SOURCE: McArthur, Herbert. “Romeo's Loquacious Friend.” Shakespeare Quarterly 10, no. 1 (winter 1959): 35-44.

In the following essay, McArthur examines past critical perceptions of Mercutio in order to determine this character's fundamental significance to the tragedy of Romeo and Juliet.

The critic takes a deliberate and well-guarded position to make his assault on major characters and major problems; he comes with his theories and his standards of value, his moral and aesthetic standards, flying in the breeze. A minor character who lies in the way is likely to be pounced on and disposed of without much ado. But if we watch closely we may learn more about the critic than we can from his more self-conscious attacks on a Hamlet or a Lear. His guard is momentarily down; assumptions, including unconscious ones, are more easily detected. Mercutio, who disappears by death in the third act of Romeo and Juliet after several...