Mercutio offers comic relief in the excerpt from "Romeo and Juliet" by refusing to treat Romeo’s romance seriously, as stated in option C and explained below.
Comic relief is a technique commonly used in serious, dramatic stories. It is a comic, funny event, dialogue, or situation whose purpose is to alleviate some of the tension and seriousness of the general story.
The excerpt from Act II, scene iv from "Romeo and Juliet" has Mercutio as the comic relief. His judgmental and teasing words about those well-known female characters come to provoke Romeo. Mercutio does not take Romeo's love seriously, and his joking attitude provides the comic relief the drama needs.
With the information above in mind, we can choose option C as the correct answer for this question.
The complete question with the missing excerpt and answer choices is the following:
Read the excerpt from Act II, scene iv of "Romeo and Juliet."
Benvolio: Here comes Romeo, here comes Romeo.
Mercutio: Without his roe, like a dried herring. O flesh, flesh, how art thou fishified! Now is he for the numbers that Petrarch flowed in: Laura to his lady was but a kitchen-wench; marry, she had a better love to be-rime her; Dido a dowdy; Cleopatra a gipsy; Helen and Hero hildings and harlots; Thisbe, a grey eye or so, but not to the purpose. Signior Romeo, bon jour! There’s a French salutation to your French slop. You gave us the counterfeit fairly last night.
Romeo: Good morrow to you both. What counterfeit did I give you?
Mercutio: The slip, sir, the slip; can you not conceive?
How does Mercutio offer comic relief in this excerpt?
Learn more about comic relief here:
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