Read the excerpt from Act I, scene iii of Romeo and Juliet.
Benvolio: Tybalt, the kinsman of old Capulet,
Hath sent a letter to his father’s house.
Mercutio: A challenge, on my life.
10
Benvolio: Romeo will answer it.
Mercutio: Any man that can write may answer a letter.
Benvolio: Nay, he will answer the letter’s master, how he dares, being dared.
Mercutio: Alas! poor Romeo, he is already dead; stabbed with a white wench’s black eye; shot through the ear with a love-song; the very pin of his heart cleft with the blind bow-boy’s butt-shaft; and is he a man to encounter Tybalt?
Why does Shakespeare include Mercutio’s teasing words?
a to explain the history of the feuding families
b to criticize Romeo’s neglect of his duties
c to condemn the established ritual of sword fighting
d to contrast the seriousness of Tybalt’s challenge
Benvolio: Tybalt, the kinsman of old Capulet,
Hath sent a letter to his father’s house.
Mercutio: A challenge, on my life.
10
Benvolio: Romeo will answer it.
Mercutio: Any man that can write may answer a letter.
Benvolio: Nay, he will answer the letter’s master, how he dares, being dared.
Mercutio: Alas! poor Romeo, he is already dead; stabbed with a white wench’s black eye; shot through the ear with a love-song; the very pin of his heart cleft with the blind bow-boy’s butt-shaft; and is he a man to encounter Tybalt?
Why does Shakespeare include Mercutio’s teasing words?
a to explain the history of the feuding families
b to criticize Romeo’s neglect of his duties
c to condemn the established ritual of sword fighting
d to contrast the seriousness of Tybalt’s challenge