Comparing Mercutio And Tybalt In Shakespeare's Romeo And Juliet

Mercutio and Tybalt are characters with inherently similar characteristics, but hold contrasting attitudes in the way the deal with in everyday life. Both Tybalt and Mercutio play integral roles in the famous play “Romeo and Juliet’ by William Shakespeare. To summarize, ‘Romeo and Juliet’ tells the tale of two lovers from opposing families that fall in love. The love they have for each other is forbidden, and after a series of misfortunate events, it results with them taking their own lives, thus expelling the long lasting feud between their families. The event that sends the play towards its doom began with Mercutio’s death at the hands of Tybalt. After lamenting the loss of his friend, Romeo then sets out after Tybalt on a quest of vengeance,

ultimately leading to the demise of Tybalt and, looking further on, Romeo.
At the beginning of the play we are first introduced to Mercutio, whose charismatic demeanor is well aware to the public.

He serves as a comedic foil to Romeo, a sort of anthesis, whose vivacity, witty humour and boisterous intellect contradict that of Romeo’s brooding, romantic and naive nature. The same can be said for Tybalt and Mercutio; although in a slightly different manner. Mercutio clashes with Tybalt in respect of the fact that Mercutio presents himself as lax yet lively person bursting with energy with a propensity for comedy and wit, which contrast with Tybalt, who shows himself to be arrogant, serious, quarrelsome and hot tempered. Much like that has been previously said, Tybalt and Mercutio deal issues very differently, and simply exude a different presence amongst their peers; with that being said there are several distinct qualities that overlap amongst the two. Mercutio is skeptical cynic, thinking love is nothing but a physical pursuit, fictitious and nothing to be taken seriously. Tybalt himself is a very bitter person, cynical at any attempt of reconciliation. A slight difference between this however lies in the fact that Mercutio’s cynicism is played in an often lighter tone whilst Tybalt lies begrudgingly on the darker side. Mercutio does not care much for love and feuding very much, whilst Tybalt holds the latter very

seriously.
In Act 1, Scene 5, Mercutio and his band, including Romeo decide to ‘break in’ wearing masks to conceal their identity. Only Tybalt saw through them, feeling enraged over their presence. He though Romeo was here to stir up trouble; he then proceeded to go forth and complain about the matter to Lord Capulet, who simply shrugs him off, stating Romeo is a fine gentleman and that if there were any more trouble, it would be him that would be kicked out. This scene plays out the theme of family obligation. In contrast to Juliet, Tybalt places family on a high pedestal. Nonetheless, Tybalt’s devotion towards his family is seen here, much like Mercutio did for Romeo likewise, reflecting the theme of loyalty. Tybalt’s character enriches the whole play with the theme of hatred and violence, as his whole perspective stems from the everlasting feud between the two families. Another theme amongst the two is violence. Mercutio fights with words and his intellect whilst Tybalt fights with physical violence. In Act 1, Scene 4, Mercutio narrates the tale of Queen Mab; narrating it along as something akin to a faint dream, cheery and endearing which proceeds slowly takes a turn to the worse as a dreaded nightmare, illustrating the potential horror of nightmares. The speech is more or less foreshadowing towards their fate, being enticed his verbal eloquence and imagination. The tale displays a certain sadness and bitterness within Mercutio, a certain quality shared by none other than Tybalt.
Both individuals are set apart by their dialogue as well the imagery they exudes. When he sees Romeo in his usual brooding, romantic self after his latest obsession with Rosaline, a character who won’t reciprocate his love, he engages in his casual harsh yet jovial teasing of him, displaying evidence that Mercutio enjoys yelling vulgar and comedic profanities. As mentioned earlier, a trait both Tybalt and Mercutio share is their cynical attitudes, though placed in different lights. When Romeo complains about his current dilemma, Mercutio tells him to get over it, saying “If love be rough with you, be rough with love”. The phrase suggests that Mercutio is a dominant character, who believes he is in charge of his own life, like one such character, Tybalt. Tybalt lacks any memorable quotes but it is evident that his crude and furious nature is present in nearly all his dialogues. He is constantly displaying his disapproval of anything Montague related. Both character show different styles of imagery. Mercutio elicits beautiful yet repugnant images in the readers head, oftentimes being related to a body part of a woman, whereas Tybalt does not invoke a strong sense of imagery like Mercutio other than showing his savage nature. There Mercutio’s imagination comes to light, when he speaks of Queen Mab, a fairy that visits those who are in love in their dreams. A part of the speech describing Queen Mab’s appearance is as follows:
“Her wagon-spokes made of long spinners' legs,
The cover of the wings of grasshoppers,
The traces of the smallest spider's web,
The collars of the moonshine's watery beams,
Her whip of cricket's bone, the lash of film,
Her wagoner a small grey-coated gnat,”
The text above illustrates Mercutio’s attention to detail, providing a comprehensive image of Queen Mab’s appearance. The speech goes along in a happy state but then slowly starts to take a turn for the worse.
“That tangles the manes of horses in the night,
And plasters on bloody knots in the hair of sluttish women,
The untangling of which brings much misfortune (either the ire of Mab or possibly infection):
This is the hag, who, when virgins lie on their backs,
Pushes on them and teaches them to stand the act (of intercourse),
Making them able to bear the load (of their husbands' weight).”
The point that Mercutio is trying to make here is that whilst dreams can provide some wish fulfillment, they are untimely short lived will always turn dreadful, highlighting why he considers dreams to be meaningless and dark. Whilst Tybalt lacks this sort of character, he still displays the same level of emotion. We see this going all the way to their eventual encounter. Mercutio’s death plays quit an impact upon the story; for he remains a nonchalant victim in what is an irrational, longstanding feud between two families. As he so eloquently put it, “A plague on both your houses”, which is to say that he wishes damnation upon both families for their silly grudge which cost him his life, for what he thought was defending his friend’s honour, was instead being dragged into an everlasting quarrel. The quote effectively shows his anger and outright irritation. Before having said that, he still retained his light mood, throwing around quips like “Tomorrow you will find me a grave man” etc. Even in a deathly state, Mercutio does not forget to live up to his reputable wit,
In conclusion, Tybalt and Mercutio, two characters both alike in dignity, reputable in only their unruly nature, their temperament differs and thus, explicably, raise an uproar amongst the public. Mercutio is characterized by his suave charisma, brilliant wit and his bursting exuberance. Tybalt is shown with his stout expression, an ostentatious attitude filled with vanity, bearing an inability to deal with things diplomatically and only though violence alone. These men held together by their cantankerous core bolstered by their honourable nobility, commanding them to stand ground with their families and loved ones. These two characters are so closely intertwined yet very far apart give further testament to their conflicting personas. Mercutio does not bother himself with being courteous, no does he care about holding his tongue; he let loose his tongue whenever he pleases, caring not whom he provokes no matter how arduous a situation it may bring about later (in this case his death, but even so this did not restrain him from getting in a few jokes). Tybalt expresses his voice in a serious tone, but doesn’t forget to flaunt aristocracy in front of those he deems beneath him. Both of them of heavily involved in the themes that play out in the end, and the untimely end suggest that the two characters were more closely related than before, freeing us from the enigma their conflicting personalities have shrouded.