Mercutio: Where the devil should this Romeo be?
Came he not home to-night?
Benvolio: Not to his father's; I spoke with his man.
Mercutio: Why that same pale hard-hearted wench, that Rosaline,
Torments him so, that he will sure run mad.
Benvolio: Tybalt, the kinsman of old Capulet,
Hath sent a letter to his father's house.
Mercutio: A challenge, on my life.
Benvolio: Romeo will answer it.
Mercutio: Any man that can write may answer a letter.
Benvolio: Nay, he will answer the letter's master, how he dares, being dared.
—Romeo and Juliet,
William Shakespeare
Which word best describes the mood of this passage?