she embodies she does stand up for herself albeit it is in a contradictory vulgar manner. On the other hand, Giovanni can be considered ‘selfish and unlikeable’ due to his manipulative nature. He manipulates Annabella by lying and trying to justify his incestuous feelings for her. Although, it could be suggested that he is not entirely ‘unlikeable’ because his charm is evident throughout the text and it could indicate that he does love Annabella even though he possesses impure thoughts. The Wife’s manipulative and deceitful nature may portray her as a selfish and an unlikeable character, those characteristics are evident throughout the text. She justifies her autonomous lifestyle by using biblical exegesis, and although she misinterprets it for her own benefit it still portrays her as an intelligent woman which in turn manipulates the audience. For example, she validates her sexual...
Words: 1104 - Pages: 5
