Question

Which lines in this excerpt from act II of William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet reveal that Mercutio thinks Romeo would be better off if he stopped thinking about love?

Answer 1

Oo, I've done this problem before!

"O, thou art deceived; I would have made it short:
for I was come to the whole depth of my tale; and
meant, indeed, to occupy the argument no longer."

Answer 2

MERCUTIO: Why, is not this better now than groaning for love?

now art thou sociable, now art thou Romeo; now art

thou what thou art, by art as well as by nature:

for this drivelling love is like a great natural,

that runs lolling up and down to hide his bauble in a hole.

In this lines, Mercutio is attempting to say that Romeo shows his true self when he is joking with his friends and he wants to highlight that Romeo is better off than when he is groaning for love because when being in love, he acts like an idiot.