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Courtney Head

12/9/19

Semester Paper

ENGL 619 01

The Meaning of Mercutio’s Sexual Puns in Romeo and Juliet

Shakespeare was never one to shy away from having sexual undertones in plays and he

wrote the character Mercutio to be a catalyst for his sexual jokes. Mercutio is written in as a

restless sexual character that can lead one to believe that there may be more Mercutio's sexual

puns. Many critics have claimed that Mercutio makes these puns because he is alone and

depressed. They also claim that Shakespeare made Mercutio to contrast to the young lover

Romeo. While that may be true, there are many factors that point to something else. The nature

of Mercutio puns is that they are always sexual, and he only makes them when Romeo is around.

Mercutio is also very anti-feminist and he makes that apparent with the way he talks about

women. Mercutio also shows a state of arrested development in the way he acts as a child in

certain situations. Because of all these factors, it can be shown that the true meaning behind

Mercutio's sexual puns is that he is sexual attracted to Romeo.

Most of Mercutio’s dialogue has sexual under tones to it, or just out right are sexual. The

ones that are outright sexual are usually directed towards Romeo, talking about how women are

nothing more than a hole to stick your penis. One of the puns that Mercutio uses is, “This the

hag, when maids lie on their backs, that presses them and learns them first to bear, making them

women of good carriage” (1. iv. 92-94). Romeo and Mercutio are having this conversation about

sex, while talking about Romeo's first love interest, Rosaline. Because of Mercutio’s sexual
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attraction to Romeo, Mercutio became jealous and this pun turned more into vicious statement to

try and get Romeo to see how unimportant sex is. Herbert McArthur states in his article

“Romeo’s Loquacious Friend”, “when the extravagance of Mercutio breaks through Romeo’s

artificial demeanor, Romeo has not spoken one line in his own character. He has been only

artificially fashionable “lover” of Rosaline” (44). The fact that Romeo was so involved in trying

to get Rosaline attention, upset Mercutio because he wanted the attention Romeo was giving

Rosaline. Mercutio continues to degrade Rosaline and talk negatively about her, as if he was a

jealous girlfriend.

The nature of Mercutio’s is so sexual in the manner that on many occasions it obvious to

see the attraction Mercutio has to Romeo. In act II scene 4 when Mercutio and the nurse are first

meeting. There was no mention of any Romeo’s lovers in this small meeting, but Mercutio took

it upon himself to make a sexual gesture and pun which disgusts the nurse. The nurse states,

“Good ye good marrow, gentleman.” to which Mercutio replies, “God ye good den, fair

gentlewoman" 'The nurse questions Mercutio, “Is it good den?” and Mercutio replies with bawdy

response and gesture. “’Tis no less, I tell ye; for the bawdy hand of the dial is now upon the prick

of noon” (II. iv. 96-100). Mercutio’s bawdy pun around the nurse, who just simply told him good

morning, reinforces that Mercutio is sexually attracted to Romeo, Charles R. Forker noted in his

article, “Sexuality and Eroticism on the Renaissance Stage, “... but, also reinforces the

homoerotic ingredient in Mercutio’s feelings for Romeo, thus complicating the psychology of his

anti-romantic tirade against heterosexual love” (Forker 6). There are some of Mercutio puns that

aren’t as sexual but play into other reasons why he is making them. In Mercutio’s death scene, he

makes an obvious and clear pun about him dying. Mercutio states, “Ask for me tomorrow and

you shall find me a grave man” (III. i. 95). Mercutio is taking this opportunity to show Romeo
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that because his love for woman, Mercutio is now dying. Mercutio before dies also wish a plague

on both the Montagues and Capulets houses, “A plague o’both your houses, they have made

worms’ meat of me” (III. I. 102-103). Mercutio blamed not only Romeo for his death but also

Juliet, this is just one of the way Mercutio’s anti-feminism is shown in comparison to Romeo

deep love for women.

