Mercutio (/mərˈkjuːʃioʊ/ mər-KEW-shee-oh,[1] Italian: Mercuzio) is a fictional character in William Shakespeare's 1597 tragedy, Romeo and Juliet.

Though often fun-loving and witty, the latter demonstrated in his Queen Mab speech in the first act, Mercutio's sense of humour can at times be facetious or even coarse, much to his friends' annoyance.

Mercutio is incensed at his friend's "calm, dishonorable, vile submission", and decides to fight Tybalt himself, referring to his own sword as his "fiddlestick."

[2] A grief-stricken and enraged Romeo kills Tybalt, resulting in his banishment from Verona and beginning the tragic turn of events that make up the rest of the play.

Arthur Brooke's The Tragical History of Romeus and Juliet and William Painter's 1567 versions of the story both left the entire episode solely to Romeo and Tybalt.

In 1672, English poet John Dryden wrote, "Shakespeare show'd the best of his skill in his Mercutio, and he said himself, that he was forced to murder him in the third Act, to being killed by him.