Tybalt's Flaws Essay

732 Words2 Pages

Villainism or Tragically Flawed “Tragic heroes are failed pragmatics”. Their ends are unrealistic and their means are impractical” - Adam Philips. Who gets to decide who’s the bad and who’s the good in stories? Many characters get the title of ‘villain’: Severus Snape from Harry Potter or Jay Gastby from The Great Gatsby, they’re both seen from the eyes of others as evil, but in the end they’re simply misunderstood. Tybalt Capulet from William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet was truly not the antagonist of the play. It was not his fault that he was tragically flawed with belligerence from birth. He was loyal to his family; too loyal and that got him killed. Tybalt’s death was destined, but he needed not to die with the reputation of the ‘villain’ …show more content…

“Patience perforce with wilful choler meeting. Makes my flesh tremble in their different greetings.” (Shakespeare, 28) He explains that the mixed emotions of patience and anger are both so uncontrollable, it makes his body shake. He understands that he’s in a state that’s like the calm before the storm, he leaves so as to not bother anyone. While he can’t control his emotions, he is still able to control his actions. He means not to cause anyone harm with his fieriness. We can’t always control our feelings and sometimes we let them take the reins over ourselves, this happens to Tybalt as well as everyone else. He was misunderstood by the people around him, even his family, during certain times. “You are a saucy boy: isn’t it, indeed?” (Shakespeare, 28) Lord Capulet says to Tybalt, even his own uncle doesn’t understand him. If everyone could have seen where Tybalt was coming from, no one would be calling him violent, hostile and …show more content…

He wants peace for his family, and he won’t let anyone get in the way of that. “What, drawn, and talk of peace!” (Shakespeare, 6) Tybalt is offended by Benvolio's actions, as he wants peace and yet he has his rapier out towards Tybalt beckoning him to fight. Tybalt didn’t want to fight Benvolio, but he had affronted him. Tybalt only fought to protect his family image and also his own at the same time. There’s nothing wrong with him defending himself and yet apparently it is, possibly it could be due to the choice of words he uses with Benvolio. However, his actions should matter more than his words in this case. But in other cases, his words should matter far more. “Uncle, this is a Montague, our foe.” (Shakespeare, 27) He warns Lord Capulet of the danger of Romeo. But he’s shrugged off and Capluet tells him to calm down and leave Romeo alone. Tybalt is enraged by his family's naiveness to the problem around them. So, he takes it upon himself to try and solve it without bringing them into the mess of it all. If only his family could understand things the same way he does, he would be far more praised and treated better than he is, and maybe even then he and their only daughter would still be alive. So in the end, was Tybalt truly the villain or was he simply just misunderstood by all the people around him? A man with too big of

Open Document