A Grave Man

Leonard Whiting as Romeo & John McEnery as Mercutio (Zeffirelli's Romeo and Juliet, 1968)

I'm working my way through Romeo and Juliet with a seventh-grader that I'm tutoring. She's a delight--she throws herself into each part. And the story is fresh to her, so I feel as if I'm reading it for the first time too.

Oh, she knows that Romeo and Juliet both die--we learn that much from the opening lines--but Mercutio's death shocked her. ("Oh my God! He dies?!") I understood her reaction; his death shocked me too, even though I knew that it was coming.

Despite the opening lines of this play, Shakespeare lulls us into a false sense of security. Yeah, Romeo and Juliet are just a pair of kids who don't know the difference between love and lust. But they are cute together. And Mercutio-- with his vile, lewd puns and his constant mocking of love--seems to balance out Romeo's excessive passion.

So we feel that things can work out for the best. Who knows? Romeo and Juliet might make it as a couple, despite the fact that they fell too hard and too fast. And the Capulet and Montague feud? Well, that can sort itself out. Old Capulet seemed well enough disposed toward Romeo at the feast. Mercutio, meanwhile, will have a field day with his friend's romance. But Romeo will put up with the ribbing.

But Mercutio never learns about Romeo's marriage. He dies in that damned duel with Tybalt--a duel that might not have turned deadly if Romeo hadn't tried to stop it.

Mercutio shouldn't have died. I agree with the way the 1968 film choreographed the fight: Tybalt, who pretends to be so blood-thirsty, didn't mean to make it a killing matter between himself and Mercutio. And poor Romeo doesn't realize, at first, how badly his friend is injured. How could he, with Mercutio still making jests? "Ask for me tomorrow," Mercutio says, "and you will find me a grave man..."

The whole tone of the play changes when Mercutio dies. The light-hearted feel is gone. Now we know that things are going to spiral out of control. The rest of the play feels like watching a train wreck--you know it's going to be a bloody mess, but you can't take your eyes off of it.