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Tybalt's Downfall Essay

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“‘What, art thou drawn among these heartless hinds?/ Turn thee, Benvolio. Look upon thy death’” (Romeo and Juliet.1.1.56-57). The person threatening Benvolio is Tybalt Capulet from William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. Romeo and Juliet was a play written in the mid-1590s, and it involved two “star crossed lovers” (Prologue.6), Romeo and Juliet, from feuding families that eventually took their lives to be together. One important character in the play was Tybalt, a teenager of the house of Capulet and Juliet’s cousin. He was very skilled with a sword and very prideful. Tybalt was killed by Romeo in 3.1. Even though Tybalt was directly killed by Romeo in Act 3 of Romeo and Juliet, there are many other factors that indirectly led to his downfall, including Romeo and Juliet’s secrets, the ancient grudge, and Tybalt’s pride.
One reason Tybalt died was because of Romeo and Juliet’s secrets. In 3.1, Romeo told him, “The reason that I have to love thee/ Doth much excuse the appertaining rage/ To such a greeting. Villain am I none./ Therefore, farewell. I see thou know’st me not” (3.1.33-36). When he said this, he was referencing his relation to Tybalt; because he married Juliet, he and Tybalt became cousins. However, he did not know what Romeo was implying. Tybalt …show more content…

Tybalt could have made different decisions that would have led to a better outcome. He and Mercutio might not have died, Romeo would not have been banished, Juliet would not have needed Friar Lawrence’s foolhardy plan, and Romeo and Juliet would not have died. Furthermore, if Tybalt did not let his pride get the best of him, the disastrous outcomes of the duel would not have happened. However, Shakespeare did want a tragedy, and that is what he wrote. “For never was there a story of more woe/ Than this of Juliet and her Romeo”

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