Camparison essay

Tyler Viducic 4/7/09

“Wit Beyond Measure is Man’s Greatest Treasure”-Ravenclaw motto, Harry Potter

If you are a fan of Harry Potter, you have probably heard the famous Ravenclaw phrase “Wit beyond measure is man’s greatest treasure”. Shakespeare often includes characters of great wit in his plays. In Romeo and Juliet, the character of wit is Mercutio, Romeo’s best friend. In Much Ado About Nothing, there are two characters: Beatrice and Benedick. All three characters add a comedic aspect to their play and make the mood either light or heavy. However, Mercutio and Beatrice are the two that should be compared. They both have an extremely quick tongue, scorn the notion of love and while one eventually embraces it, the other dies alone as was sworn by the other.

Wit is the bond that brings these two characters together. Both characters are often engaged in witty fights. Romeo has a verbal fight with Mercutio, and Beatrice has verbal fights with every one. Other characters often acknowledge their wit. “You must not, sir, mistake my niece. There is a kind of merry war betwixt Signor Benedick and her. They never meet but there’s a skirmish of wit between them”-Leonato, line 50-51. Often though, their wit turns into anger, in which case wit becomes malice and insults. An example of this is when Mercutio, while telling Romeo dreams are nothing, gets quite carried away and becomes impassioned and angry. Wit sets the mood. It can make the mood light and comical, like the witty banter exchanged between Romeo and Mercutio in act two, scene four. Or, it can bring the mood down, like during the later half of act one scene one of Much Ado About Nothing.

Both characters look down upon love. In Romeo and Juliet, this is obvious when Mercutio tells Romeo that he is confusing love with sex, and that love is nothing more than desire. Beatrice speaks openly that she will never fall in love and she will die a bachelor. “I had rather hear my dog bark at a crow than a man swear he loves me.”-Beatrice, lines 104-105. However, Beatrice’s reluctance to embrace love may be seen as foreshadowing her eventual love and marriage with Benedick. Both try to convince others that love is an illusion, or that is not for them. However, I think Beatrice was more afraid of love, while Mercutio simply believed it was a fantasy he did not or could not entertain.

The great difference between Beatrice and Mercutio is that Beatrice eventually embraces love. She, at one point, hopes she will never marry (“Just, if he send me no husband, for the which blessing I am at him upon my knees every morning and evening.”-Beatrice, lines 23-24). But then, she falls in love with Benedick, the man she “hates”. They marry each other at the ending of the play. However, Mercutio makes good on Beatrice’s promise, and is killed by Tybalt before he has the chance to embrace love. He never changed, always looking down upon love. Therein lies the difference. The fact that Beatrice was able to overcome her predisposition of love and was able to fall in love and the fact that Mercutio died criticizing love. While they are very similar, they are very different also.

This very obvious relationship shows that Shakespeare often put very similar characters in his plays and sonnets. Pairs such as Mercutio and Beatrice, Romeo and Claudio, and Tybalt and Don Jon are very evident in all of his works. Beatrice and Mercutio is a good pair to evaluate. They have such strong similar traits, like wit and a scorn of love. However, they are very different since Beatrice is able to change. Her promise of never marrying is broken, and she ties the knot with Benedick. So, despite their many similarities, they are very different.