Mercutio’s Death as a Turning Point

Marking points

1. 1 Explore at least two well-selected moments and sustain a clear judgement about the extent of change.
2. 2 Use precise references to analyse Mercutio’s role before, during and/or after his death rather than merely retelling events.
3. 3 Analyse how language, genre, tone and structure create the turning point and its effects.
4. 4 Integrate relevant context such as honour, vendetta and Mercutio’s status as the Prince’s kinsman.
5. 5 Use accurate spelling and punctuation and controlled vocabulary and sentence structures.

Full-mark answer

Mercutio’s death changes the play decisively, although it fulfils patterns of violence and fate already present. Before Act 3 Scene 1, Mercutio’s wit helps sustain comedy: his Queen Mab speech, teasing of Romeo and verbal attack on Tybalt make him the play’s most energetic sceptic of romantic seriousness. Even while dying, ‘Ask for me tomorrow and you shall find me a grave man’ preserves his wordplay, but his curse ‘a plague o’ both your houses’ immediately darkens that wit into prophecy. Structurally, the death turns comedy towards revenge tragedy. Romeo’s attempt to avoid conflict fails; he kills Tybalt, is banished, and can no longer reveal his marriage safely. Love becomes increasingly desperate rather than comic, and the failed plans that follow lead to the tomb. However, Mercutio’s death does not create the feud or fate. His own provocation of Tybalt, the masculine code of honour and the Prologue’s announced ending suggest that catastrophe was already possible or even predetermined. As the Prince’s kinsman, his death also forces public authority to intervene and helps cause Capulet to hasten Juliet’s marriage to Paris. I therefore agree that his death completely changes the play’s tone and speed, but it acts as the catalyst through which existing violence, social pressure and fate take control.