Character Of Tybalt In Shakespeare's Romeo And Juliet

Character Essay – Tybalt

“What, drawn, and talk of peace? I hate the word, as I hate hell, all Montagues, and thee. Have at thee, coward!” This is a very telling line from Tybalt, a character from Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare’s highly acclaimed Romantic Tragedy. Tybalt Capulet, ‘Prince of Cats’ (the cousin of Juliet) is violent young man, and acts as the foil, or opposite, of Benvolio. Tybalt has many negative attributes, like arrogance and aggressiveness, but perhaps the cause for this is the fact that loyalty and bravery are two of his strongest traits, and combined with the harsh environment of war, bloodshed and inter-family feud that he was brought up in, it was perhaps inevitable for Tybalt to turn into the most hateful and despised antagonist of this iconic

and moving theatrical masterpiece, still relevant in our society today.

Tybalt displays arrogance through his apparent self-belief that he is superior to almost everyone, especially the Montagues. When someone has such a level of haughtiness, it is almost unavoidable that he treats most others with such disdain. “This, by his voice, should be a Montague. Fetch me my rapier, boy. What, dares the slave. Come hither, covered with an antic face, to fleer and scorn at our solemnity?” Just in the way Tybalt speaks one can see how arrogant he is. The disdain he shows for others makes it practically unpreventable to produce more hate between the two houses of Montague and Capulet. Tybalt acts as the foil, or opposite, of Benvolio, Romeo’s kind and witty friend whom strives to keep the peace between the two houses. He and Tybalt could not be more different in character, but also the audience’s view of them: the audience needs a character they can boo and hiss at, and in this case it’s Tybalt, whilst Benvolio is looked fondly upon and supported.

One of Tybalt’s strongest traits is his aggressiveness. This is portrayed well in the scene of the Capulet masked ball. Romeo and his friend’s had stolen into the ball in disguise, yet Tybalt recognised him. He was extremely angered at the fact that the son of the house of Montague, his sworn enemy, had intruded into his family’s party. “To strike him dead I hold it not a sin.” In modern English this translates to; “I do not consider it a crime to kill him.” Tybalt would without further thought have acted upon these words, killing Romeo with no remorse, if his uncle, Lord Capulet, had told him to refrain, as he did not want a scene. After petulantly answering his superior back, he reluctantly and ungraciously agrees to back down. Tybalt leaves the party, vowing that Romeo would pay. He talks of his aggressiveness himself – “Patience perforce with willful choler meeting makes my flesh tremble in their different greeting.” In other words – “The combination of forced patience and pure rage is making my body tremble.” This anger affects him physically, making him shake, due to him trying to keep his aggressive personality in check. With such anger pure fury towards another, his hate is undeniable. Tybalt shows how we should not act towards others, it simply builds hate and divide, creating rifts between people, which pride and prejudice can render them almost impossible to heal.
It is Tybalt’s good traits combined with his childhood environment that caused his negative characteristics to flourish. Without his extreme sense of loyalty and honour to his family, he would not be the strong, self-assured character that he is. As written above, Tybalt considered it not a crime to kill Romeo. The lengthened quote actually reads: “Now, by the stock and honor of my kin, to strike him dead I hold it not a sin.” Or: Now, by the honour of our family, I do not consider it a crime to kill him.” This is Tybalt’s loyalty showing through his anger – it is for his family that he without hesitation would kill. Without this almost astounding sense of loyalty to his family, we would not have out antagonist, our person to blame. He reflects the theme of hate very well in this sense, for all his strongest traits combined make him a bitter and cold person. His heart is poisoned and his eyes are blinded with hate for the Montague’s, as that is all he knows. He is unable to see the good in others if they are of that house. For example, when Romeo refuses to fight him, and also when Benvolio tries to keep peace between the servants, Tybalt cannot see their good intentions, only that they are, in his eyes, cowards. His undying loyalty to his family is in the end what causes him to be killed – if he had not killed Mercutio in cold blood, Romeo would never have murdered Tybalt in extreme sadness and rage.

Tybalt is an extremely brave character, constantly putting himself in danger to protect his family’s honour.

“Boy, this shall not excuse the injuries that thou hast done me. Therefore turn and draw.” Tybalt says this to Romeo, as he is always ready for a fight. Tybalt’s bravery allows him to confront his enemies with confidence and self-assuredness, which is where his arrogance stems from. Alas, Tybalt does not use this bravery for good, to stand up to the two rival houses and bring peace, but to provoke it, shedding more blood, including that of the innocent. This is another example of how Tybalt reflects the theme of hate in Romeo and Juliet. His courage to put his own life at stake, in one sense, could be seen as ignorance – unable to see the stupidity of the situation he finds himself and his family in – a blood feud, the origins, and thus the meaning, or purpose, of it, lost in time. It is pointless. There are many such people in our world today – there always have been. Misguided beliefs and prejudice renders them unable to see the good in others and how much better the world would be without war. Indeed, Shakespeare helps us to understand that this mentality is wrong and has no purpose but

misery.

In conclusion, Tybalt is an important, complex character in Shakespeare’s Romantic Tragedy, Romeo and Juliet. He shows the traits or characteristics of arrogance, loyalty, aggressiveness, and bravery, and is reflected as the polar opposite of Benvolio. These, combined together with his childhood environment of bloodshed, result in Tybalt becoming the despised antagonist and foil of Romeo. His inability to see the good in others, the stupidity in the feud, and the reason for peace, causes Tybalt to be a fine example of how Shakespeare can cause a character to perfectly reflect one of the most prominent yet terrible themes in the play, and indeed, in life – Hate.