Throughout Romeo and Juliet, Mercutio proves himself to be anti-feminist in

comparison to Romeo who shows a deep passion for not only women but also the love a female

provides. Mercutio’s personality throughout the play and all the way up to his death bed, was

angry and hostile towards women. Mercutio makes many sexual puns in regard to women just

being sexual objects and nothing more. In the Act two, where Mercutio, Benvolio, and Romeo

go to see the nurse. The nurse who is just simply speaking to Romeo about dinner, Mercutio

steps in and must make a sexual joke about the nurse, Mercutio sings, “An old hare hoar, and an

old hare hoar, is very good meat in Lent” (II. iv. 119-121). Mercutio immediately thinks the

nurse is a whore, all because she wants to speak to Romeo by herself. Mercutio keeps his

ideology that women are good for nothing but sex when he speaks to Romeo about Rosaline,

Mercutio states, “Dido, a dowdy; Cleopatra, a gipsy; Helen and Hero, hildings and harlots;” (II.

Iv. 37-38). Mercutio proves himself to be anti-feminism throughout the play, whereas; Romeo is

passionate about women. Romeo from the very beginning of the play is a hopeless romantic, he

starts out head over heels for Rosaline, who does not want him and at the end of the play he

winds up killing himself over the death of Juliet. It is worth noting that although, Romeo is

mainly in love with love he is not as anti-feminism as his good friend Mercutio. At the start of

the play, when Romeo is so in love with Rosaline, he speaks very highly of her. Romeo states,

“she hath Dian’s wit, and strong proof of chastity well armed” (I.i.204-205). Romeo is so in love
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with Rosaline that he thinks the world of her. He does the same for Juliet later the story after they

meet.

While the anti-feminism from Mercutio is obvious, some critics argue that there are some

masculinity problems. In his article, “Standing to the Wall” The Pressures of Masculinity

Problems in Romeo and Juliet, Robert Appelbaum argues that, the man in Romeo and Juliet must

deal with pressure of masculinity when put in such positions.

“When men in Romeo and Juliet experience an indefinite inadequacy in the face of an

aggressive pressure to drive forward in two different directions they are being pressured to

pursue. They have to go forward, they have to stir, now as the one confirmed in his title to

aggress but they of their objectives, the self” (256).

All the sexual puns and sexual references Mercutio made, and the way Romeo talks

about being in love with women this point seems invalid. Mercutio throughout the whole play

only talks about women as sexual objects and Romeo is so infatuated with love and the love

women give him, to say that the men in Romeo and Juliet have problems with masculinity, is

completely incorrect and untrue.

Mercutio may not have problems with his masculinity, but he does have issues with his

arrested development. It is made obvious throughout the play, that Mercutio looks as sex as

something either “gross” or just something people do. Mercutio is portrayed to have a mind like

a young teenage boy. He finds sex, gross but also something that is more of joke, then something

people partake in. Mercutio constantly makes sexual puns, some that be childish and crude.

Mercutio also talks about fantasy figures and they affect Romeo’s situation. Mercutio states, “O

then I see Queen Mab hath been with you. She is the fairies’ midwife” (I. iv. 53-54). Mercutio
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talks about how Romeo has been affected by her and starts to go into so much depth that even

Romeo must beg Mercutio to stop. Mercutio keeps on going as to not care whether Romeo asked

him to stop or not. The way Mercutio talks about love and sex shows his young minded thinking

and his sexual attraction for Romeo also clouds his judgements. Even up to his death Mercutio

still makes sexual jokes, witty puns, and still in love with Romeo.

The death of Mercutio is one that has upset many first-time readers. Mercutio was the

comedic relief to what is one of the best-known romantic comedies in literature history. Leading

up to his death scene and in the middle of him dying Mercutio is still making jokes. His sexual

attraction to Romeo also comes out more in this scene then it did in the whole play. Mercutio

shows how he is angry and blames Romeo and Juliet’s love for the reason why he was stabbed.

