How does Mercutio bring comic relief to the play?

, 's best
friend, is a witty wordsmith and bright conversationalist. He has a sparkling personality and
always comes up with something entertaining to say. These traits make him a good foil to Romeo
in the first act of the play.

Romeo is drooping in act 1, mooning over
Rosaline. He loves her and she doesn't love him back. Romeo is not much fun to be around. Even
whenand Mercutio persuade him to crash the Capulet masquerade party with them, he is glum and
full of foreboding. He doesn't think it is a good idea to go, says he had a bad dream about it,
and insists he could never possibly be interested in any woman in the world but
Rosaline.

Mercutio counters this with wit and energy as they walk to the
party. He has a practical, cynical attitude toward love and advises Romeo not to take it too
seriously. He says,

If love be rough with you, be rough
with love;
Prick love for pricking, and you beat love down.

He amuses Romeo and Benvolio as they walk with imaginative stories
of the tiny Queen Mab, who flies around in a wee wagon, influencing dreamers:

I see Queen Mab hath been with you.
She is the fairies'
midwife...
Her chariot is an empty hazel-nut
Made by the joiner squirrel or
old grub,
Time out o' mind the fairies' coachmakers.
And in this state she
gallops night by night
Through lovers' brains, and then they dream of love

Even as he realizes he is mortally wounded and soon to die later in
the play, Mercutio can't resist a goodon the word "grave":

ask for me to-morrow, and you shall find me a grave man.

We can understand why Romeo goes so crazy with grief and guilt that
he killsfor killing this vibrant friend.