The Death of Mercutio

0 0?2o~r 1 ERCUTIO is a notorious scene-stealer. His brilliant lines and the intensity, humor, and vigor of his personality give him numerous opportunities to upstage the romantic hero of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, with the result that he can often create a stronger dramatic impression whenever he and Romeo appear together.1 Furthermore, Romeo never quite gains Mercutio's approval. The melancholy lover is the butt of the jests of the mocker of love, while Romeo's forbearance toward an insulting foe is an outrage to the quick-witted and high-spirited Mercutio. Only in the wit-combat of Act II, scene four, when Romeo has dropped his affected posture as the despairing lover of Rosaline, do the two young men appear as dramatic equals. Then Mercutio welcomes Romeo as a fit companion, significantly on his own terms: