Monday, April 21, 2008

Mercutio's Proclamation?

In Act III.i.113-115, Mercutio proclaims that, "... A plague o' both your houses!/ They have made worms' meat of me. I have it,/ And soundly too. Your houses!" What is he suggesting? Is it more than a dying observation? What is your understanding of the lines and its recitation in Act III?

21 comments:

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tsaathoff said...

I believe that Marcutio is realizing what has just happened adn realized that everything got out of hand adn is putting a plague on them which is just like putting a a spellish thing on them.adn when they say worms eat is that he is going to be buring in the ground and the worms eat the ground so he is just saying that he is dieing. i believe he is just saying a departcher saying before he dies. He wants to leave a meaningful saying adn make them think twice before he dies.

i think what i just said is totally wrong but i tryed :)

CraigR said...

I think Mercutio is pointing out how silly it is that the two families are fighting. When he calls for a plague on both of their houses, he is making it clear that he is not taking sides. He is trying to say that they shouldn't be fighting all the time. The reason he hasn't said this earlier is because he was strongly allied with Romeo and his kin. Now that he was dying, he had nothing to lose and could finally speak his mind.

jamesonP said...

This man was letting out his dying words and giving great advice to his friend as he is wasting away! Marcutio was saying his last farewell explaining that he is dying and to stop the fighting between the two families and those my friend are words of wisdom!

KyleMayo1501 said...

I too think that Mercutio is sputtering out his final words of wisdom... he had just realized that it was childish to fight and the families should work out there differences... and because of their fighting he dies- worms meat - buried only to be eaten by maggots. Yet, he says a despairing good bye to his friends.

JJ said...

I feel that he is also saying his final words to all his friends standing around. Even though his friends standing around him think its just a joke. Mercutio also got unlucky because if romeo had not been standing in front of him the blade from tybalts sword would have missed him comepletly or would not have caused as much damage to mercutio. But seeing as romeo was standing in front of him he was putting a sort of curse on both of they familes because of what happened to him.

Nicole said...

It seems that Mercutio is pointing out how much bloodshed was caused because of this pointless feud.
He knew that his life was ending because of something that no one could even remember. To gain his own revenge he spits out the words "a plague o' both your houses!" When he talks about worms, I think he's talking about the decomposition system, how he would eventually go into the ground, to be comsumed by the worms.
I also think that it may be Shakespeare's way to say "something terrible will occur to those houses" (even though that was already said at the very beginning).
He's speaking out of anger, but he speaks true words.

Katie M. said...
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Katie M. said...

When Mercutio is saying this he's in pain and dying with everyone around thinking that he was joking around. He had come to realize that fighting with Tybalt wasn't worth this. The embroil between their to families was foolish and hopes that a plague hits their families while asking for help, to be taken to a house to lay down. He is becoming worms food and knows that he is dying but people around don't know what is happening until its to late.

cYoUnGbLaDe said...

Mercutio is trying to say that there is no point to this family fued. He thinks that this is stupid and he is not taking sides on this but he does not agree with either. Both families should get along and not have this huge conflict continue any longer. Even though it does, this is a significant part or speech of Romeo and Juliet.

emilymc said...

After Mercutio was slayed by Tyblt, he preformes a speech that everyone thinks he is goofing around. But when he falls, they all see that he was not joking around. I think what he means by, "A plaque o' both your houses!" Is that the two rival houses, the Capulets and the Montagues, need to find a way to end the fued.

mchiafalo said...

When Mercutio says this he is pretty much telling everyone that this whole fued is wack and they need to get over it! Even tough everyone thinks he is joking around, mercutio was seriously injured and knew he was dying. I guess he was trying to tell everyone he never was on a side and wanted them to always remember what he said long after he was gone. Its not like they could disown him for saying all this since he knew he was to be dead soon, so why not just try and get it through there thick heads?!?

Lora R said...
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Lora R said...

I think that when Mercutio says that, he is trying to get Romeo to understand what happended, and that he really is hurt. When he says they have made worms meat of me, this means he will be buried and that emphisizes he is dying. To my understanding, Mercutio is just uspset that everything has happened over something so unnessary.

ShaneK said...

I think Mercutio contradicts himself when he says that quote for he was fighting Tybalt because of their "Houses". As for the worms meat thing, he was just talking old fashion saying hes going to die. His death marks a very big part for the rest of the book and the events leading from it.

Seank said...

According to what i read in the book and what i saw in the movie, i think that when Mercutio is stabed that everyone else still thinks hes acting out for attention. However once he finally was dead everyone got the real picture of what was going on.

Annelise S. said...

I think that mercutio is just stating how uncalled for it is that the two families are still fueding and that.
When Mercutio says there should be plaques on both sides that clearly shows that he is just not taking sides in the matter.

caseyk said...

This is Mercutio's last dying words of wisdom and thought; the things he hopes to let everyone know before he is gone. He's telling them how pointless the fued between these families is and that it has caused his unnecessary death.

kelly w. said...

Mercutio says this as he is dying which is like putting a curse on the Capulet house because Tybalt killed him and he does not want the family to just get away with it and he always has to comment on everything, so this was just a last word/speech before he died.

maggy woods said...

I think Mercutio is suggesting more than dieing because he is explainig more than just death!!! There is a lot more to it and Mercutio is trying to say this!!! I think Mercutio is great in hiding within the text and making his words secretive!!!

mbabbitt said...

i think that Marcutio realized that things got way out of hand, things went to far. he is also saying that he isn't going to take any sides, and how funny the fight is between the two families.