“The Ingredients of both darkness and light are equally present in all of us,... the madness of this planet is largely a result of the human being’s difficulty in coming to virtuous balance with himself.”(Gilbert 262). In William Shakespeare’s iconic play, “Romeo and Juliet”, one is taught how incredibly important it is to have balance in their personality; failure to do so will result in their downfall. Friar Laurence, the primary facilitator of the young protagonists’ dangerous and romantic endeavors, is ultimately met with his social downfall by showing too much empathy towards the children rather than the appropriate amount of discipline. Mercutio, best friend of the protagonist, Romeo’s wildly offensive sense of humour and reckless behaviour,
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To begin, Friar Laurence, who appears to the two oblivious families to be neutral, is far too empathetic and generous to the young lovers and fails to exhibit any sort of discipline towards them. We can see this in Act four when he devises a plan to keep Romeo and Juliet together as a couple despite Romeo’s banishment. He fails to teach the children any sort of sense of danger and respect of authority. A quote from his explanation to Juliet of his plan truly
illustrates this. “Then is it likely thou wilt undertake.A thing like death to chide away this shame, That copest with death himself to ’scape from it. An if thou darest, I’ll give thee remedy.” ( Shakespeare 04.01.75-78) This quote shows that he is primarily thinking with his emotions about the children rather than being logical about the …show more content…
The quote about her appearance, “Good, Peter, to hide her face, for her fan’s the fairer face.” (02.04.52-53) shows his immaturity. This type of offensive, childish “humour” can be taken by many, in an incorrect manner which will negatively impact Mercutio, mentally, physically and socially. Mercutio’s final attempt at provocative humour is unfortunately with the wrong person. This person is Tybalt who is far too intense not to find this offensive. This joke “... Tybalt, you ratcatcher, will you walk?” (03.01.46) is intended as a playful dig at Tybalt’s name’s association to cats but unfortunately angers him and ends in the two of them being fatally stabbed. Mercutio’s lack of control over his word-choice and little attention to the type of person he is speaking to results in the ending of not only himself but, someone else as well. This could be easily avoided by thinking of the possible reactions of the other person which would prevent unnecessary violence. This all in short shows how an excessive amount of humour and immaturity without responsibility and attention to the mood of the situation can result in consequences as dire as death. In this same scene where Mercutio’s tragic flaw leads to his death, Tybalt’s flaw leads to yet another untimely
To begin, Friar Laurence, who appears to the two oblivious families to be neutral, is far too empathetic and generous to the young lovers and fails to exhibit any sort of discipline towards them. We can see this in Act four when he devises a plan to keep Romeo and Juliet together as a couple despite Romeo’s banishment. He fails to teach the children any sort of sense of danger and respect of authority. A quote from his explanation to Juliet of his plan truly
illustrates this. “Then is it likely thou wilt undertake.A thing like death to chide away this shame, That copest with death himself to ’scape from it. An if thou darest, I’ll give thee remedy.” ( Shakespeare 04.01.75-78) This quote shows that he is primarily thinking with his emotions about the children rather than being logical about the …show more content…
The quote about her appearance, “Good, Peter, to hide her face, for her fan’s the fairer face.” (02.04.52-53) shows his immaturity. This type of offensive, childish “humour” can be taken by many, in an incorrect manner which will negatively impact Mercutio, mentally, physically and socially. Mercutio’s final attempt at provocative humour is unfortunately with the wrong person. This person is Tybalt who is far too intense not to find this offensive. This joke “... Tybalt, you ratcatcher, will you walk?” (03.01.46) is intended as a playful dig at Tybalt’s name’s association to cats but unfortunately angers him and ends in the two of them being fatally stabbed. Mercutio’s lack of control over his word-choice and little attention to the type of person he is speaking to results in the ending of not only himself but, someone else as well. This could be easily avoided by thinking of the possible reactions of the other person which would prevent unnecessary violence. This all in short shows how an excessive amount of humour and immaturity without responsibility and attention to the mood of the situation can result in consequences as dire as death. In this same scene where Mercutio’s tragic flaw leads to his death, Tybalt’s flaw leads to yet another untimely