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All Site ContentRomeo and JulietAct 2Scene 4
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"that God hath made, for himself to mar"
Allusion
Act 2,
Scene 4
Lines 100-102

An explanation of the allusion to Genesis in Act 2, Scene 4 of myShakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet.

Nurse

Out upon you! What a man are you?                             

Romeo

One, gentlewoman, that God hath made, for himself to mar.

Nurse

By my troth, it is well said; 'for himself to mar,' quoth a?

This phrase alludes to both the Biblical idea of man being made in God's own image, and the proverbial expression "make or mar" (to make something better, or to destroy it). Mercutio means that he is a man that God made to harm others, but the Nurse misinterprets him, thinking Mercutio means that he is a man God made so that he, God, could harm him.

(Creation of Adam, Sistine Chapel, Michelangelo, c. 1512)