Literature??help..?

Question

What does Mercutio mean when he repeated the phrase 'A plague o' both your houses!' in the Act 3 Scene 1 of the Romeo and Juliet...

please answer me!
thanks...

Answer 1

He is cursing the households. This is significant because:
- he has been a close friend of Romeo, but now he turns on his friend and curses his family in the same way as he does his previous enemy, the Capulets

-it is one of the - if not the main- turning points in the action. From now on there is only misery on both sides: the curse seems to work.

Answer 2

As a phrase it criticises both sides of a warring faction by those caught in the middle. For the more literal etymology see :

http://www.answers.com/topic/a-plague-on-both-your-houses

Answer 3

apparantely shakespeare wrote this line out of personal experience, his one time best friend was out cast for falling in love with a man so both there houses were burnt to the ground

Answer 4

He wished both the families ill fortune

Answer 5

He's sort of cursing them, wishing bad on them. He's hoping the families come into misfortune due to their deeds.

it's like you're angry and saying "I hope you both pay for this"

Answer 6

He was anticipating the buy to let craze that engulfed the late twentieth century and record his disgust early.

Answer 7

he is blaming both the montegue's and the capuletts for his death, and the feud between them. he means that he wants both families to pay for the crimes they have committed.

Answer 8

it was meant to be a curse on both households