Romeo And Juliet Mercutio Foil

A story about arranged marriage, death, and feuding families leaves little to no room for lightheartedness, but Mercutio embraces a humorous approach to bad situations. Even amidst Romeo’s sulking and sadness about his love life, Mercutio pokes fun and commands that “If love be rough with you, be rough with love; prick love for pricking, and you beat love down.” (I.iiii.27-28). Mercutio is telling Romeo to be equally as hurtful

Without the masterful foils, <Romeo and Juliet> would not be the archetype of love tragedy. Among all the character’s foils, foils between Romeo and Paris is not as obvious as foils between Benvolio and Mercuitio or between the nurse and Lady Capulet, but they are the linchpins of the whole play, reflect why and how does Juliet choose Romeo over Paris. Foils between Romeo and Paris are shown as their attitude toward courtship, which Paris formally asks Capulet for Juliet’s hand but Romeo’s secretive about his forbidden plan; their languages, which Paris is wooden and stilted- laced and Romeo is articulate and good at using cajolery; their responses gotten from Juliet, which Juliet loves Romeo so much but treats Paris with apathy.

In one if William Shakespeare's plays, "Romeo and Juliet", Mercutio, Romeo's best friend, makes a speech, the Queen Mab speech. According to Mercutio, Queen Mab is a tiny, mischievous fairy that rides around in an "empty hazelnut" as a chariot, drawn by a "team of little atomi" (I.IV. 59-69) and makes sleepers dream about good or bad things, for example, love. “Through lovers’ brains, and then they dream of love; On curtsies straight; o’er lawyer’ fingers, who straight dream of fees: o’er ladies’ lips, who straight on kisses dreams…” (I.IV.74-77)

In Act 2, Scene 1 of Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet,” Mercutio states, “He (Romeo) heareth not, he stirreth not, be moveth not; the ape is dead, and I must conjure him. 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” (2. 1. 16-21). This quote shows that Mercutio still thinks Romeo is hung up on Rosaline, and he is being obnoxious and joking around by saying the only way they’ll find Romeo or summon him is by Rosaline. However, the dramatic irony in this is that we, the audience, know that Romeo is now in love with Juliet, not Rosaline. Romeo overhears Mercutio joking around and states, “He jests at scars that never felt a wound” (2. 2. 1). What Romeo means by this is that Mercutio shouldn’t be poking fun at him when he’s never felt his pain or been in his position of pain when it came to love.

Romeo replies by saying "I am to sore empierced with his shaft." Mercutio can represent a number of comparisons and contrasts to other characters by means of his quick wit and optimistic attitude. Mercutio begins to mock Romeo with witty wordplay and sceptics when Romeo talks about having had a "dream"; Mercutio delivers a nonsensical speech on "Queen Mab" "being"

When Romeo is low-spirited, Mercutio is happy, positive, and ready to enjoy life. In the beginning of “Romeo and Juliet,” Romeo is depressed. Romeo’s father, Lord Montague asks Benvolio to find out what is upsetting his son. At this time, the Capulets, the family that the Montagues have been feuding with for a very long time, is throwing a party. Mercutio and Benvolio plan to take Romeo to the Capulets’ party to help him find happiness. Mercutio does his best to attempt and raise his friend’s spirits by saying “… gentle Romeo, we must have you dance.” Romeo responds “Not I, believe me. You have dancing shoes with nimble soles; I have a soul of lead so stakes me to the ground I cannot move.” Then Mercutio says “You are a lover. Borrow Cupid’s wings and soar with them above a common bound.” (A1SIV) As Romeo states more reasons why he should not go to the party, Mercutio tells Romeo to

In William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, the character Mercutio is a foil for Romeo. They are both young men who enjoy each other's company and meet their death in this tragedy. Romeo is an impulsive, hopelessly dramatic romantic who overreacts to most life events. While Mercutio is more realistic, grounded, carefree and serious, although he can be impulsive. With Mercutio being a foil for Romeo, it is easy to see Romeo's dramatic and tragic life story as compared to the more calmer tragic ending for Mercitio.

In Shakespeare’s critically acclaimed play Romeo and Juliet, the Nurse and Lady Capulet are foil characters. Shakespeare uses the Nurse and Lady Capulet to portray that the morals of a person, can affect another person’s actions.

