Jan 2, 2010

Romeo and Juliet | Mercutio

Harold Goddard, in the first excerpt, declares that Mercutio, like the Nurse, is an extreme sensualist and heathen. Goddard examines the Queen Mab speech, asserting that it is a device used by Shakespeare to show what constitutes true poetry. In the second excerpt, Granville-Barker characterizes Mercutio as a supreme realist and egoist, commenting on his individuality and his freedom from affectation.

Harold C. Goddard
[Goddard declares that Mercutio, like the Nurse, is an extreme sensualist and heathen. The critic concentrates primarily on Mercutio's crude sexual humor, noting that the character's obscene language underscores the purity of Romeo's passion for Juliet. Goddard then addresses the issue of Mercutio's Queen Mab speech (I. iv. 53-103), which several critics have considered out of character because of the beauty of its language. The critic asserts that the speech is in fact representative of Mercutio's style because compared with the imagination and...