In the Catcher in the Rye Holden Tells Us Mercutio Is His Favourite Character in Romeo and Juliet. Who Is His Favourite Character in Macbeth or Frankenstein?

In The Catcher in the Rye Holden tells us Mercutio is his favourite character in Romeo and Juliet. Who is his favourite character in Macbeth or Frankenstein?

Holden Caulfield in The Catcher in the Rye explicitly states that Mercutio is his favorite character from Romeo and Juliet. Although the two are polar opposites in terms of personalities, they do share similar life situations. Comparing Mercutio to Henry Clerval from Frankenstein, there also are many similarities to be seen. First off, the death of Mercutio and Henry are both caused by the self-centered actions of the protagonists. Mercutio battles with Tybalt is killed as a result of Romeo’s unthoughtful decision to exhibit “good reason and love” for House Capulets, the house his beloved Juliet belongs to. Meanwhile, Henry is murdered by the creature because Victor’s terror and remorse lead to him neglecting his responsibilities for his immoral creation. Holden, on the other hand, identifies himself to be in a similar situation as the two characters. He feels he is often mistreated by others yet he is not at fault for this. Holden sympathizes with Mercutio’s death, which also closely resembles Henry Clerval's death, due to his own experience of being ending up in misery, inevitably, without doing anything wrong. Seeing that Henry, Mercutio, and Holden are experienced misery caused by the actions of others, Holden would certainly choose Henry as his favorite character in Frankenstein.

Furthermore, it is important to note Holden likes Mercutio because he admires Mercutio’s expressive and outgoing personality, particularly when talking about sex. The reason for this is Holden lacks and longs for such a personality. In the same way, Henry also possesses a similar personality. It is obvious in Frankenstein that Henry contrasts with Victor as the foil character, just as Mercutio contrasts with Romeo. Due to this, Victor’s lack of social and communicative skills contrasts with Henry as being the