[CHARACTER] Explore the significance of Mercutio in the play

“If love be rough with you, be rough with love, prick love for pricking”

Direct contrast to Romeo’s idealized notions of a pure, non-physical idea of love – mocks his vision – anti-romantic character regarding love as a purely physical pursuit, much like the Nurse

“O calm, dishonorable, vile submission!”

Conveys his Mercurial character – volatile and feisty nature – similar to Tybalt – likes to provoke fights and brawls – tricolon “calm, dishonorable, vile” – escalating – “vile submission” conveys his immense sense of pride and incredulity that Romeo turned down a fight displaying “submission” - impactful – exclamative only emphasizes his impulsiveness – catalyst for the tragedy that soon ensues

Queen Mab speech – “Which oft the angry Mab with blisters plagues”

Cynicism – dreams bring false hope, false ambition – semantic field of illness and disease – spreads like infection or a plague – trickery of Queen Mab – dismissing dreams as nothing but idle fantasies

“Hot days” “Mad blood stirring”
Hot – pathetic fallacy – tense, angry, foreboding atmosphere - circular motion – no end to the hate – personification of blood as mad – inevitable violence which resides in their blood, their veins – innate – violence is inflamed by the summer's heat -

“A plague o both your houses!” “Worms’ meat out of me”               

His death emphasizes the pointless nature of the feud and its infectious nature - marks a distinct turning point in the play as tragedy begins to overwhelm comedy, and the fates of the protagonists darken – Mercutio = comic character – demise of Mercutio signifies the end of happier times – reader’s response: sympathy

[CHARACTER] Explore the significance of the Prince in the play

“On pain of torture… Throw your mistemper’d weapons to the ground.”

Represents voice of law, justice and authority – neutral in the feud and desire only peace between them – however also serves to show how powerless law – embodied by the prince – is compared to the passions of love and hate – tautology emphasizes consequences of disobedience – personification to drive some sense into families and instill guilt within them – imperative sentence shows his high status, power and authority however fate is a higher power

“Profaners of this neighbor-stained steel! Will they not hear? – What ho, you men, you beasts!”

Does everything in his power to keep the peace and often ends up exasperated from the effort involved – neighbor connotes friendliness and convey his good intentions and desire for peace and amity – “stained” display his feelings towards the feud – ridiculous and worthless - interrogative emphasizes his infuriation that another fight broke out despite warnings – he degrades the men into “beasts” = connotations of animalistic, savage, wild, bloodthirsty behavior – metaphor – exclamative highlights his vexation

“See what scourge is laid upon your hate, that heaven finds means to kill your joys with love!”

Relays the moral of the story in the final scene – by laying the blame on Lords Capulet and Montague for many deaths – uncontrolled, violent, overly-passionate emotions create destruction – “scourge” = punishment and penance by God for their hatred – summing up the moral that vehement emotions bring about ill fate and ultimately death

“Never was there a story of more woe, than this of Juliet and her Romeo.”

Concludes story and emphasizes theme of tragedy – hyperbole “never” “of more woe” again stressing the tragedy and ill-fated nature of the tale

[CHARACTER] Explore the significance of Friar Lawrence in the play

“Within the infant rind of this weak flower, poison hath residence and medicine power.”

Pivotal character - his belief in balance foreshadows the effect of his actions against his intentions – Friar Lawrence is a man who believes in virtue and vice – wants to heal the rift – dual nature within his plants suggest coexistence of good and evil – strong undercurrent – his intentions of ending the feud are good but his plans lead the two lovers awry and precipitate the tragic ending

“For this alliance may so happy prove to turn your households’ rancour to pure love”

Friar Lawrence believes that this holy marriage would bring the Capulet family and Montague family closer together, for he anticipates that the families will stop hating each other and be peaceful - antithesis between rancor and love show his awareness of the extremity of the feud – this serves as justification for his reasons for being so desperate to end it - admirable but poorly planned and executed attempts to reconcile the rivalling families – good intentions but short-sighted

“A cold and drowsy humor” “shall free thee from thy present shame”

Driven by his overeagerness to pacify the two rival families – perilous and risky plan and manipulates Juliet into doing so – through verbal sleight – by presenting the situation as an imprisoning, shameful one then presenting his solution of “death” as sleepy, tranquil, peaceful – liberating “free” – subliminally ease Juliet to agree to his plan – catalyst – “shall” = imperative – highlights sense of finality

“If no inconstant toy nor womanish fear should abate thy valour in the acting it”

Unnecessary nature of this remark – manipulative side – direct contrast to the devout, righteous and holy characters that readers would expect a priest or religious figure to posses – provoke Juliet – elicits a defiant response – “O tell me not of fear” – cunning and desperate to resolve the feud

[CHARACTER] Explore the significance of the character of Tybalt in the play

CENTRAL ARGUMENT: Responsible for the tragic end. Through him Shakespeare highlights the predominant leitmotif of hatred and vengeance. Living embodiment of hate.

“What, drawn and talk of peace? I hate the word, as I hate hell, all Montagues, and thee”

Rhetorical interrogative – mocking and belittling Benvolio’s proposition of peace – repetition of word “hate” adds flame to fire – to readers the cause of the hatred Tybalt harbors isn’t clear but his wrath drives the story into its tragic conclusion

“Come hither covered with an antic face to fleer and scorn at our solemnity?”

“antic” “fleer” “scorn” “sin” - hateful, unpleasant semantic field - contrasts with “stock and honor of my kin” - conveys tybalt’s feelings of superiority and uttermost contempt and hatred towards Romeo even though Lord Capulet describes him as “Verona brags of him” – Tybalt’s perspective is skewed by his blinding, boiling hatred towards “all Montagues”

“I will withdraw, but this intrusion, now seeming sweet, convert to bitt’rest gall.”

Compares violent intention of vengeance to bitter poison through metaphor – patience and anticipation makes his “flesh tremble” – thirst for revenge – foreshadowing, a nod to the ending of the play where the violence truly poisons all involved – antithesis highlights extremity

“Again, in triumph, and Mercutio slain? Away to heaven, respective lenity, and fire-eyed fury be my conduct now!”

Spread his burning hate – extinguished the passionate flames of love and good in Romeo, eradicating the good qualities that Juliet liked about him, and in replacement passed on his bitter hatred – Romeo thinks love had made him weak and effeminate – casting it away for “fire-eyed fury” – fricative alliteration - boiling, fire-eyed resent which Tybalt sparked – hellish imagery juxtaposes with heaven - interrogative displays his incredulity and anger and fury – killing Tybalt engraves the tragic ending into stone