Comparing Tybalt And Mercutio's

72), then draws his own sword to fight Tybalt. Bert Cardullo argues, “Impulsiveness is the real villain in this play that has no villains. It finally extinguishes itself, but not before Mercutio, Tybalt, Paris, Romeo, and Juliet are killed by it” (Cardullo 66). Therefore, this abrupt remark, along with his eagerness to engage in a fight with Tybalt, reflects Mercutio’s impulsivity because they ultimately lead to his

Tybalt intended to fight Romeo because he disliked his presence at the Capulet’s party but after Romeo refuses to fight Mercutio feels the need to fight for him instead. This is not the only time Mercutio is a display of masculinity in the play. As Romeo’s friend he likes to mock him, calling him an petrarchan lover and joking about his version of love. The difference to Romeo is also found when juxtaposing how Romeo and Mercutio speak. For instance, when Romeo talks about the girls he is in love with or has a crush on he talks in poetic sentences. In comparision, Mercutios:” Laura was a kitchen slave. Surely she has a better love to make rhymes for her. Dido was shabbily dressed. Cleopatra was a gypsy girl. Helen and Hero were sluts and harlots.

. Firstly, Tybalt is to blame for Mercutio’s death as he actually gave him the wound that killed him. Also, Tybalt provokes Mercutio by insulting Romeo, ‘Thou art a villain.’ This is one of the biggest insults that Tybalt can give and would usually be followed by a duel. However, Romeo calmly replies by saying ‘Villain I am none / Therefore farewell. I see thou know’st me not.’ Because Romeo is not defending his honour, Mercutio is provoked by Tybalt’s insults and starts insulting Tybalt himself. This is what leads to the two of them fighting and Mercutio getting his fatal wound. So, if Tybalt didn’t insult Romeo or fight Mercutio, Mercutio wouldn’t have been killed.

The rage that this quote later gave Tybalt eventually led to the death of Mercutio which also led to the two deaths of Romeo and Juliet.

At the Capulet party that Benvolio took Romeo to, Tybalt wanted to kill Romeo when he heard his voice from behind the mask, he said, “I can tell by his voice that this man is a Montague. Get me my sword, boy. -What, does this peasant dare to come here with his face covered by a mask to sneer at and scorn our celebration? Now, by the honor of our family, I do not consider it a crime to kill him.” (Shakespeare 1.5.9). Capulet stopped Tybalt and told him, “You will tolerate him. What, little man? I saw you will. What the- Am I the boss here or you? What the- You won’t tolerate him! God help me! You’ll start a riot among my guests! There will be chaos!” (Shakespeare 1.5.41). So Tybalt took it somewhere else. Capulet was only worried about his guests, not Romeo’s life. This lead to Tybalt trying to kill Romeo but killing Mercutio instead. When Tybalt saw Romeo, his first thought was to kill him and honor his family. Capulet never

Secondly, the ‘ancient grudge’ between the two household is an aspect of fate that can be deemed responsible for the lovers’ deaths. Shakespeare describes the feud between the Montagues and Capulets as ancient, meaning it has been going on for a very long time. Consequently, there were ongoing brawls occurring in the streets of Verona and as a result of this feud many characters are driven to extreme behaviours, including Tybalt and Mercutio. If this ancient grudge had not existed then there would be no reason for them to have a duel, however, as it did exist they had no other choice. Tybalt is furious that Romeo, a Montague, had come into the Capulet household and wanted to take action. He decided to duel with Romeo but as he didn’t want to Mercutio accepted the offer. This specific duel between Tybalt and Mercutio was the undoing of the lovers’ lives. After Tybalt had killed Mercutio, Romeo felt pity and sought revenge and ended up killing Tybalt

This example only gives the audience a teasing taste for what is about to happen as a result of Tybalt’s short temper. Fast forwarding to act three, Tybalt’s impulsive behavior is far more drastic and impactful to the play this time around. At the town square of Verona, Tybalt and his compatriots run into Mercutio and Romeo. Still infuriated by Romeo’s presence at his family’s ball, Tybalt decides to vent his anger by challenging Romeo to battle him. When Romeo backs away, Mercutio steps in and fights with Tybalt. After a while of fighting, the distressed Romeo steps in to break it up, but, “Tybalt, reaching under Romeo’s arm, stabs Mercutio and flees” (3.1.82). Mercutio announces that, “I am hurt” (3.1.83), and eventually dies. After witnessing his friend be slaughtered, Romeo seeks revenge on Tybalt, and subsequently slays the murderer of his best friend. As a result of Romeo’s actions, the inamorato is banished to Mantua. When putting the pieces together, the audience watching the play can see how Tybalt, and not Romeo, is responsible for the banishment. Romeo was simply seeking to avenge the life of his friend, while Tybalt’s actions were a direct result of violent thinking. Tybalt’s choice to fight and kill one of the play’s main characters highlights the high degree of his vicious personality. Tybalt’s actions end up dooming the peaceful partnership of Romeo and Juliet and thus the outcome of the play takes a turn for the

