romeo and mercutio

Despite being best friends, Romeo and Mercutio’s views on love are very contrasting. In act 1 scene 4, Romeo is portrayed as someone who views love as a negative thing, whereas Mercutio has a more positive view on love. We see this in act 1 scene 4, when Romeo says 'sore enpierced with (cupid’s) shaft.' 'Sore' indicates that Romeo is in continuous pain as a result of how love has bruised him. This leaves us with the impression that he is deeply affected by love in a negative way, and that this hurt that love has given him will take a long time to heal. On the other hand, Shakespeare uses a homonym to contrast Mercutio’s idea of love with Romeo’s. We see this when Mercutio says 'borrow cupid’s wings and soar with them.' The use of 'soar' and 'sore' illustrates their contradicting thoughts on love. Romeo talks about himself as being 'sore' in a negative manner associated with pain; however Mercutio uses the word 'soar' in a way that suggests love’s happiness and freedom, we can infer this because people often associate soaring with flying, and flying represents freedom. Furthermore, this quotation not only shows that Mercutio views love as something that should make you happy, but the use of ‘soar above common ground’ could convey the image that he wants to undermine the common relationships of people in love. The meaning of ‘common bounds’ this suggests that Mercutio wants Romeo to borrow Cupid’s wings and soar above all of these ordinary lover’s fears and worries. This additionally highlights their different views on love, and how Mercutio views the importance of enjoying love rather than mulling over what’s going wrong, and Romeo would rather mull over his problems, rather than enjoying love. It could also be interpreted that Mercutio is telling Romeo to not be restricted, and that he is telling him to move on from Rosaline and find new love.

Furthermore, Romeo and Mercutio have different views on how love should be treated, and weather love is a burden or