Mercutio is one of the main characters in Shakespeare's tragedy "Romeo & Juliet". Mercutio is Prince Escalus' cousin and Romeo's friend, he is not a Montague, nor a Capulet. But his friendship with Romeo puts him more on the Montagues side of the feud. Mercutio has many characteristics, but his main ones are that he is kind of a jokester/teaser, not a lover, and he knows when to be serious or when to be sarcastic.
Mercutio is always playing around with words, using two or more meanings.For example when Mercutio teases Romeo, in Act II Scene i: "Romeo! Humours! Madman! Passion! Lover! Appear though in the likeness of a sigh.I conjure thee by Rosalines bright eyes,By her high forehead and her scarlet lip, and the demesnes that there adjacent lie.". This indicates that Mercutio loves to joke around to keep everybody, including himself, happy and probably to be the center of attention. This is important because Mercutio's character is a joyful man who loves to live life to the fullest and he can't do so if he is quiet. He loves challenges, so joking around about others would bring interest to him.
Mercutio tells Romeo in Act I Scene iv to not be afraid to take charge, saying, "If love be rough with you, then be rough with love." This shows how Mercutio simply cannot understand Romeo's love for Juliet, and that he sees his love as simply a confusion of emotions. Mercutio is very independent and free. He does not understand how someone could want or need anyone or anything else in his life to fulfill it.Mercutio is not interested in being dependent on anyone. .
During the first scene of Act III, Mercutio is being his regular, quick-witted self. He jokes around with his language, but he takes it too far as he deliberately annoys Tybalt by doing things like mistaking meanings of words on purpose, like in Act III Scene I, Tybalt starts to tell Mercutio about the relationship between Romeo and Juliet, but Mercutio takes the word 'consort' as related to playing music, instead of being friends with Romeo; then Mercutio says, ".
