Inanimacy

In Act 1 Scene 4 of Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare, Mercutio tells Romeo how to handle love. He gives Romeo advice on dealing with, and moving on, after love ends. I saw Mercutio treating love like it was a person, and as he goes back and forth becomes less literal and more figurative with who love is.

In Act 1 Scene 4 line 17/18 Mercutio says "You are a lover. Borrow Cupid's wings // And soar with them above a common bound." In this quote Mercutio doesn't directly address love as an animate object but speaks of it more inanimately, and says that Romeo is part of it by being a lover. I thought Mercutio telling Romeo to "borrow Cupid's wings" was saying that Romeo is entitled to love, and should be able to just take Cupid's wings and find love. I saw "Cupid's wings" as a metaphor for love. Because Mercutio says to "soar with them above a common bound" I felt like he was telling Romeo to take love, and take love somewhere great. In line 27 Mercutio says "If love be rough with you, be rough with love". In this quote Mercutio makes love seem like it's a person who Romeo can interact with, and in this case, be rough with. I think Mercutio gives Romeo enough advice that he can literally use, and can just keep in mind to inspire him when he's not feeling too hopeful.

I think advice can be important for inspiring people, and these little things can really make someone more hopeful, like Mercutio telling Romeo to fly with Cupid's wings. I think these little bits of advice have the one purpose of just helping people get through difficult days and sad times. I've never been given actual advice of this type but I could see how a figurative piece of advice might help more because it's easier to interpret in your own way and really let it work in almost any situation, whereas literal advice might actually just be for one specific event and would only work then. I think Mercutio gives Romeo different kinds of advice so he can continuously use his advice and be able to carry on and not be sad.