Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare
First of all Mercutio is considered a character foil in the play because he only sees love in a physical way. In contrast Romeo thinks love is supposed to be romantic. In Act I, Scene 4, Mercutio’s speech about Queen Mab indicates that he is does not know of Romeo’s pure love. “O then I see Queen Mab hath been with you…This is she” (1.4.23-24) Romeo is about to tell Mercutio about a dream that he had. Mercutio interrupts Romeo of what he was going to say about his dream and tell him about Queen Mab. In Mercutio’s speech he thinks of love comes from Queen Mab being a dream fairy. She gives people dreams and decides what they will dream about.
For example women dream of kisses and priests’ dream of tithes, lawyers’ dream of money. This speech shows Mercutio just does not get the romantic part of love. He does not believe in dreams. The references to the body show the physical realities of life as opposed to the ideals that Romeo holds. This speech shows much about the fiery spirit of Mercutio, but it also suggests a more brutal and realistic view of life, contrasting with the romantic of love. So the play using minor characters is a success because Mercutio helps make the pure love for Romeo and Juliet. Second of all Friar Lawrence is a mentor to Romeo and Juliet, but a poor planner.
This character also leads to the success of the play. The friar marries Romeo to Juliet and he constantly advises them to act more with caution and provides plans to Romeo and Juliet. In act 4 scene 1 the friar says “take thou this vial being in bed/And this distilling liquor drink thou off” (4.1.93-101). When Paris wants to marry Juliet, the friar expresses his disapproval of the wedding. When Paris leaves, Juliet asks the Friar for help. The friar provide a plan. The plan includes using the drug for Juliet and deliver the message to Romeo. The friar attempts to make the marriage of Romeo and Juliet is very admirable but are poorly planned.
The tragedy of their deaths could not have happened if Romeo have received the message in time. This is due to Friar Lawrence not planning how he is going to fake Juliet’s death. It directly leads to the tragedy in the play. Third of all the nurse makes comic relief by making a lot of inappropriate speeches. The nurse provides a contrast with Juliet because of the nurse’s view which if love is sexual, while Juliet’s way is all romantic. “If ye should lead her into a fool’s paradise/ it were a very gross kind of behavior” (2.4.151-52). The nurse act as Juliet’s mother. She cares for Juliet and her entire life. The Nurse is loyal to Juliet and she keeps the secret marriage a secret. The Nurse believes in love and wants Juliet to have a nice-looking guy, but the idea is that Juliet would sacrifice anything for love to Romeo. The nurse is the success to the play because there is humor to the play.
In act 1 Mercutio to Romeo and Juliet strong because the play shows Romeo is on a quest for love. When Romeo talks about he is love sick for Rosaline and Benvolio makes him look at another girl and Mercutio says “[Romeo is] a lover borrow cupid’s wings and soar with them above a common bound” (1.4.21-16). The importance of this quote is because he trying cheer Romeo up from being love sick. The quote shows the success of the play because of Mercutio being a minor does not understand the romantic part of love.
In act 2 Mercutio thinks Romeo is still love sick over Rosaline but the when Romeo gets back from Friar Lawrence’s place which Mercutio does not know And sees Mercutio and he is all of a sudden happy. After Romeo says hi to Mercutio and he says “that’s as much as to say such a case as (Romeo’s) constrains a man to bow in the hams” (2.4.47-52). The importance of this quote is because when Romeo says hi to Mercutio so he is wondering why Romeo is all happy. The quote shows the success of the play by using minor characters because Romeo was lovesick and all of a sudden he becomes happy so Mercutio thinks he made Rosaline like him. So the play using minor characters is a success because Mercutio helps make the pure love for Romeo and Juliet.
He creates conflict by agreeing to marry Romeo and Juliet so he says “For this alliance may be so happy prove to turn [their] households’ rancour to pure love” (2.3.44-90). The importance of this quote is that He agrees to marry Romeo to Juliet because he sees it as a chance to bring back the families together. It is successful to the play using minor characters because he is not supposed to marry them but he does it any way. He’s basically helping Romeo and Juliet even though their enemies.
