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No Fear Translations of Shakespeare’s plays (along with audio!) and other classic works
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I pray thee, good Mercutio, let’s retire.
The day is hot; the Capulets, abroad;
And if we meet we shall not ’scape a brawl,
For now, these hot days, is the mad blood stirring.
With these lines that open Act 3, Scene 1, Benvolio explicitly blames the hot weather for the sense of imminent violence on the streets of Verona. Read more about this quote in Quotes by Setting: Verona (the fourth quote).
I do protest I never injuried thee,
But love thee better than thou canst devise
Romeo speaks these lines to Tybalt, who had vowed to punish him for sneaking into the Capulet ball earlier in the play. Romeo is referencing the fact that he and Tybalt are now kinsmen, since he has married Tybalt’s cousin, Juliet. However, Tybalt doesn’t know about the marriage, so he assumes Romeo is making fun of him, which angers him even further.
Ask for me tomorrow and you shall find me a grave man.
Mercutio makes this statement after being fatally stabbed by Tybalt in Act 3, Scene 1. In every appearance in the play, Mercutio has been irreverent and witty and made puns, so it should come as no surprise that he finds a way to do so here in his famous death scene.
A plague a’ both your houses!
They have made worms’ meat of me.
A short time later in Act 3, Scene 1, Mercutio makes this statement right before he dies. In it he condemns both the Capulets and the Montagues for the feud that has precipitated his being killed and with his final words asserts stark and dispassionate assessment of the finality of death. You can read more about this quote in Quotes by Theme: The Connection Between Passion and Violence (the fourth quote) and in Quotes by Character: Mercutio (the fifth quote).
O sweet Juliet
Thy beauty hath made me effeminate
And in my temper softened valor’s steel!
Romeo blames his love for Juliet when Mercutio is killed by Tybalt in Act 3, Scene 1. Read more about this quote and how it represents an important turning point for Romeo and the story in Quotes by Character: Romeo (the sixth quote).
O, I am fortune’s fool
An exasperated Romeo makes this famous statement after he has impulsively killed Tybalt in retribution for killing his friend Mercutio in Act 3, Scene 1. While the audience has been aware that Romeo is subject to the whims of fate ever since the Prologue at the beginning of the play, Romeo must to learn this fact the hard way. Read more about this quote in Quotes by Theme: The Inevitability of Fate (the third quote).
