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Shakespeare's characters Mercutio and the Nurse are both sources of comedy in the tragic play of Romeo and Juliet. They illustrate comedy in the way Mercutio makes fun of his death as well as the Nurse's inappropriate jokes and lack of education.
Mercutio uses a mixture of witty wordplay and dark humor as a source of comedy. Mercutio's 'Queen Mab' speech also served as an important aspect of his character; his cynical realism, which contrasts Romeo's heavy belief in fate. Mercutio has a very cynical outlook on love, as shown whilst he talks to Romeo saying, 'speak but one rhyme and I am satisfied, cry but 'Ay me,' pronounce but 'love' and 'dove'. This is a primary example of Mercutio making fun of his best friend. The language 'love' and 'dove' would have been drawn from the love-inspired poetry that was popular during that era. This illustrates the cliche in Romeo's words; thus suggesting that Romeo's feelings may be inauthentic or childish. Throughout Mercutio's time in the play, he makes fun of Romeo's ideas about love, this not only supports his realistic outlook on life but also encourages the audience to question the genuineness of Romeo's love for Juliet. Whilst with his friends, Mercutio participates in friendly banter but possibly the most shocking time he made jokes and funny commentary was at the time of his death. After he gets stabbed, he says to Benvolio, 'Ay, a scratch, a scratch'. 'scratch' has connotations of a small cut, which is a huge exaggeration considering this 'cut' was what killed Mercutio. The juxtaposition of the jokes about his death and his actual death prevents the audience from properly mourning Mercutio's death. Mercutio's death serves as the vital turning point of the play as after, the play takes a tragic turn. The structure of Romeo and Juliet follows the general structure of Shakespearean plays- with two lovers kept apart by society and love against the wishes of their surroundings. These plays often have comedic elements to them, before a turning point pushes the play into a full swing tragedy.
The Nurse's lower class status is also a source of comedy in the play. During the Elizabethan era, it was common for plays to have uneducated characters be the main source of comedy. The Nurse's lack of education makes her an easy target for humiliation- especially by the Montague men and Mercutio. 'A sail, a sail,' says Mercutio while the Nurse enters the scene. This was a rude joke as he made fun of her for being a fat woman. Mercutio also makes sexual jokes in the presence of the Nurse, targeted at her because of her lower social status as it would have made it easier to humiliate her. Shakespeare often used choice of language to highlight the differences between the social classes in his plays. The way Mercutio and the Montague men make fun of the Nurse shows them asserting social dominance over her in a condescending manner. The Nurse also interrupts Romeo as he goes to say, 'I protest unto thee- ' she cuts him off saying ' Good heart, and I faith I will tell her as much'. This makes the Nurse look idiotic as she doesn't even know what Romeo is going to say next, and yet she cuts him off as if she does. This would have been rather funny as Romeo then stops her after, asking what she is going to tell Juliet- as he has not yet finished speaking. Malapropism is a technique used by Shakespeare to illustrate how unintelligent the Nurse is. She confuses 'confidence' with 'conference' whilst talking to Romeo. This would have made the audience laugh as she confused two words and completely changed the meaning of the sentence.
The Nurse also uses several inappropriate jokes throughout the play to add humor to the scenes. The Nurse, being a character of the lower class, would have lacked etiquette, and would have thus made the play all the more funny- as in a house of upper-class people, there is a large, uneducated woman making inappropriate and sexual jokes. 'A bump as big as a cockerel's stone' the Nurse recounts from the day Juliet fell as a baby. 'Cockerel's stone' is a euphemism, and would have been very unneeded for comparison in this story about baby Juliet. This portrays the Nurse as situationally unaware as well since she makes this joke unashamed. 'Thou wilt fall backward,' says the Nurse, in the same story from Juliet's childhood days. To 'fall backward' meant to have sex with someone. Considering she was not only in front of one of her employers but her daughter as well, this would have been a very unnecessary comment and would have been rather embarrassing. However, due to the Nurse being very uneducated in terms of social norms as well, she is unphased by the joke, though it makes the two upper-class women uncomfortable. The fact that the Nurse only stops making these sexual jokes after Juliet's begging shows that the Nurse enjoys teasing Juliet. Teasing Juliet seemed to be a hobby of the Nurse's, withholding information about Romeo from her. This would have been additionally funny to the audience, but not to Juliet.
The most important part about these characters, the Nurse and Mercutio, is that without them, the play becomes more strictly a tragedy. After Mercutio dies in the first scene of act three, the Nurse too becomes less sympathetic and funny and tries to convince Juliet to marry Paris instead. The contrast of the play without Mercutio is a large one, as the mood becomes more depressing without his quips. To conclude, the use of comedic characters in this tragic play was an important one as it provided a contrast to the sad story of Romeo and Juliet.
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