Who Is to Blame for Mercutio’s Death

Firstly, Tybalt is to blame for Mercutio’s death as he actually gave him the wound that killed him. Also, Tybalt provokes Mercutio by insulting Romeo, ‘Thou art a villain. ’ This is one of the biggest insults that Tybalt can give and would usually be followed by a duel. However, Romeo calmly replies by saying ‘Villain I am none / Therefore farewell. I see thou know’st me not. ’ Because Romeo is not defending his honour, Mercutio is provoked by Tybalt’s insults and starts insulting Tybalt himself. This is what leads to the two of them fighting and Mercutio getting his fatal wound.

So, if Tybalt didn’t insult Romeo or fight Mercutio, Mercutio wouldn’t have been killed. Romeo is also to blame for Mercutio’s death because he did not defend his honour when Tybalt insulted him, ‘I do protest I never injured thee, / But love thee. ’ This calm response to the insults he got from Tybalt is a big cause of Mercutio’s death. The context of the play means that the characters have to defend their honour, so the insult ‘thou art a villain’ would have usually caused a duel. However, Romeo is a renaissance man, so he doesn’t defend his honour.

Mercutio doesn’t like this ‘calm, dishonourable, vile submission’ and defends Romeo’s honour for him. This resulted in Mercutio and Tybalt fighting, which caused Mercutio to die. If Romeo had defended his honour, Romeo would have fought with Tybalt instead of Mercutio. Mercutio is responsible for his own death because he provokes Tybalt into fighting him ‘Come, sir, your passado! ’ When Tybalt insults Romeo, Romeo tries to keep Tybalt from fighting with him. However, Mercutio, because of his honour, defends Romeo by insulting Tybalt which he doesn’t have to do.

This causes the fight which kills Mercutio. From this point of view, it is Mercutio’s own fault because he shouldn’t have defended Romeo’s honour; he should have tried to make peace with Tybalt like Romeo. If Mercutio had done this, the fight would have been avoided and Mercutio wouldn’t have died. I think that Juliet is also to blame for the death of Mercutio because Juliet could be seen as the reason Romeo doesn’t defend his honour. ‘O sweet Juliet – / Thy beauty hath made me effeminate. ’ Romeo is saying that Juliet is the cause of his kindness towards Tybalt.

Romeo was married to Juliet in the last scene, which is why Romeo says ‘Tybalt! – that an hour / hath been my cousin. ’ Romeo’s marriage means that Tybalt is now his cousin. If he hadn’t been married to Juliet, he might have defended his honour, so Mercutio wouldn’t have got into a fight with Tybalt. I think that the four servants that fought in Act 1 Scene 1 are also to blame for the death of Mercutio because they caused the fight that made the prince threaten the Montague’s and Capulet’s with death ‘If ever you disturb our streets again, / Your lives shall pay the forfeit of the peace!

Because the prince says this, it may have persuaded Romeo to stop the fight between Mercutio and Tybalt. If Romeo hadn’t stopped the fight between them, Mercutio couldn’t have been wounded under Romeo’s arm. This means that the prince would also be partly to blame for the death of Mercutio, as the prince is the reason that Romeo stands between them ‘The Prince expressly hath / Forbid this bandying in Verona streets. ’ Romeo is stopping the fight because of the fear of the prince- the prince said that all Montague’s and Capulet’s would lose their lives if there was another fight in the streets.

By making this threat, the prince caused Romeo to stand between Mercutio and Tybalt. If the prince hadn’t made this threat, Romeo might not have tried to separate them, so Tybalt probably wouldn’t have fatally wounded Mercutio. The servant in Act 1 Scene 2 is also partly responsible for Mercutio’s death because he tells Romeo and Benvolio ‘I pray come and crush a cup of wine. ’ He could be blamed for Mercutio’s death because he caused them to come to Capulet’s party where Romeo met Juliet.

If Romeo hadn’t met Juliet, he might have defended his honour when Tybalt insulted him, so Mercutio wouldn’t have fought Tybalt. This also means that Benvolio is to blame for Mercutio’s death because he persuaded Romeo to go to this party where he met Juliet ‘Go hither, and with unattained eye / Compare her face with some that I shall show. ’ If Benvolio hadn’t persuaded Romeo to go to Capulet’s party, he wouldn’t have met Juliet. I think that one of the biggest causes of Mercutio’s death is the ‘ancient grudge’ between the ‘two households’, the Capulet’s and Montague’s.

This is a massive cause because this alone was what started off all the fights. After Mercutio has been mortally wounded, he sees that this is why he is dying, which is why he says ‘a plague o’ both your houses! ’ If the Montague’s and Capulet’s weren’t fighting, Tybalt wouldn’t have gone up to Romeo and insulted him. If that never happened, Mercutio would have never fought Tybalt and died. Also, all of the other reasons for Mercutio’s death would have never happened if the Capulet’s and Montague’s weren’t fighting.

In conclusion, there are many people to blame for the death of Mercutio, and if any one of these reasons didn’t happen, Mercutio might not have died in Act 3 Scene 1. However, I think that the most important cause of Mercutio’s death and who should take the biggest responsibility for his death is the grudge between Montague and Capulet. This is because all of the fights, including the one between Mercutio and Tybalt, started from the hate between their two households.

Also, Mercutio himself blames this grudge as the cause of his fatal wound, as he says ‘a plague o’ both your houses! ’ If this grudge didn’t exist, none of the other causes of Mercutio’s death would have happened. For example, if there wasn’t a grudge between their two houses, Tybalt wouldn’t have insulted Romeo and provoked Mercutio into fighting with him.