Romeo and Juliet: Difference between revisions

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** Friar John is another [[Unwitting Instigator of Doom]], although, ironically, this stems from his ''failure'' to deliver a letter. He doesn't know what it contains.

* [[Upper Class Wit]]: Mercutio.

* [[The Villain Must Be Punished]]: Prince Escalus has warned the Montagues and Capulets that any more fighting between them, and he will start executing the perpetrators. It seems the elders are willing to let bygones be bygones to save their children's lives; Tybalt, however, isn't as reasonable. He challenges Romeo to a duel for crashing the Capulet party but ends up fighting the prince's nephew Mercutio instead, who is scrapping for a fight. Romeo tries to break it up, reminding Tybalt of the edict, but Tybalt takes the opportunity to stab Mercutio fatally. In revenge for his best friend, Romeo kills Tybalt before fleeing to the church for sanctuary. The adults come too late to break up the aftermath; Lady Capulet demands justice for Tybalt when Benvolio, for once not causing the fight, reports what happened. The prince isn't amused with Lady Capulet's [[Selective Obliviousness]]; he points out that a Capulet murdered his beloved nephew, who was an outsider to the feud and ''royalty''. Since he knows that Romeo was only defending his friend and according to Benvolio tried to stop the fight, he remits the sentence to exile for Romeo and fines the Capulets to compensate for the loss of his kin.

* [[Villain with Good Publicity]]: Tybalt sees Romeo as this; when Tybalt tells Lord Capulet that Romeo has come uninvited to the Capulet masquerade ball, Lord Capulet lets it slide because Romeo has a decent reputation (not to mention Lord Capulet didn't want any trouble).

* [[What the Hell, Hero?]]: Friar Lawrence's speech to Romeo in Act III is basically him calling Romeo out for crying like a baby, not realizing how lucky he is that he's not dead as a result of his idiocy, and for generally not manning up.