Tybalt In Shakespeare's Romeo And Juliet

“This by his voice, should be a Montague. Fetch me my rapier, boy. What dares the slave” ( I.v.line 52-54). “Romeo and Juliet” by William Shakespeare is a tragedy that occurs to innocent characters who have not done anything wrong. In the play, the character that strongly opposes Romeo and the Montagues is Tybalt. Tybalt is Mr. Capulet’s nephew and Juliet’s older cousin. Tybalt plays an important role in Romeo and Juliet because of his aggressive, cocky, and self-centered personality leads to many catastrophes in the play.

As a matter of fact, Tybalt is considered an aggressive character due to his words and actions. Specifically speaking, Tybalt’s aggressiveness towards Romeo and his family is solely due to the fact that they are Montagues, no more or no less. For example, this is shown when Tybalt says “To fleer and corn at our solemnity? Now, by the stock and honor of my kin, to strike him dead I hold it not a sin”. This occurred when Romeo showed up at the Capulet’s party dressed as a torchbearer. Tybalt wanted to interrupt the feast and turn the jocund mood to resentment just so he can kill Romeo for crashing the party. In addition to this, Tybalt is also considered as aggressive because he doesn’t want peace between the two noble families. For instance, “What, drawn and talk of peace? I

hate the word, as I hate hell, all Montagues, and thee. Have at thee coward”. In act I, scene I, when the servants from both families were fighting, instead of trying to break up the fight like Benvolio was trying, Tybalt attacks Benvolio and disregards Benvolio’s wish for peace. Reading this, people can indirectly characterize Tybalt as aggressive.
Similarly, Tybalt is also considered to be cocky due to the fact that he labels all Montagues as traitors with only a glance. He conveyed that message through saying, “It fits when such a villain is a guest. I’ll not endure him”. When Tybalt recognizes Romeo at the Capulet’s party, he resolves to killing without giving the idea a second thought and without knowing Romeo’s motives for sneaking in. It is conveyed that Tybalt doesn’t care about Romeo or his motives and that Tybalt only cares about himself and about avenging his family’s honor that was supposedly taken by the Montagues. To further prove Tybalt’s cockiness, he sends a challenge letter to Romeo, which is battle to the death. However, Romeo declines his challenge. Tybalt’s cockiness and lust drives him to attack Romeo but Mercutio intercepts him. When Romeo tries to break up the fight, Tybalt takes advantage of this and strikes Mercutio from under Romeo’s arm. According to this, Tybalt is cocky due to his dirty, unheroic actions and words.
“Fetch me my rapier, boy”.

Finally, Tybalt is a self-centered character because he is willing to jeopardize the merry mood at the party so that he can battle Romeo for crashing the Capulet’s feast. This is conveyed when Tybalt calls his page to fetch him his rapier (a type of sword). “To strike him dead I hold it not a sin”. Moreover, Tybalt is considered self-centered because he decides whether it is a sin or not to take someone’s life for an unnecessary event such as crashing a party. The quote written above proves the point that Tybalt is a self-centered character that doesn’t care about the shame he could bring to his family by being extremely selfish and

self-centered.
Tybalt is an important character in “Romeo and Juliet” by William Shakespeare because his aggressive, cocky, and self-centered personality all lead to many disasters and tragedies. Tybalt despises the Montagues and everything related to them due to him growing up hearing about the feud occurring between the two noble families for a reason long forgotten. “Reputation is an idle and most false imposition; oft got without merit, and lost without deserving.” (William Shakespeare)