In Act I, Scene IV, Romeo and friends are about to crash the party that the Capulets are hosting, but Romeo is still sad from the heartbreak he experienced with Rosaline. As a good friend would, Mercutio tries to look out for and convince Romeo that there are many fish in the sea. “You are a lover. Borrow Cupid’s wings and soar with them above a common bound.” This means that Romeo should try and fly to find someone else instead of Rosaline. As well as this, he gives advice to Romeo for getting over Rosaline and himself. “If love be rough with you, be rough with love. Prick love for pricking, and you beat love down.” This means that if love plays rough with you, you must play rough back. Once you prick love, you will get over your heartbreak and love. Thus, Mercutio looks out for Romeo’s best interests and gives him advice, which aligns him as a good friend to

This results in Romeo’s fate to be darkened. Second, Mercutio shows how Romeo is constantly dreaming. Mercutio’s realism contrasts Romeo’s head in the clouds. This is revealed when Mercutio says “True, I talk of dreams, which [is] the [child] of an [inactive] brain,” (1.4, 96-97). This quote exemplifies that dreaming cannot be a portent, and that it can change just like the wind. This also shows that Mercutio has a flamboyant imagination, while demonstrating his mocking side. This quote also acts as foreshadowing in which shows that if Romeo keeps his head in the clouds he will make mistakes in life, such as him quickly marring Juliet. Moreover, this quote reveals that Mercutio is an important foil character because his view on love contrasts that of Romeo. Mercutio’s view on love is that it is futile, however Romeo thinks of it as a key component to life. Mercutio’s mocking of the hopeless love, makes Romeo’s view look stronger and more passionate. Third, Mercutio shows how serious Romeo is. Mercutio always talks in a witting and light-hearted way, in which contrasts to Romeo’s seriousness. Mercutio always uses clever wordplay and puns to mock people and bring comic relief into the play. This is emphasized when Mercutio says “And but one word with one of us? ... Make it a word and a blow,” (3.1, 40-41). This quote illustrates the comedy that Mercutio brings. At the edgy moment when Tybalt was about to fight, Mercutio still made a mockery of him.

In Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, Mercutio plays a very important role because of his impulsivity and loyalty to his friends. The first picture I used to illustrate Mercutio’s role in the story was a picture of a dog, because dogs are a very common symbol of loyalty, and the one of the main aspects of Mercutio’s personality is his loyalty to Romeo. In act three, Mercutio believes that Tybalt is insulting Romeo and attempts to defend his friend, leading to his own death. The second picture I chose was that of a smiling joker. I chose this because Mercutio is a very facetious character without a serious bone in his body. Most of his dialogue is joking around, for example, when he says “to hide her face, for the fan’s/ the fairer of the two”

In Shakespeare’s The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet, he uses foils to further isolate key aspects in a main character’s personality. He has three examples of this literary element: Romeo and Mercutio; Tybalt and Benvolio; and the Nurse and Lady Capulet. The curt, imperious Lady Capulet and her foil, the somewhat crude, suggestive Nurse, are the topics of this paper. Lady Capulet is very different from her foil in many ways, but they are also similar in some ways.

Mercutio is a funny character who is made to entertain the audience with his sarcasm, wit, and banter. In all of his scenes he is never very serious, almost always making jokes, even in his final moments as he is dying he continues to make puns. He also has a feisty, hotheaded side which is shown when he challenges Tybalt to a duel. Mercutio is very much the antithesis of Romeo. Romeo is a sweet, passionate romantic which contrasts Mercutio’s sarcastic personality and cynical views on love.

He sees it as nothing deeper than the skin and he takes it as a joke. Shakespeare gave Mercutio these character traits in order to represent how most men in the Elizabethan Era saw love. The men seeing the play could relate to Mercutio in his actions and understand that there are other ways of going about things. “You are a lover. Borrow cupid's wings | And soar with them above a common bound” (Act 1 Scene 4 Lines 17 and 18). Here, Mercutio is being sarcastic with Romeo. Romeo feels that he is too heartbroken over Rosaline to go to the party, and Mercutio is mocking him for it. He does not see love as anything greater than physical need. “Throughout lovers’ brains, and then they dream of love” (Act 1 Scene 4 Line 76). Mercutio believes that love is brought on by a fairy called Queen Mab that goes into people's heads as they sleep. Mercutio does not believe in emotional love, simply a physical feeling. Mercutio’s view on love had no attachment, similarly to how men in Shakespeare's time period

Mercutio is a relative of the prince and friend to Romeo. He is an eloquent man and becomes the center of attention whenever he appears in the play. It seems like he dominates Romeo with his teasing and irony. He mocks Romeo as he thinks he is too sentimental and tells him how foolish he is; he turns all of Romeo’s thought about love into sexual metaphors.