In Romeo and Juliet, when Mercutio makes the remark, "a plague o' both your houses" as he is dying in Act III, how does it relate to the prologue?
Mercutio was never supposed to become involved in the altercation that ended his life. Tybalt came for Romeo, and Romeo alone. However, when Romeo refused to fight Tybalt, Mercutio felt that his behavior brought him dishonor. Rather than permit this, Mercutio fought Tybalt himself, and Tybalt slays him when Romeo comes between them. When Mercutio curses the houses of Capulet and Montague with plague, it recalls the line from the Prologue where the Chorus calls the love between Romeo and Juliet's love "death-marked." Further, the "fearful passage" that their love takes spells destruction for so many more than just the two of them. Their love is, to be sure, death-marked; consider everyone that dies during the "fearful passage" of their relationship: Mercutio, Tybalt, County Paris, their two selves. When Mercutio sends "a plague" on the lovers' families, he helps to fulfill the Prologue's promises.
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