Mercutio states, “A plague o’both your houses, they have made worms’ meat of me” (III. I. 102-

103). Mercutio is clearly angry with Romeo and by him putting a plague on not only his but also

his now wife’s house, was a way for Mercutio to tell Romeo that Mercutio’s death is Romeo’s

fault. There are many reasons for why Shakespeare killed off such a great character, some critics

believe it was to keep Mercutio from stealing the play. Raymond V. Utterback quotes in his

article, “The Death of Mercutio”, “Dryden’s story of Shakespeare’s alleged remark implies that

Mercutio’s death results from an arbitrary act of a desperate dramatist and is designed to keep

Mercutio from running away with the play” (106). This is a valid point and adding in that

Mercutio is sexually attracted to Romeo, their dynamic could steal away from the other tragic

love story. Robin Headlam Wells notes in her article, “Neo-Petrarchan Kitsch in Romeo and

Juliet” that there is a contrast of attitudes in the difference between Mercutio death on the street

and what happens with Romeo in the Capulet tombs” (930). Shakespeare did not want Mercutio

to steal Romeo and Juliet’s spotlight.

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Through Mercutio’s sexual puns it was made well know that he was sexually attracted to

Romeo. The other reason why Shakespeare decided to kill of Mercutio was because Mercutio

was his own worst enemy and because Shakespeare himself may have been hiding something as

well. Mercutio puns shows that he was not afraid to said what he thought at any given moment.

Joan Ozark Holmer notes in her article, “Myself Condemned and Myself Excus’d’: Tragic

Effects in ‘Romeo and Juliet’” that it was actually Mercutio who starts the fight, even though it

may seem as Tybalt was the one who started it. (349). Mercutio constantly said whatever he

thought, so it would be right for Shakespeare to let the character play out and let Mercutio die.

The last reason why Shakespeare killed of such a great comedic relief is to ensure that if readers

did pick up on the sexual attraction Mercutio had for Romeo that the readers saw it was cut short.

During that time period, it was not okay to be anything other heterosexual, and so for

Shakespeare to write a play with a character who clearly is homosexual, could get Shakespeare

in trouble. Shakespeare wrote Mercutio to help balance out the extreme romance that Romeo had

to start out with. Once it started to become more obvious that Mercutio sexual puns were only

being made when it was either directed at Romeo or when Romeo was around, Shakespeare did

not want many readers to see Mercutio as homosexual. Although the death of Mercutio is one

that not many readers disagree with, killing off Mercutio helps not change the play into a

comedy and it also helps us understand Shakespeare a little more.

Mercutio’s sexual puns have been well received by some and not so much by others.

Mercutio only made his puns when Romeo was around of if they were directed towards Romeo’s

love affairs and his puns clearly fit into the anti-feminism spectrum. Mercutio’s sexual puns was

a way for him to hide the fact that he is sexually attracted to Romeo. Mercutio also has a very

arrested development and it is shown through the way when he talks about sex and how he views
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it. Mercutio also still believes in certain sex fairies and he talks about them so much to the point

that Romeo begs him to stop. Many years people have argued whether Mercutio was homosexual

or not, but when one takes a deeper look into his sexual puns, his anti-feminism viewpoint, and

his arrested development, Mercutio is homosexual and is sexually attracted to Romeo.

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Works Cited

Appelbaum, Robert. “‘Standing to the Wall’: The Pressures of Masculinity in Romeo and Juliet.”

Shakespeare Quarterly, vol. 48, no. 3, 1997, pp. 251–272. JSTOR,

www.jstor.org/stable/2871016.

Forker, Charles R. “Sexuality and Eroticism on the Renaissance Stage.” South Central Review,

vol. 7, no. 4, 1990, pp. 1–22. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/3189091.

Holmer, Joan Ozark. “‘Myself Condemned and Myself Excus'd’: Tragic Effects in ‘Romeo and

Juliet.’” Studies in Philology, vol. 88, no. 3, 1991, pp. 345–362. JSTOR,

www.jstor.org/stable/4174401.

Robin Headlam Wells. “Neo-Petrarchan Kitsch in ‘Romeo and Juliet.’” The Modern Language

Review, vol. 93, no. 4, 1998, pp. 913–933. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/3736266.

Shakespeare, William. Romeo and Juliet. Translator. Alan Durband. Hauppauge: Barron's

Educational Series, 1985. Print.

Utterback, Raymond V. “The Death of Mercutio.” Shakespeare Quarterly, vol. 24, no. 2, 1973,

pp. 105–116. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/2868849.