Mercutio and Tybalt are very different in some ways and in others, they are very alike. Socially they are extremely different, Mercutio is always trying to have fun and crack jokes and enjoy his life while Tybalt, is very straight laced and serious in his manner. From a modern standpoint, we would say that Mercutio is the life and soul of the party and all of his friends like to be around him but when it comes to Tybalt, we see him as the guy nobody likes because he is too serious and is always looking to start a quarrel. Whereas, from an old fashioned religious point of view, Mercutio would be seen as a hell raiser and a trouble maker and

Mercutio, Benvolio, Romeo, and Tybalt all have attributes that either escalate or de-escalate the violence and killing of two men (3.1). Mercutio’s attribute of not being able to self-examine causes the situation to be escalated between him and Tybalt. His attribute’s effect on the situation is shown when he says, “make it a word and a blow.” (3.1.41,42) and he thinks the fight is Tybalt’s fault. Benvolio, with the attribute of being cool and collected, tries to de-escalate the situation between Tybalt and Mercutio. Benvolio steps between the two and tells them “withdraw unto some private place” (3.1.53). Romeo has strong impulse causing him to think before he acts and also causes him to escalating the violence after Mercutio is dead.

Shakespeare uses Tybalt’s interactions will the other characters as a way to show that he always has rage toward Montagues, and is prepared to fight at any time needed. In the text, Mercutio and Tybalt are about to fight when Romeo goes in between them, in efforts to break up the fight, it only resulted in Tybalt stabbing Mercutio from under Romeo’s arm, quickly turning into his death (3.1.59). In other words, Tybalt is trying to prove to Romeo that he wants nothing to do with peace and he came there to brawl. With Tybalt stabbing Mercutio, it ultimately gave Romeo a reason to get fired up and start a fight with him, which is what Tybalt went there to do. Tybalt is trying to enrage Romeo, giving him an almost guaranteed fight in doing so.

Next, the painting by HarpWeek follows the same basic plot but is also interpreted in a different way. In the picture, mercutio is laid back upon a brick wall as Romeo stares at him for a very close distance in great grief (HarpWeek, 2001). This shows the bond they had as Romeo’s expression drops and a face of contemplation and revenge is shown. Also in the picture, from a distance in the background, Tybalt is being carried away by his friends (HarpWeek, 2001). This is basically showing the hate of Mercutio towards Tybalt and the embarrassment he felt after accidentally stabbing Mercutio.

Mercutio is a fun loving, charismatic character who has a brother- like relationship with Romeo. Although Mercutio does not always support Romeo’s impulsivity when it comes to love, he stands by him and supports almost every decision in his life. John McEnery plays the frivolous character of mercutio in the 1968 version. His whimsical mannerisms make it hard to take him seriously, and people often jeer at him for their own enjoyment. The director of the 1968 version made Tybalt a more lighthearted and pleasant, which is why when he stabbed Mercutio, he felt great lengths of remorse and worried that he might have injured him.

Tybalt is particularly violent and Mercutio isnt. Mercutio is intelligent while Tybalt is really all about honor and strength and beating others.

Mercutio, who was a strong believer that no man should back down from a fight and shouldn’t tolerate insults, fought with Tybalt instead of Romeo, getting killed in the end. Another reason why the Capulets were at fault, is that Tybalt entered the scene of the argument full of pride, anger and arrogance. He approached the other men, saying to his followers, “Follow me close, for I will speak to them” (3.1.34.) This quote displays how he told his entourage to look up to him and listen closely as he speaks, as if he were the president, and they were the news reporters. Tybalt then proceeded to mock Romeo and made it seem that he is above and better than all of the Montagues. Tybalt tried to start a fight with a Romeo, but ended up fighting Mercutio and killing him instead.

As a friend of Romeo’s, Mercutio supports the Montague’s in the ancient feud. An example of Mercutio defending the Montague’s is when Tybalt, a member of the loathed Capulet family, abuses Romeo and Mercutio intervenes on Romeo’s behalf. Attempting to restore peace, Romeo gets between the two combatants and Mercutio “hath got his mortal hurt” (Page 149; Act 3, Scene 1) on Romeo’s account. In spite of his “life shall pay the forfeit of peace” (page 17; Act 1, Scene 1), Romeo seeks revenge on Tybalt as he loves his murdered friend. As Romeo kills Tybalt out of love for Mercutio, Shakespeare suggests that love conquered the thought of being penalized with death.