Mercutio: The Character the Play Cannot Contain
First appears: Act 1, Scene 4
Mercutio is not on either side of the feud. He is the Prince's kinsman: politically neutral, socially brilliant, constitutionally unable to be serious about anything. His Queen Mab speech in Act 1, Scene 4 is one of the great set pieces in Shakespeare: a fantasy that starts playful and turns dark mid-sentence, as if something in him cannot help puncturing his own wit.
He mocks Romeo's lovesickness with cheerful savagery. He refuses to back down when Tybalt insults Romeo. He fights because Romeo will not, and dies for it.
His death in Act 3, Scene 1 is the play's hinge. Before it, Romeo and Juliet might still end as comedy. After it, tragedy is guaranteed. His last lines ('A plague o' both your houses!') are not just a dying curse. They are the play's most accurate political statement. He is killed by the feud neither family will end, and he knows it.
Key Scenes
Famous Quotes
“A plague o' both your houses! They have made worms' meat of me.”
Mercutio — Act 3, Scene 1
“Ask for me tomorrow and you shall find me a grave man.”
Mercutio — Act 3, Scene 1
Themes
Other Characters in Romeo and Juliet
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