Bencutio
| Pairing | |
|---|---|
| Pairing: | Bencutio |
| Alternative name(s): | Mervolio |
| Gender category: | Slash |
| Fandom: | Romeo and Juliet, Romeo et Juliette, and others |
| Canonical?: | No |
| Prevalence: | Highly prevalent; the 1st-3rd most common ship in multiple connected fandoms |
| Archives: | |
| Other: | |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
Bencutio (Mercutio/Benvolio) is one of the most popular ships in the fandom for Romeo and Juliet by Shakespeare and in the fandoms of some inspired works, such as Romeo and Juliet: the Musical.
Interactions in Canon
In Shakespeare
The Capulet and Montague families have a blood feud. Though Mercutio belongs to neither, he sides with the Montagues because he is close with two of them: Romeo and Benvolio. While Mercutio is alive, Benvolio almost never appears without him.[1] Eventually, Mercutio dies after a duel with Tybalt of the Capulets. Benvolio witnesses his death and announces it to Romeo, Romeo kills Tybalt as revenge, and Benvolio then disappears from the play entirely. The First Quatro of the play mentions Benvolio having died offstage at some point soon after Mercutio's death, so it is sometimes hypothesized that he killed himself or died of grief;[2] however, Benvolio's death is not generally mentioned in performance.
In some productions of the play, Bencutio is canon and they kiss onstage.[3]
In the Musicals
In the musicals, as in the play, Benvolio and Mercutio are close, though how much they interact varies slightly from production to production.
In Rómeó és Júlia, Zolicutio (Bereczki Zoltán's Mercutio) says that Benvolio is beautiful[4] and tries to kiss him on two occasions, but Benvolio stops him both times. In the alternate recording, they appear to kiss or attempt to kiss mid-song but are pulled apart by the Nurse.
In the Toho productions, Benvolio lies in Mercutio's lap at one point, and Mercutio dies in his arms.[5]
In Fandom
Fans who ship this couple typically do so with a Friends to Lovers arc and often have them in an established relationship. Fics featuring this ship often take place in the canon universe, though alternate universes where Mercutio does not die and modern AUs are also common. Fix-it fics and nontragic AUs can be fluffy, though some are very angsty, with Mercutio's flippant personality leading Benvolio to feel like Mercutio is insincere and his emotions are being toyed with.
A 2019 musical fandom survey conducted on Tumblr and Discord concluded that Bencutio was the second most popular OTP after Romeo/Juliet and found no significant correlation between whether people shipped it and which productions they favored.[6] The correlation statistics did not factor in the Toho or Takarazuka productions, whose fans tend overwhelmingly to ship Bencutio but form a smaller percentage of the fandom.
It is the most-tagged ship in the "Romeo & Juliette - Toho Stage" and "Romeo and Juliet (1968)" tags on Ao3, the second most common ship after Romeo/Juliet in the "Romeo & Juliette - Takarazuka Revue" tag, and third most common in the overarching "Romeo and Juliet - Shakespeare" tag, the "Roméo et Juliette - Presgurvic" tag, and the "Romeo e Giulietta - Ama e Cambia il Mondo" subtag. Filtering out to exclude Presgurvic, it is the second most common ship in the Shakespearean tag. It is less common among Hungarian musical-based fanworks.[7]
Some Tycutio (Tybalt/Mercutio) shippers in the RetJ fandom oppose this ship, though on neither side has it gotten to the point of a Ship War.[8] A 2023 poll found that Bencutio was more popular overall than Tycutio.[9] People also sometimes ship Benvolio/Mercutio/Romeo, making Benvolio and Mercutio two parts of a throuple, or Benvolio/Mercutio/Tybalt, but this is less common.
In the Italian ReG fandom, Bencutio sometimes incorporates RPF elements,[10] since the actors who played Benvolio and Mercutio were close in real life.
Associated Fanfic Tropes
Fan Works
Writing
Shakespeare
Musicals
Art
- Quand Mercutio nous chantait "la vie est belle" Moi, j'y croyais... by @theghostparty (RetJ 2010)
- “an hour and a quarter” by @suchafellow
- Les Rois Du Monde plays in the background by @crystallizedtwilight (RetJ 2010)
- Les Rois Du Monde plays in the background by @artsyanarchist
- mercutio, how do you feel about the fact that benvolio runs away every time you try to kiss him? by @dailymercutio (ResJ)
- ...it’s benvolio montague angst time!! by @acting-pterygii (Toho black version)
Vids and Miscellaneous
- Benvolio/Mercutio: I would have loved You all my life. vid by McFif
- Say When (Benvolio/Mercutio) - Multi-production Romeo and Juliet vid by Kit Kat 2 4 6 0 1
- Bencutio - the Musical vid by McFif
- High (Benvolio/Mercutio) - Roméo et Juliette 2010 vid by Kit Kat 2 4 6 0 1
- Mercuzio||Benvolio ~ So Scandalous. vid by khystuffs
- mervolio angst playlist by Kiribati
- bencutio playlist by Dulce Escorcia
- Bencutio playlist by The Curio Cabinet
- Mercutio and Benvolio Spotify playlist by atlas
- Mercutio handing Benvolio knives for the better part of a song Toho GIF set by @drawn-and-talk-of-peace
Archives and Links
- Benvolio/Mercutio (Romeo and Juliet) tag on Ao3
References and Notes
- ^ There’s an old Tumblr post (I feel like I remember seeing it somewhere around 2013-2106)...a set of photos of different stage directions from Romeo and Juliet, showing all of the times that Benvolio and Mercutio enter/leave together and it ended with Benvolio’s final entrance alone.
- ^ I know it’s probably quite nit-picky of me but I spend a disproportionate amount of time thinking about the first quarto (Q1) of Romeo and Juliet. by @fantasticallyfoolishidea
- ^ "saw my local shakespeare in the park tonight. and it was romeo and juliet. BENVOLIO AND MERCUTIO KISSED. like right at the scene where romeo is hiding behind the orchard walls and they are making fun of him and rosalind…. and benvolio was way taller but like was flustered and omfg." --@charliedaltonreal
- ^ Benvolio is Beautiful
- ^ https://www.tumblr.com/drawn-and-talk-of-peace/684376631431806976/and-palm-to-palm-is-holy-palmers-kiss-romeo?source=share
- ^ RetJ Fandom Survey Results (Part 2)--Ship Rankings by @alleyskywalker
- ^ As of December 2024, it is lowest among the top ten ships in the tag, which account for most in the ResJ fandom. That has also been noted here by @saltavenegar.
- ^ Ship wars may be less common due to the nature of that fandom, since different runs of the musical vary widely, people sometimes hold different ships for different casts, and the fandom is relatively small.
- ^ Let's put this to rest once for all poll by @hell-heron
- ^ An example of this is the vidwork of khystuffs, whose vid Luca x Riccardo\\The sky is yours. is fully RPF and whose Bencutio vids sometimes include a mix of footage of the actors in and out of character.