Malik 3
Malik 4
Usman Malik
Mrs. Chutkos
ENG2D1-08
June 6, 2013
Into the Mind of Madness- Mercutio Analysis
William Shakespeare has no doubt created some of the most interesting and dynamic characters in history, such as Hamlet, Feste, Viola etc that continue to intrigue and entertain us to this day. In William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, aside from our hero Romeo and heroine Juliet, we are introduced to the witty and humorous Mercutio. Mercutio acts as a significant character in terms of plot development, but more importantly, Mercutio himself is a truly fascinating man in many aspects. Mercutio acts a character foil to Romeo who is a romantic, serious and courteous character while Mercutio himself is a humorous, rude and imaginative character.
The most notable feature about Mercutio is that he has a knack for humour. Mercutio is a man of many words and languages as described by Romeo himself, his speech is filled with puns, double meanings and sexual innuendos.
List of titles of works based on Shakespearean phr...
English: Woodcut 'Yet I cannot chose but laugh' fr...
English: Title page of the second quarto edition (...Mercutio is constantly making joke throughout the play and is the main source of humour in Romeo and Juliet. Mercutio's humorous side is apparent as soon as he is introduced in the play, when he mocks Romeo's talk of dreams and love, making light of Romeo's situation. Mercutio's humor is shown again when he teases Tybalt to get him angrier. Mercutio calls Tybalt a "rat catcher" as he was a "prince of cats". Mercutio kept on making puns using Tybalt's name to provoke and annoy him, which leads to conflict. Mercutio tries to be the comedian even when he is dying, when he says ""Ask for me tomorrow, and you shall find me a grave man." (III, i, 94-94) This means that Mercutio is dying, and will be in his grave tomorrow but that he is also...