Mercutio vs Romeo

The contrast between love and lust is drastic. Love is a hard thing to define but lust is a burning desire for another person, and it usually doesn’t last a very long time. Love can transform over years and still remain consistent. Lust is superficial when only the appearance is considered but nothing else, which can be called ‘love at first sight’. Lust is only a short-term relationship, whereas love leads to a deeper understanding of the other person and one develops affection and caring for them. Mercutio’s idea of love doesn’t involve commitment, is more realistic than Romeo’s view and Mercutio doesn’t allow love to inflict any pain. Romeo’s idea of love includes commitment, and has a deeper, more passionate love and he allows himself to be vulnerable to his emotions and lets them take over. Mercutio and Romeo’s view on love are both similar in the sense that they involve desire for a girl and they are driven by their emotions. Both are fuelled by madness and this leads to them making rash decisions that result in a big loss and in Mercutio’s case, his life. Mercutio’s anger and feud with Tybalt leads him to go mad and be stabbed to death. Romeo’s anger gets the better of him which results in him stabbing Tybalt, after just having married Juliet. In the end, Romeo’s grief over Juliet’s ‘death’ overcomes his will to listen to reason and this poor decision ends up terminating his life too soon.
Another similarity is that both characters are captivated by looks. They both speak of a woman’s outer appearance and have rarely talked about their personalities. When Romeo first sees Juliet, he marvels at her beauty without trying to figure out who see really was. “O, she doth teach the torches to burn bright! It seems she hangs upon the cheek of night, Like a rich jewel in an Ethiop’s ear; Beauty too rich for use, for earth too dear” (1.5.L.44-47) In Act II, Scene 2, we see Mercutio trying to lure Romeo out by describing Rosaline’s appearance, “I conjure thee by Rosaline’s bright eyes, By her high forehead and her scarlet lip, By her fine foot, straight leg, and quivering thigh.”(2.1.L.17-19)
In the start of the play, Romeo and Mercutio think that all there is to ‘love’ is having sex. Even the servants, Sampson and Gregory mentioned wanting to sexually harassing the maids of the Montagues. “That shows thee a weak slave; for the weakest goes to the wall.” “’Tis true; and therefore women, being the weaker vessels, are ever thrust to the wall: therefore I will push Montague’s men from the wall and thrust his maids to the wall.” (1.1.L.12-17) This proves that most men in this time thought of themselves as superiors compared to women. As the play progresses, Romeo’s view on love changes after he meets Juliet. After meeting Juliet, he falls in love with her as a whole instead of just her appearance. While there are minor similarities between Mercutio and Romeo’s view on love, the differences are pronounced and deserve thorough examination because the line between lust and love is very confusing and many people in society mix the two up. On one hand, Mercutio’s view can be described as ‘a chase for something sexual’. He never mentions settling down with a girl and having a committed relationship. Mercutio, unlike Romeo, does not believe in fate deciding his path, instead he lives in the moment. Mercutio doesn’t let love overthrow his conscience and guide his actions. Romeo says “Is love a tender thing? It is too rough, too rude, too boisterous, and it pricks like a thorn.” (1.4.L.25-26), to which Mercutio replies with “If love be rough with you, be rough with love; Prick love for pricking, and you beat love down.” (1.4.L.27-28) In those lines, he talks about how in order to defeat love and to not have it afflict with your actions is to have sex instead of loving someone and go through the pain of them not reciprocating your feelings. On the other hand, Romeo has a romanticized view which is shown by his strong reliance on fate, and the stars. In these lines, Romeo says “I am too enpierced with his shaft, To soar with his light feathers, and so bound, I cannot bound a pitch above dull woe. Under love’s heavy burden do I sink” (1.4.L.19-22) Romeo is being pulled down by the amount of pain from not being able to see Rosaline. At first he’s a victim of being caught up in Rosaline’s looks and mistook it as love. It wasn’t until he met Juliet that he truly discovered the true meaning.
Romeo wallows in self-pity and loves by night. “I have night’s cloak to hide me from their sight; And but thou love me, let them find me here: My life were better ended by their hate, then death prorogued, wanting of thy love” (2.2.L.75-78) In contrast, Mercutio appears in the play mostly in the day and shows that he believes he can control his life and is more realistic than Romeo. He serves as the contrasting character to show a different perspective on love from Romeo’s passionate, and emotional view on love.
In culmination, Romeo’s idea of love is stimulated, loyal, and susceptible to pain. Romeo shows his vulnerability and readers and viewers of the movie have an easier time relating to his feeling for heartbreak. His loyal and never changing love for Juliet even as she was ‘dead’ made readers fall in love with his character. Although Romeo and Mercutio have different perspectives on love, they also have similarities which make them able to be such good friends.